10/28/2003

Associated Press chief unveils details of 'eAP' initiative


Tom Curley, the new president and CEO of The Associated Press, unveiled details Tuesday of the news cooperative's impending shift to the "electronic AP" -- a new interactive network of multimedia content.

The "eAP" initiative will help transform the 155-year-old wire service with new technology that should better connect it with its newspaper members and other customers, Curley said.

Curley and John Reid, AP's director of services and technology and a senior vice president, explained the initiative in a multimedia slide presentation to newspaper publishers at the annual meeting of the Inland Press Association.

Reid said the new technology, which he characterized as a new generation of content management and distribution systems, "takes us a giant leap forward in making it easier to get just the content that you want, and in a way that makes it much easier to use."

"It's something that, going forward, really is going to revolutionize the way that we provide content, the way that members electronically interact with AP, just as much as the photojournalism revolution of a decade ago did" with the introduction of digital satellite technology, Reid said.

Curley called the eAP initiative part of efforts to make the AP the "essential global news company," including offering news stories that move faster and carry more impact.

The six elements of eAP, as outlined by Reid:

-- eAP Central: A common database repository for all AP content.

-- eAssign: A new system within AP for making, coordinating and tracking assignments; elements can be made available to members and other customers as well.

-- eCategorize: A software engine to categorize, index and search.

-- ePackage: Tools for editors to build multimedia packages that are easy to use as part of a newspaper page, Web site, television presentation or wireless device.

-- eDistribute: Providing AP content through the Internet that is tightly integrated with customers' systems.

-- eSolutions: AP's use of all the advancements to provide technology or technical services to customers.

Curley said the initiative, to be put in place over the next 30 months, should help members in an era of "relentless commoditization of the news."

"We have been in the telegraph business for more than 100 years, and we now put 20 million words and a couple thousand images in a fire hose and turn it on you every day. And as the technology improves, we are about to make that hose even bigger," he said. "We said, 'Wait, that may not be the way to go.'"

The AP is the world's largest newsgathering organization with 3,700 employees serving 121 countries.

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On the Net:

www.ap.org

www.inlandpress.org