NEW YORK — The Post Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho — one of the newspapers that initially defended the Associated Press’ new controversial rate structure — has given notice that it will drop the news service in two years in protest of the arrangement. In a letter sent Friday to AP President Tom Curley, Post Register Publisher Roger Plothow informed the news cooperative of the decision, stating, ‘Given the AP’s historical inflexibility (particularly when it comes to small, independent newspapers), I fear the implications of what I’m about to write, but I can’t think of another option. I wish to give notice of our intent to cancel our AP contract effective August 15, 2010.’ He also states, ‘I’ll put my cards on the table — I’m not sure how we’re going to pull this off. While the AP’s value to us has been severely diminished over the years, it still does provide a handful of services that we haven’t been able to find elsewhere — yet. I’m betting, however, that it’s only a matter of time. More likely, we’ll use that time to become essentially 100 percent local, which is probably where we’re headed eventually anyway.’ Under […]