In a historic 1943 legal decision which opened AP membership to all qualified U.S. newspapers, the distinguished American jurist Judge Learned Hand set down an enduring description:
"... AP is a vast, intricately reticulated organization, the largest of its kind, gathering news from all over the world, the chief single source of news from all over the world, the chief single source of news for the American press, universally agreed to be of prime consequence."
The modern Associated Press described by Judge Hand has evolved steadily if sometimes stormily. Hardly a year after AP's establishment, Boston's newspapers joined in with the New York founders. Regional newspaper groupings soon followed -- Western Associated Press, Southern Associated Press, Philadelphia Associated Press and others. The New York-based Associated Press distributed to them the most important news. To this each added regional coverage.
Washington and foreign news were staples from the start.
In 1849, Daniel Craig established the AP's first foreign bureau in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the first North American port of call for Cunard's liners. The latest news arrived from Europe with each incoming vessel and was telegraphed to New York until establishment of the trans-Atlantic cable in 1856, which made the Halifax relay outmoded.
That one-man AP foreign staff has grown into a global network numbering more than 500.
Initially, AP also had but one Washington correspondent, Lawrence Gobright, who reported such historic events as the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Today, the Washington staff numbers more than 150. Words set down by Gobright still remain AP's editorial creed, however. The pioneer Washington correspondent said in 1862:
"My business is to communicate facts. My instructions do not allow me to make any comments upon the facts. My dispatches are sent to papers of all manners of politics. I therefore confine myself to what I consider legitimate news and try to be truthful and impartial."
Full Text of Gobright's testimony to Congress
The growth was not unmarred by internal struggle. In 1891, publishers from western states charged that several principals of the New York AP had exchanged news secretly with a rival American news agency. Investigation confirmed this accusation. A thorough reorganization of AP provided rigorous safeguards of AP integrity.
To further strengthen the cooperative, a distinguished newspaper proprietor, Melville E. Stone, sold his major interest in The Chicago Daily News to become the salaried head of AP management. A new title was created to recognize his professional prestige: General Manager of The Associated Press.
Overseas, three European agencies — Havas of France, Reuter of Britain and Wolff of Germany — dominated international news distribution during the first third of the 20th century. AP's first challenge to the European monopoly came in 1902 when a cable service was started to meet requests from Cuba, the Philippines and Central America. A far more serious AP challenge to the European cartel followed in 1919. Full-scale service to Latin America was authorized by AP's Board in response to requests from 22 South American newspapers. A similar application for AP news from the Japanese news agency Ringgo was approved in 1933.
With the international news cartel broken, AP began a slow, steady overseas growth which was interrupted by World War II. With the return of peace, AP's international operation mushroomed.
Today AP's World Service distributes news and photos to more than 8,500 international subscribers and translates the report into five languages.
Supplementing this is AP-DJ, a specialized financial and economic news service distributed abroad by a partnership of AP and Dow Jones & Co., publishers of The Wall Street Journal and a major force in U.S. economic journalism. Operating with the full economic coverage of AP and Dow Jones plus its own editorial and administrative staff, AP-DJ is distributed to private subscribers and the media in 43 countries.
To meet a growing demand for expanded sports coverage, AP in 1946 established the first news agency wire dedicated entirely to sports. By 1977 the media devoted so much editorial space and air time to sports that AP was operating a l,050-word-a-minute sports wire around the clock and also publishing a widely circulated annual AP Sports Almanac. Today, the sports wire and all other wires move at 9,600 words a minute.
