An interesting study I wish I could read is: who exactly is the AP, and what motivates them? They aren't a for-profit company with the normal ownership and corporate structure, but a cooperative of newspapers. But surely it's not something as nebulous as "all newspapers in the U.S., acting collectively" that makes the decisions; I'd imagine most newspapers in the US see the AP roughly like we do, as this entity that someone else runs, who they just get content from and don't have any real control over. But then who makes the decisions, what influences them, and why?
As with most cooperatives, the AP is a separate (not-for-profit) corporation, with its own board of directors primarily comprising executives from its members, and its own CEO, Tom Curley. Given that, I would expect that the AP, as an organization, acts in its own self-interest. One could imagine that this includes defending its IP against re-use by those who are not paying for it.
