“Over the long term, this threatens the production of high-quality content and the existence of independent journalism ... Going forward, we no longer wish to be forced to give away property without having granted permission.” The declaration was sent to commissioner Viviane Reding.

Bit by bit, the publishers are working together to celebrate the value of their content. The World Association of Newspapers has long been trying to win support for Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP), a computer code that would define how aggregators can use publishers’ text, and now AP and Media Standards Trust have proposed a common format for structuring content.

Signatories to this latest effort include Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) managing editor Robert Thomson, News Corp Europe CEO James Murdoch (pictured) and DMGT chair Viscount Rothemere. But most support comes from German newspapers, which IHT.com says are already lobbying at home for a music-style royalties arrangement on content; Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner is chief amongst them. There are some big omissions from the supporters list.

A successful outcome for the publishers would be if Reding issued an opinion stating excertped aggregation illegal without upfront payment (unlikely, since it strays more closely to a kind of “fair use” principle, even though few European countries have one), or for a watered-down kind of revenue generation agreement via tracking of watermarked stories.