Online Journalism News

Seize the moment says Associated Press chief

Associated Press (AP) president Tom Curley has described an exciting new era of online news for those organisations that move with the times.

Speaking at the Online News Association conference in Hollywood at the weekend, Mr Curley explained how AP is adapting to meet the demands of an increasingly sophisticated news audience.

"We have the biggest opportunity ever - and I underscore ever - to build an audience of news enthusiasts, who will read, write and, yes, even transact some revenue-generating business over the ubiquitous network of the internet, he told the conference.

Expanding on the demands and opportunities provided by the web, Mr Curley said news organisations have learnt that online news publishing is about more than repurposing newspaper content for the internet.

Many news groups have already embraced real-time news and multimedia content but face further challenges with always-on services through broadband and multi-platform delivery.

"That's a big shift for old media to come to grips with," said Mr Curley, describing the change in emphasis from content providers to content consumers.

"Killer applications, such as search, RSS and video-capture software such as Tivo have begun to unlock content from any vessel we try to put [content] in.

"The users are deciding what the point of their engagement will be - what application, what device, what time, what place," he said.

Mr Curley went on to outline the recent changes AP has made to the organisation of its news content, moving from the old model of 'pushing' news to consumers to a database structure, which allows news to be distributed over a wide range of formats.

Acknowledging the importance of blogging, Mr Curley said this medium had played an essential part in turning news from a lecture to a conversation. However, he added it will never replace real news reporting because bloggers always need to base their work on facts and professional analysis.

"Pursuing the truth will remain an expensive job - and it will take real money to pay for it," said Mr Curley.

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