This is a short memo I wrote in February 1993 to John Oppedahl, then an executive at Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., about a meeting I had scheduled with America Online. At the time, AOL was signing up newspapers to put content into its database, and I wanted to understand what such a partnership would mean for PNI before anyone committed to anything.
John, attached is a package of information about America Online, the computer service company. Of specific importance are the pieces that relate to linking newspapers to their database.
The meeting was set for Thursday, Feb. 11, with Bob Smith, Manager, Business Development for America Online. The questions I planned to ask were the basic ones any newspaper should have been asking in 1993 — and, honestly, the ones many didn’t ask carefully enough:
* How the relationships work between AOL and the Chicago Tribune and San Jose Mercury News?
* What would be our responsibilities to make this project successful and what is expected of PNI in regards to equipment, staff, marketing, etc.
* What type of material would be expected from PNI on the computer database?
* Do we share in access time by all users? Or, do we receive royalties from only those users we sign on ourselves?
That last question — who gets paid, and for whose audience — turned out to be the one the industry spent the next decade arguing about.
I was careful to keep expectations modest:
I’m sure there will be other areas that need to be discussed before we go that first step with this project. Smith and I are at an ‘information sharing’ stage only.
The memo closes with the smallest of logistical notes: I would bring Smith by Oppedahl’s office at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Postscript: Phoenix Newspapers did sign an agreement with America Online.