The Associated Press looking to expand global coverage

Planning to charge American newspapers for using its content online as of January, the AP is simultaneously undergoing a restructuring aimed at expanding and improving its global news presence. Formed as a means of facilitating news gathering from abroad for collaborating American newspapers, "AP is not acting as a cooperative anymore," so says Michael Phillips, editorial director of E.W. Scripps, a newspaper group. With upcoming projects such as a multimedia package for young adults and eAP, an internet database that will allow the AP to monitor usage of its content, including video and sound clips, it would appear that Tom Curley, the AP's CEO, plans to establish the AP as the international news engine via the internet. This project has not come without its difficulties. Major staff changes have been happening throughout the AP's international bureaus and many employees have complained of age discrimination when laid off after years with the organization. But it doesn't seem that the reformation will be ebbing anytime soon. Kathleen Carroll, the AP's executive editor said, "We had a global business that was less strategically focused than we wanted it to be now, more derivative." Asis Martin de Cabiedes, president of Europa, a family-owned news service, bets his money on the AP's success saying, "The world is truly global, and that means having global coverage and mutli-services: audio text and video."

Source: International Herald Tribune