Internet Content Syndication Council Propose Content Guidelines

A group of Web content syndicators, which include the Associated Press, The Tribune Company and Procter & Gamble, believe that content quality -- not to mention the actual utility of the Internet -- is being seriously threatened. So they're working together to do something about it.

The Internet Content Syndication Council, whose members also includes Reuters, Turner and CBS, have released a proposed set of guidelines for content syndication for their membership—and ultimately the online media industry to review. The group held a meeting in early July to discuss the possibility of issuing such guidelines, during which members deemed the issues serious enough to proceed on producing a formal document. "The feeling was we need to grapple this," said ICSC executive director Tim Duncan. The guidelines are aimed at countering the effect that the group sees as a growing and dangerous trend on the Web—the rise of shoddy, poorly sourced and edited content, often produced solely with gaming search engines in mind. While not naming these companies directly, the ICSC's push seems clearly aimed at companies such as Demand Media, Yahoo's Associated Content and AOL's Seed.com. Each churns out a large amount of enterprise or general interest service content—mostly produced by low paid freelancers.