Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer-Prize winner and foreign-affairs columnist for The New York Times, wrote in his March 28, 2004, column that he starts his day by reading AOL News:

“I have this routine. I get up every morning around 6 a.m., fire up my computer, call up AOL’s news page and then hold my breath to see what outrage has happened in the world overnight. A massive bombing in Iraq or Madrid? More murderous violence in Israel? A hotel going up in flames in Bali or a synagogue in Istanbul? More U.S. Soldiers killed in Iraq?”  (Awaking to a Dream, March 28, 2004)

Thomas Shaw, the premier media columnist for The Los Angeles Times says AOL’s Election Guide 2004 puts it among the major election players.

“My favorite feature on the AOL election site, for example, is "President Match," a quiz of sorts for users who (like me) are uncertain who's the best candidate in this year's presidential race. There are about 25 questions on foreign and domestic policy (abortion, gay rights, gun control, the war in Iraq, international trade agreements) and candidate qualifications (the importance of military service and prior elective experience). AOL will then, within a matter of seconds, match your answers with the candidates' positions and background to determine which candidate best meets your criteria. The candidate matches are listed in order, by percentage for each candidate. More than half a million users took the "President Match" quiz in February.” (Media Matters: Add AOL to the New List of Major Political Players, Feb. 29, 2004)

AOL's Garden Might Flourish Without Rainman
By Leslie Walker
Thursday, April 15, 2004; Page E01
(edited and reorganized excerpts)

America Online is uprooting its walled garden and replanting it on the World Wide Web. The move raises the question of whether AOL may one day wind up with fewer walls and more open turf, like the rest of the Web.

Over the past year, the Dulles new-media pioneer built a fancy new system to publish its fare not in the company's proprietary programming language called Rainman but in hypertext markup language (HTML), the open standard used to create regular Web sites.

So, what kind of changes will the new publishing system mean for AOL and its members? … subscribers will soon be able to sign onto AOL.com from any computer without installing AOL's special software and get most of the company's content. As a result, more people will be able to use the service at work, where employers often forbid installation of AOL software.

The at-work boost could be significant. For example, while AOL News was the most trafficked news site on the Internet last month, drawing 23.2 million visitors, only 4.5 million came from work. That was half as many people as Yahoo News drew from work, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Finally -- and this may be the biggest impact -- the open Web programming language is making it easier for AOL to redistribute content outside of the company's so-called walled garden. With a few clicks, AOL editors can now share programming with, say, Netscape.com, Moviefone.com and AOL's other siblings in the Time Warner family. Before, sending content to partners required so much manual work it often wasn't attempted.

"When they presented this tool for the first time, the editors applauded. I have never seen that happen before," said Gary Kebbel, director of AOL news operations and products.

Media Notes
AOL Version 2004: You've Got News
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 22, 2003; Page C01
(edited and reorganized excerpts)

The most popular online news site doesn't employ any reporters -- but is about
to have a whole lot of big names covering and pontificating on the 2004
campaign. America Online is aggressively striking partnerships with major news organizations and television personalities to promote itself as a serious-but fun
purveyor of news. In the battle for eyeballs these days, it's all about dealmaking. On the heavier side, AOL culls offerings from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and ABC News, along with such Time Warner sister units as CNN and Time magazine.

On the lighter side, the site will carry clips from Comedy Central's Jon Stewart
and fresh video and audio commentary from HBO's Bill Maher, along with
some newspaper cartoonists.

What may give AOL News an edge in the online wars is the sheer range of
offerings. The daily package includes not just stories and video but also
message boards, chats, blogs and online polls. For insiders, the (election) site will contain offerings from National Journal and Congressional Quarterly and an abridged version of ABC's political digest, the Note.

Stealing a page from television, AOL even has a 6 p.m. "newscast," built
around the hot story of the day. While most news sites hit their traffic peaks
during the day, when users are at work, AOL News relies on an at-home
audience that is largest at night.