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Trends. Evolution. Things change. One of the biggest change factors in history is the Internet. It has affected nearly everything in our lives. Yesterday marked a key moment in the evolution of the News industry.

For the past several years traditional news outlets have been trying to play by the rules of the past — while giving just enough attention to the Internet to feel like they are doing something in the space — versus truly charging ahead and transforming in a manner that will capitalize on new opportunities. Of course, aggressive change can be uncomfortable. Just ask Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Brin and Page, Filo and Yang, Bezos, Zuckerberg, or a host of others that have experienced the crazy opportunities technology has introduced to our economy. While these names are icons of new businesses created by technological advances, there are many others who are affected. Tom Curley represents another kind of icon — the world that was here before the Internet or desktop computers, and an industry that is vital to a healthy society and economy and is in the mist of a major transition caused by disruptive technology.

AP’s President and CEO, Tom Curley, gave a speech yesterday that is not only a sign of the times, but a wake up call to traditional newsrooms that are holding back or fearful of the Internet. The world has changed, time to move forward! And with newspaper valuations at a low point, the time is right. What will this mean for traditional media? AP? Online portals? Perhaps the NFL and MLB give some insight: their hand has strengthened (and pockets fattened) due to their exclusive content and competition within distribution. It all comes back to supply and demand. If News outlets produce unique content that people want, and it would otherwise not be created by a non-profit source, there will be a business model. There is also the idea of commercial versus non-profit (ask Craig Newmark more on that one).

Moving forward: Ask yourself what you do well. Do you create content? Distribute content? Monetize content? Build/aggregate audiences? Look for audiences? Pay to reach audience? Etc. In a changing world, look at who you are… what you have… what you are good at, find your core, forget the old rules, wipe the slate clean, and think about how you can capitalize in today and tomorrow’s environment…then transition into your “clean slate” plan — that is your future! Plenty is being said on this topic, and it is a developing story, so I will stop here for now.

Here is Tom Curley’s speech. The following are some excerpts:

Young people the world over are hungry for news. They just don’t prefer our traditional platforms and packaging.

The irony of the disrupted news economy of the 21st century is that the news is hot, but the news business is not. Old media companies the world over are bemoaning their lost audiences and sinking revenues, but young Madi is whiteboarding the news every night before he goes to bed.

Somewhere in that mysterious disconnect lies the future of news — and some great opportunities for content providers.

We — the news industry — have come to that fork in the road. We must take bold, decisive steps to secure the audiences and funding to support journalism’s essential role in both our economy and democracy, or find ourselves on an ugly path to obscurity.

The portals are running off with our best stuff, and we’re afraid or unable to make or enforce deals that drive fair value. Revenue lines in a good month are flat. In other months, they inspire the merchants of debt to imagine how they might take us over and show us how much smarter they are.

Excerpts from PaidContent.org:

AP CEO Tom Curley Comes Out Firing Against Portals, Sort Of; Despairs But Asks Not To Despair

Three things worth noting on this speech, to give it context: Firstly, that AP did a deal with Google News to republish AP’s stories…and there’s some underlying revenue elements to it. Secondly, more recently, AP sued Verisign-owned Moreover on copyright infringement. And then, AP just announced major changes in its news packages and how it sells them to its customers.

Staci adds: One more bit of context … AP’s board is headed by William Dean Singleton, CEO of Denver-based MediaNews Group. Late last month, Singleton sent memo across the newspaper chain that could be viewed as a manifesto about the end of business as usual, including combining news and business operations across papers. The memo also stressed an “online first” approach for its newsrooms.

(Note: the above blog post was mildly updated within 36 hours of the original posting to improve the reading experience.)

Updates/Related posts:
News no longer most viewed content online - InteractiveSalsa
What would a non-AP world look like - WebProNews
Newspapers: Evolve or Die (AP’s CEO Agrees) - Mashable