One of the first lessons I learned in chess was that the best defense is a good offense.
In team sports, a defense can keep the other team from scoring and win a championship. But chess has two points: you try to keep your king alive and you try to capture the opponent’s king. The best you can do without going after the other king is a stalemate. I’m far from a chess master, but experience has taught me that I will win more games by attacking my opponent’s king than by building a protective circle around my king.
Media companies need to learn this lesson. Both Attributor and the Associated Press plan to protect its members’ content (which the AP told Danny Sullivan it was no longer bothering to explain, speaking of protective circles), are efforts to protect our king.
These proposals may have merit, though I have doubts about that (may depend on which AP explanation you believe). But both approaches are playing defense when we should be playing offense.
Media companies need to focus our efforts on innovation, not protection. However valid a protective move might be, the king we are need to capture is innovation. We need to develop new revenue streams by providing valuable new services for businesses in our communities. And that’s where we should focus every move.
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