Cleartime: AP West 33: The Newsroom

The design concept behind AP West 33: The Newsroom

By Tom Kent
Deputy Managing Editor

Photos of the new space

The new newsroom at AP West 33 is the size of two football fields. It brings together all of AP's services -- print, Web, photo, radio, television and graphics. The goal, though, is far more ambitious than just housing everyone together. Our aim is to create the conditions for a fully integrated news report that will lead the industry.

The new newsroom literally eliminates barriers among departments. It is largely open-plan, grouped by subject matter rather than the medium that staffers work in. AP's television entertainment unit, for instance, sits together with the editors who produce written entertainment copy. National photo editors are next to the editors writing national news. Digital staffers who edit international video work alongside the International Desk.

As you walk through the newsroom, you shouldn't be surprised to see a print writer standing in front of a camera, describing his story in a "standup" for the Web. Or writers, photographers. TV producers and an AP radio reporter discussing how to cover a story in New York City -- all staffers who cover the city work in the same part of the newsroom, next to windows with a dramatic view of the city skyline.

The newsroom is flexible. "Soft seating" areas for casual conversations can be replaced quickly with additional workstations for special events. Almost all walls are demountable, meaning offices and conference rooms can be reconfigured as departments and workflow change. Raised floors allow for easy movement of desks and equipment.

The floor has many large and small conference rooms, to encourage editors from all departments to come together to plan stories. All have audio or video conferencing facilities, whiteboards and computers. Two conference rooms can easily be adapted for TV shoots. The main conference room, equipped with multiple TV monitors and a large plasma display screen, is raised two feet above the floor and has a long, curved-glass wall overlooking the newsroom.

APTN has a fully professional TV studio, makeup room and green room for guests about to go on the air. APTN's master control room can take in live video feeds from around the world and feed them throughout the newsroom, where staffers monitor and record TV and radio on computer screens. (Many staffers have two flat screens on their computers; some supervisors have four.)

Each department was designed individually, with desk shapes and layouts specifically attuned to the work done there. As a result, some desks are standard rectangles with editors seated on each side; others are in zigzag patterns, or shaped like stars. Colors and furniture styles are coordinated throughout. Several "break rooms," next to windows looking out over the city, provide places for staffers from different departments to get snacks or (free) coffee and come to know each other; each one is located in a way that it will be used by staffers from at least two different media.

Staffers who work on large newsdesks can use comfortable "telephone rooms" scattered throughout the floor to make private phone calls or conduct a phone interview. A staffer who needs silence to concentrate on documents or battle writer's block can work in a small, almost silent, library.

The newsroom's design conveys a sense of immediacy, and the tremendous range of AP's newsgathering activities. Large flat-panel monitors display photos, graphics and Web pages as they move to subscribers. Large digital clock displays with flashing seconds and world time zones emphasize the urgency of news and AP's global responsibilities. All clocks, digital and analog, are synchronized to the U.S. master time system to allow precise radio and TV broadcasting from anywhere in the newsroom.

No one visiting our 14th floor newsroom will come away doubting that AP is the essential international source of multimedia news. At the same time, the latest technology will not be allowed to obscure something even more important: a sense of AP's long and distinguished history. Through design elements and artifacts, the newsroom and the rest of AP headquarters will emphasize the strength and reliability of AP's product, and the skills and sacrifices of its people.

Ultimately, the new AP headquarters newsroom is only a tool. Its role is simply to serve and facilitate what we already have: the skills and integrity of the AP staff, and the ambition of the world's essential news network. (July 14, 2004)