06/12/07

Associated Press opens new Beijing bureau to lead news agency's expanded coverage of China

BEIJING (AP) -- The Associated Press formally opened a new bureau Tuesday in Beijing to lead and coordinate the news agency's expanding coverage of China.

The bureau, in the Chinese capital's central business district, embodies the AP's commitment to further pursue aggressive, well-rounded coverage of a changing China, its rising importance to the world and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The bureau brings news, photos, television and multimedia into an integrated newsroom to allow for reporting across all media platforms.

China "is a story that has captivated those of us around the world and now offers an opportunity for full-fledged involvement in global affairs in a different society in a different world," AP President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Curley said at a reception attended by Chinese government officials and four former AP Beijing bureau chiefs.

The new bureau also allows space to expand staff and will serve as the linchpin in coordinating coverage in the greater China region, the company said.

Founded in the United States in 1846, the AP has covered China for more than a century, with its correspondents reporting on the anti-foreign Boxer Uprising in 1900. From then, AP reporters covered the tumultuous end of China's last imperial dynasty, the Japanese invasion, the Chinese civil war and in recent years the country's stunning economic and social transformation.

The AP, headquartered in New York, operates 243 bureaus in 97 countries, its 4,100 employees providing round-the-clock services for newspapers, broadcasters and the Internet.