Associated Press (AP) is one of the world’s largest news-gathering services. The AP distributes international, regional, and local news to media worldwide.
The AP is a nonprofit organization. It is owned and controlled by about 1,500 daily newspapers in the United States. Thousands of U.S. newspapers, radio and television stations, and online providers receive news from the AP. News media in more than 120 other countries also subscribe to the service. The AP provides its news in four languages.
The AP offers daily news reports, features, photographs, graphics (artwork), audio, video, and interactive online content. Most AP subscribers receive news around the clock. Some radio stations receive AP audio newscasts. AP photographs are sent digitally via satellite or communications lines. Digital transmission is a method of sending sounds or pictures by converting them into electrical signals in the form of a digital (numerical) code. Some television stations also receive AP video graphics in digital form.
Five New York City newspapers founded the Associated Press in 1846. They began the service to save money on the gathering of news by telegraph. Today, the AP has about 240 news bureaus worldwide. Its headquarters are in New York City.
