With CNN and Tribune newspapers reevaluating their partnership with the Associated Press, the venerable wire service has sought to reorient itself online by forging ties with new media enterprises. But a potential partnership that surely seemed like a savvy move in the boardroom has left commentators puzzled. In a report for the Los Angeles Times, Mark Milian details recent stalled negotiations between the AP and Pet Holdings Inc, a company that owns the unabashedly silly and popular Failblog and I Can Has Cheezburger Web properties. "For the prestigious wire service to even consider associating itself with a business that makes a living from fan-made cat pictures may have seemed unthinkable a decade ago, " Milian notes.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been the first time that the Associated Press has mismanaged the strategic transition from print to online media. Because of the AP's sometimes inscrutable rules for proper content compensation, it has been the frequent target of bloggers who believe that the wire service has overreached in an effort to protect their content.

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Erik Hayden