KATIE FAIRBANK Associated Press Writer
AP Online
04-20-1998
DALLAS (AP) _ Advances in technology and news coverage were heralded Monday as a ``remarkable evolution'' that has kept The Associated Press abreast of an ever-changing industry as the news service marks its 150th anniversary.
``Change is the byword of the news business today, making AP's mission bigger and more complicated every year,'' Louis D. Boccardi, president and chief executive officer, told member publishers and editors at the news cooperative's annual meeting. ``We think ... that AP has been through a remarkable evolution to stay equal to the task.''
Boccardi said the AP has improved services and strengthened its news report through such innovations as a new State Photo Center in Washington, D.C., increased use of the Internet for reporting and distributing news, and nontraditional business activities such as AdSEND, AP's electronic advertising transmission service.
He also announced a new bureau in Shanghai, the AP's first permanent representation there in more than 50 years, to provide more thorough and timely coverage of China's business scene and financial markets. The Shanghai office, to be led by correspondent Joe McDonald and APTV senior producer Francois Touron, is AP's 94th international bureau and third in China, after Beijing and Hong Kong.
Boccardi also said that AP's dial-in news service for the smallest newspapers will be offered via the Internet within the next few months, just as some stock market services are now.
He noted that the AP began delivering graphics across the Internet in 1997 and began offering Internet access to AP's digital photo archive.
AP's newest reach into television is a computer system that enables TV news organizations to operate bureaus and production facilities around the world as if they were all in the same newsroom.
``The BBC was our first customer, but we have recently signed agreements to create systems for CBS News, for the ESPN sports network and for ITN in London,'' Boccardi said.
The meeting was opened by AP chairman Donald E. Newhouse, president of Advance Publications and The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., with an excerpt from the AP's anniversary video exhibit at the Newseum in Arlington, Va.
Also at the meeting, election results were announced for the all-mail balloting for the AP's board of directors. Four incumbents were re-elected and three new members chosen.
Incumbents re-elected were David E. Easterly, president and COO of Cox Enterprises Inc., representing the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; Richard J. Harrington, president and CEO of The Thomson Corp., representing The Repository of Canton, Ohio; P. Anthony Ridder, chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, representing The Miami Herald, and Lissa Walls Vahldiek, vice president and COO of Southern Newspapers, representing The Baytown (Texas) Sun.
New members are Joe Hladky, president and publisher of The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; George B. Irish, vice president and general manager for newspapers of Hearst Newspapers, representing the Albany, N.Y., Times Union, and, representing a city of less than 50,000 population, Uzal H. Martz Jr., president and publisher of the Pottsville (Pa.) Republican.
Hladky will fill the unexpired one-year term of Larry Franklin, who resigned from the board upon the sale of Harte-Hanks Newspapers.
The other directors were elected to three-year terms.
The meeting and the annual AP luncheon, attended by executives representing AP's 1,523 daily newspapers, were the opening events of the first full day of activities of the Newspaper Association of America's convention.
In his remarks, Boccardi said that amid furor over scandal coverage in Washington, ``we've tried to make the AP report one place where we kept our balance and treated with care sometimes sensational news and frustrating anonymity.''
Later, in an AP panel discussion moderated by Boccardi, Washington bureau chief Jon Wolman said he would give ``an X-rating'' to coverage of the Monica Lewinsky story: ``an X-rating for content ... also an X-rating for excessive overkill.''
Wolman said it has been an extraordinary time for journalists in the nation's capital.
``The reporters walk around shaking their heads saying they haven't seen anything like that before. And they're doing that every three days,'' he said.
White House correspondent Terry Hunt told listeners that after the Lewinsky story broke, the White House became a scene of anxiety, disarray and confusion and quickly adopted a ``bunker mentality.''
``It was a sea change,'' Hunt said. ``In 17 years I've only seen things change that dramatically once before - when President Reagan was shot.''
The panel, titled ``A Reporter's Tour of the Day's Headlines,'' also included chief of Middle East services Earleen Fisher, Moscow bureau chief Barry Renfrew and Indonesia bureau chief Geoff Spencer.
Renfrew told of the turmoil in Russian politics and the pivotal role played by President Boris Yeltsin, whom he described as a man who relishes attention.
``Things are on a knife's edge. Everything is suffering, even life expectancy,'' Renfrew said. ``So much depends on Yeltsin.''
Ms. Fisher and Spencer spoke of the difficulties that people in Iraq and Indonesia have in getting basic medications and food in the wake of economic sanctions and economic disaster.
``People are dying on dialysis machines because they can't get drugs,'' Spencer said.
Ms. Fisher said the economic sanctions against Iraq are not hurting Saddam Hussein as much as the Iraqi people, who are having great difficulty getting necessary medication.
``It's very hard to sort out where your sympathies should lie,'' she said.
She also said that there are positives from the peace process in the Middle East, even though it is currently stalled.
``I think we should remember the opposite of peace is war,'' she said.
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved.
AP Online
04-20-1998
DALLAS (AP) _ Advances in technology and news coverage were heralded Monday as a ``remarkable evolution'' that has kept The Associated Press abreast of an ever-changing industry as the news service marks its 150th anniversary.
``Change is the byword of the news business today, making AP's mission bigger and more complicated every year,'' Louis D. Boccardi, president and chief executive officer, told member publishers and editors at the news cooperative's annual meeting. ``We think ... that AP has been through a remarkable evolution to stay equal to the task.''
Boccardi said the AP has improved services and strengthened its news report through such innovations as a new State Photo Center in Washington, D.C., increased use of the Internet for reporting and distributing news, and nontraditional business activities such as AdSEND, AP's electronic advertising transmission service.
He also announced a new bureau in Shanghai, the AP's first permanent representation there in more than 50 years, to provide more thorough and timely coverage of China's business scene and financial markets. The Shanghai office, to be led by correspondent Joe McDonald and APTV senior producer Francois Touron, is AP's 94th international bureau and third in China, after Beijing and Hong Kong.
Boccardi also said that AP's dial-in news service for the smallest newspapers will be offered via the Internet within the next few months, just as some stock market services are now.
He noted that the AP began delivering graphics across the Internet in 1997 and began offering Internet access to AP's digital photo archive.
AP's newest reach into television is a computer system that enables TV news organizations to operate bureaus and production facilities around the world as if they were all in the same newsroom.
``The BBC was our first customer, but we have recently signed agreements to create systems for CBS News, for the ESPN sports network and for ITN in London,'' Boccardi said.
The meeting was opened by AP chairman Donald E. Newhouse, president of Advance Publications and The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., with an excerpt from the AP's anniversary video exhibit at the Newseum in Arlington, Va.
Also at the meeting, election results were announced for the all-mail balloting for the AP's board of directors. Four incumbents were re-elected and three new members chosen.
Incumbents re-elected were David E. Easterly, president and COO of Cox Enterprises Inc., representing the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; Richard J. Harrington, president and CEO of The Thomson Corp., representing The Repository of Canton, Ohio; P. Anthony Ridder, chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, representing The Miami Herald, and Lissa Walls Vahldiek, vice president and COO of Southern Newspapers, representing The Baytown (Texas) Sun.
New members are Joe Hladky, president and publisher of The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; George B. Irish, vice president and general manager for newspapers of Hearst Newspapers, representing the Albany, N.Y., Times Union, and, representing a city of less than 50,000 population, Uzal H. Martz Jr., president and publisher of the Pottsville (Pa.) Republican.
Hladky will fill the unexpired one-year term of Larry Franklin, who resigned from the board upon the sale of Harte-Hanks Newspapers.
The other directors were elected to three-year terms.
The meeting and the annual AP luncheon, attended by executives representing AP's 1,523 daily newspapers, were the opening events of the first full day of activities of the Newspaper Association of America's convention.
In his remarks, Boccardi said that amid furor over scandal coverage in Washington, ``we've tried to make the AP report one place where we kept our balance and treated with care sometimes sensational news and frustrating anonymity.''
Later, in an AP panel discussion moderated by Boccardi, Washington bureau chief Jon Wolman said he would give ``an X-rating'' to coverage of the Monica Lewinsky story: ``an X-rating for content ... also an X-rating for excessive overkill.''
Wolman said it has been an extraordinary time for journalists in the nation's capital.
``The reporters walk around shaking their heads saying they haven't seen anything like that before. And they're doing that every three days,'' he said.
White House correspondent Terry Hunt told listeners that after the Lewinsky story broke, the White House became a scene of anxiety, disarray and confusion and quickly adopted a ``bunker mentality.''
``It was a sea change,'' Hunt said. ``In 17 years I've only seen things change that dramatically once before - when President Reagan was shot.''
The panel, titled ``A Reporter's Tour of the Day's Headlines,'' also included chief of Middle East services Earleen Fisher, Moscow bureau chief Barry Renfrew and Indonesia bureau chief Geoff Spencer.
Renfrew told of the turmoil in Russian politics and the pivotal role played by President Boris Yeltsin, whom he described as a man who relishes attention.
``Things are on a knife's edge. Everything is suffering, even life expectancy,'' Renfrew said. ``So much depends on Yeltsin.''
Ms. Fisher and Spencer spoke of the difficulties that people in Iraq and Indonesia have in getting basic medications and food in the wake of economic sanctions and economic disaster.
``People are dying on dialysis machines because they can't get drugs,'' Spencer said.
Ms. Fisher said the economic sanctions against Iraq are not hurting Saddam Hussein as much as the Iraqi people, who are having great difficulty getting necessary medication.
``It's very hard to sort out where your sympathies should lie,'' she said.
She also said that there are positives from the peace process in the Middle East, even though it is currently stalled.
``I think we should remember the opposite of peace is war,'' she said.
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved.
