Associated Press still thriving

By:  Erin Floro

 

The Associated Press is a huge nonprofit news organization owned by 1500 newspapers and employs 3,000 journalists in 97 countries.  The AP sells to over 15,000 news outlets worldwide, including 5,000 radio and TV stations and 4,000 Web sites. 

 

Last year revenues were $710.3 million and showed a 6 percent increase due to this year’s election.  Tom Curley, CEO of the 162-year-old AP, reports $30 million in the bank for the organization.  The AP has avoided layoffs and has diversified its business.

 

The biggest source of revenue 27 percent comes from U.S newspapers, which are facing their own revenue problems.  Many have announced plans to cancel their AP subscriptions.  Curley believes they are just blowing smoke and using these threats to negotiate.

 

Jim Willse, editor of the Star Ledger of Newark, N.J. reasoned that canceling is due to shrinking revenue and layoffs, not that the AP is invaluable.  His paper did print an entire issue without any AP stories in September to prove it was possible to live without the service. 

 

Other news organizations are sprouting up around the country.  CNN is launching their wire service in December and GlobalPost is starting an international network of correspondents in 2009. 

 

Under Curley, the AP has a vision for the news organization to set up ways to share premium breaking news yet it can’t start up a portal that would compete with those they sell their stories to, somewhat of a catch-22.