Australian Associated Press to close in June
Australian Associated Press is closing after 85 years of providing newswire, sub-editing and photography services to media companies and consumers across the country. The decision impacts 180 journalists at the company.
Editor in chief Tony Gillies confirmed the news on Twitter, calling it the “saddest day” after CEO Bruce Davidson addressed staff at 2pm. The newswire’s last day will be 26 June, with subediting service Pagemasters also to close in August. Press release distribution service Medianet and media intelligence company Mediaverse will be sold.
“We have had a place like no other in journalism. We exist for the public’s interest and I now fear for the void left by the absence of AAP’s strong, well-considered voice,” Gillies added in a statement.
The business isn’t viable anymore, the company said, but promised there will be job opportunities for those affected as the likes of News Corp and Nine invest further in their own news teams to deal with the absence of AAP content moving forward.
The saddest day: AAP closes after 85 years of excellence in journalism. The AAP family will be sorely missed. @AAPNewswire
— Tony Gillies (@TonyGillies) March 3, 2020
Davidson called the news “tragic”, and paid tribute to the many people who have worked at AAP since 1935.
“Hundreds of wonderful journalists made their start at AAP and went on to brilliant careers. Many others chose to stay with the agency for several decades and are part of the revered ‘AAP family’,” the CEO said.
“Many more amazing people have been part of the fabric of the company in critical support and management roles.
“I want to thank all of them for their service and contribution to Australian journalism over many years.
“Our reporters, photographers, videographers and production staff are second to none. They have been leading the country in breaking news for decades and showed the way for publishers in terms of the 24-hour news cycle.”
Chair Campbell Reid, who is also News Corp’s group executive of corporate affairs, policy and government relations, added that AAP has served as “journalism’s first responder” for decades.
“It is a great loss that professional and researched information provided by AAP is being substituted with the un-researched and often inaccurate information that masquerades as real news on the digital platforms,” Reid said.
“The number of organisations choosing to no longer rely on the AAP service has made the business unsustainable.”
The announcement follows The Sydney Morning Herald revealing this week that the entirety of AAP’s editorial operations were likely to be shuttered.
AAP's numbers yesterday –
Our top 10 sport stories were published 1595 times.
Our top 10 news stories were published 2514 times.That's 4109 blank spaces on websites and newspapers, dead air on radio that would need to be filled without us.
— Karen Sweeney (@karenlsweeney) March 3, 2020
Newspaper publishers Nine, News Corp, The West Australian and Australian Associated Press own AAP, which provides media companies who subscribe with news reporting through AAP Newswire, sub-editing service Pagemasters, photography via AAP Photos and press release distribution service Medianet.
According to Sydney Morning Herald reporting, Nine spends around $5m a year on the service, and News Corp, which owns 45% of AAP, around $10m. Following its merger with Fairfax Media, Nine brought its sub-editing in house, ending its outsourcing relationship with Pagemasters.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews this morning on reports about @AAPNewswire’s future:
“My view has always been that we need more voices in our public conversation, not less, and AAP for many, many years has provided a vital link to information that people need.” pic.twitter.com/PO83rpS2FP
— Marnie Banger (@marniebanger) March 2, 2020
The likes of SBS and Guardian Australia pay smaller subscription fees for the AAP services.
The industry responded with overwhelming support for its newswire colleagues amid speculation of its closure, sharing a digital sign that reads ‘We need the AAP newswire’, printing out the message for a photograph in solidarity, and causing #saveAAP to trend number one on Twitter in Australia.
ABC solidarity with @AAPNewswire @withMEAA pic.twitter.com/YeWRKiGhKd
— Erin Handley (@erinahandley) March 3, 2020
Union members at the AAP thanked colleagues for their support, with the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) tweeting a message that read: “MEAA members at Australian Associated Press thank media colleagues and those from outside the industry for their messages of support following an article written about the company’s future.
“It is heartening to know the levels of appreciation for AAP’s work … Now more than ever, an independent, non-partisan newswire is vital in an increasingly fractured media landscape.”
Statement from the #MEAAmedia house committee at @AAPNewswire: “MEAA members at AAP thank media colleagues and those from outside the industry for their messages of support . . . It is heartening to know the levels of appreciation for AAP’s work.” https://t.co/fGLs6uCCJg pic.twitter.com/Y2XwhTct5b
— MEAA (@withMEAA) March 2, 2020
In response to the news the company would indeed be closing, MEAA pointed to the huge gap in coverage media companies will now have to attempt to fill.
“Look at the news stories, the photos, the coverage, the quotes and the enormous spectrum of excellent journalism that AAP has supplied over the past 85 years. AAP delivers news, photos and sub-editing services that the major media groups either cannot or will not,” MEAA Media federal president Marcus Strom said.
“Beancounters at the top of media organisations might think they can soldier on without AAP, but the reality is it will leave a huge hole in news coverage. Filling those holes will fall to already overburdened newsroom journalists. Or coverage will simply cease to occur.
“AAP has also trained generations of journalists and has been an excellent start for many of Australia’s top journalists. It is reckless and short-sighted of media bosses to jettison this wonderful media institution.”
A very sad day. AAP have been brilliant to work with – a very fine team of journalists and photographers. Here’s hoping they all get quickly re-employed elsewhere.
Another nail in the news media coffin.
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This is a tragedy for truth
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I was an on the road newspaper reporter and feature writer for various mastheads going on 50 years – some of those papers were good and others, well, not so good. But all that time AAP was there, sometimes seemingly little more than somewhere in the background. but always providing the facts, nothing but the facts and details, no spin, no prejudice, no bullshit. Today, after 85 years, it was taken out and shot by its unworthy principal owners, News Corp and Nine Entertainment Co, a couple of media big boys and noted duckers and divers when it comes to pursuing their own agendas, both political and financial. Those left standing – the likes of the ABC and the Guardian – will keep on doing what they do, but don’t tell me there aren’t agendas there as well. So where do you now go to get the facts and nothing but the facts about what’s going on in Australia? Google? Facebook? Twitter ? Excuse me while I throw up. A sad day indeed and a bullet in the guts of what passes as journalism in this country.
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Terrible news
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AAP has been the central hub for credible news in Australia. Its nationwide MediaNet has been a worthy adjunct for his comprehensive and efficient service. A very sad loss to the nation.
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If news isnt free online, it isn’t news. There are plenty of free and credible news sources to choose from. Plenty of ways to monetise as well. I will always avoid pay walls and the like.
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It doesn’t make sense, even for News and Nine’s idiot management.
The cost to these organisations is miniscule. $5m for News and $10m for Nine. So for $15m we give up on what is the fastest, most accurate, and non biased service in the country? Because it’s non sustainable? What does that even mean in the context of what this service does for suburban news and radio and thousands of smaller publishers across Australia. It’s the shooting of John Lennon moment for Australian journalism. No one cares: News, Nine, Google, Facebook, the Federal govt. Are they really just shrugging their shoulders and saying “that’s progress for you?”. AAP is the beating core of our local media. You just shouldn’t even think about it. Fuck.
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This will mean a decline in coverage of so many news events and issues with most media outlets’ news coverage already suffering from overburdened journalists working in understaffed newsrooms.
As for corrupt politicians and corporate interests, yet another day to celebrate even less scrutiny.
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Worked 40 years as a journo on metro papers, often beside many fine people at AAP. This is a sad day for Australia where the access to truthful, accurate and balanced reporting continues to diminish rapidly. The decision by News and Nine makes me very angry …
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We’ve still got the influencers, echo chambers, barrow pushers, spin doctors, rank amateurs, one-eyed fanatics, pretenders, master manipulators, sadly misguided, faceless (wo)men, AIs and narcissists to rely on.
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As Jonathan Pie says: the media is f***ed.
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This is massive, and also very scary.
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What a sad day this is for journalism. Like so many journalists, I served my cadetship at AAP. My first job was as a racing journalist and I was the first female racing reporter in Australia. It was just one of many opportunities AAP afforded me. I made life-long friends there and enjoyed a career as a journalist which has now spanned over three decades across four countries. AAP was the best place you could ever hope to learn the craft and back in the early 1980s, they only took on three or four cadets a year. My fellow cadets were Terri Cowley, Patrick Keane and Steve Mascord. We were given a book called The Word and it still takes pride of place on my book shelf. During my cadetship, I worked on different desks and did a variety of rounds from industrial, courts, to finance, racing and the news desk. On one story, I spent a night feeding homeless people in Sydney with a young charity group. Later, I wrote about my experience meeting a homeless man in a wheelchair who slept rough in Circular Quay. Hard to imagine now but there were no disabled toilets there back then and we all helped carry him into the toilets and back to his wheelchair so he could relieve himself and wash. He suffered this indignity every night. But without the kindness of the charity workers he would have been in an even worse situation. Later, my story appeared on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald and led to the first disabled toilets in Circular Quay. It was one of my proudest moments in journalism and it taught me early on about the power of journalism. How stories such as this could make a difference. I left AAP at age 23. I went to London on holiday and resigned after getting my first shifts at News International in Wapping, London. That Christmas, my AAP boss gave me the Golden Bolt Award. The real gift AAP gave me was the most incredible start to my career. I will forever be grateful to the many journalists I learned from and for giving me a career that has taken me around the world covering stories from refugees in the Sub-Sahara to Hollywood stars at the Oscars. Thanks AAP for this and so much more.
Awww, who knew selectively covering news and playing politics with coverage would have consequences? They won’t be the last.
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David, I’d be interested to know the “plenty of free and credible” available on-line news sources (aside from the ABC) your mention.
I’m scratching my head…
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In unrelated news, PR now outnumbers journalists 6:1. A three-fold increase in ten years. Nothing to see here. Move along.
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very nicely said Mike
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You don’t know what you’ve got (till it’s gone).
Given how shouty Scotty in Marketing is on national security, why not provide funding for AAP to save such a revered institution given the threat to independent reporting.
Though he’d probably set up an “independent internal inquiry” that would cost around $15m and would come up empty-handed and recommend that nothing be done.
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> The cost to these organisations is miniscule. $5m for News and $10m for Nine. So for $15m we give up on what is the fastest, most accurate, and non biased service in the country?
I would like to see you in a board room pitching this to a corporate business that only cares about their bottom line. Don’t forget to bring your tiny violin to serenade them at the end.
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What i want to know how much does it cost to run AAP? Can’t they turn it into an NGO and get some philanthropist and donations to keep it going? How about selling it to some overseas agency that does the same thing?
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Here’s an idea. Why not subcontract the ABC’s garden-variety reporting to AAP. There would be less bias and slant for a start and, at $15 million, it would be a lot cheaper than whatever the ABC currently pays its reporters and their bedmate partners.
Haven’t noticed? Nearly everyone at the ABC just happens to be married/living with someone else who who works for the ABC. Entirely a coincidence, of course. It’s not as if nepotism is underwritten by the taxpayer dollar.
Perish the thought.
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First they came for the associated press………..
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As a former full-time journalist I am very interested to know the future of the AAP directories division which includes Media Guide and Who’s Who in Australia. AAP had taken over the directories after buying out Crown Content in 2014. I have a special interest in the directories future because I was retrenched in the wake of the takeover after having worked on all the directories at some stage over the previous 15 years (plus newsletters). Also, rather than bitterness about what happened to me I feel much sympathy for those losing their jobs at AAP.
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Actually, there are fewer and fewer publishers that we have left that are trustworthy, good honest and worked their values that root history within their walls, now they are them and it is truly unfortunate, but the reality is greater than this that Mumbrella allows us to see today. There is already a job of information censorship and absolute control that almost no one wants to accept and that increasingly becomes a reality.
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