2008

Annual Report
inside
letter 2 the value of news 8 foundation for success 18 beyond the headlines 24

Cover:
BEIJING/Aug. 2008
Runners compete in the men’s 10,000-meter
final in the National Stadium at the 2008
Olympics. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Opposite page:
DENVER/Aug. 2008
Vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden
joins presidential candidate Sen. Barack
Obama on stage on the final day of the
Democratic National Convention. (AP
Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Back cover:
NEW YORK/Sept. 2008
Trader Joseph Acquafredda checks the
numbers on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average drops 449.36 points on Sept. 17.
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FLINT, Mich./Sept. 2008

Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
Barack Obama speaks at a town hall
meeting. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) This report is printed on FSC-certified recycled paper with vegetable oil based inks.
essential

AP Mobile News, the multimedia
service for wireless that was intro-
duced last year by AP and its mem-
ber newspapers, offers access to
global, international and local news.
More than 1,000 members are now
participating, and monthly traffic
has topped 38 million page views.
2 | Annual Report
Members and Customers:
When Israel launched its offensive against Hamas last year, Ibrahim Barzak, AP’s chief
correspondent in Gaza, was one of the few journalists able to report from the scene. Living in
the bureau — windows blown out, no power, short on water and food — he and other AP
staffers provided round-the-clock exclusive coverage with stories, photos and video. In film of
the bombing of one Hamas compound, Barzak could see his own home being destroyed. “I
watch it obsessively,” he said. “I don’t know if we will ever go back.”
Many worlds collapsed last year. For everything from the global economy to the media indus-
try, 2008 was a year of tumultuous change.The financial and business challenges already con-
fronting our own world deepened and took on added urgency, and in the pressure we some-
times found ourselves at odds with each other.
But if last year tested our faith in markets, business models and the economy, it reaffirmed
our belief in the value of news. For those who have claimed that the power of original jour-
nalism has waned, last year proved them dead wrong. From the role AP and others played in
reporting from Iraq, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and the United States, it is clear that the importance
of journalism has not diminished and that bringing truth to the public has more power than
ever to shape governments, elections and lives. Last year showed that our business has never
been more relevant, or more essential.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUES
The Cooperative began addressing the economic issues facing the industry three years ago
by freezing member assessment rates. Then, last year, AP reduced member rates for 2009 by
$30 million, while simultaneously overhauling content packaging. Further content and pricing
modifications are under way.
The crucial investments that AP has made in infrastructure in recent years, as well the
reorganization and restructuring of our news operation, positioned us to provide members
significant rate relief and greater, easier and faster access to content, helping them leverage
the value of news as they evolve in the digital marketplace.
Key to these advances is AP’s new digital infrastructure, first envisioned in 2004 and now a
platform for industry innovation. Last year saw the roll-out of several integral components
that allow every media format to be delivered in ways that can take advantage of the con-
sumption patterns of today’s audiences. Not least of these advances was the creation of
AP Mobile News, the multimedia service for wireless devices that was introduced in 2008 by
AP and its member newspapers and which offers access to local, state, national and global
news. More than 1,000 members are now participating, and monthly traffic has topped 38
million page views. Every week, another 25,000 new users download the application, which
is available so far on the iPhone and BlackBerry. Last year, Time magazine ranked AP Mobile
News No. 3 on its list of top 10 iPhone applications.
AP Exchange — the portal for access to AP multimedia content — is now being used by During 2008, the company also
virtually every U.S. newspaper, as well as by broadcasters and digital and international completed or initiated numerous
customers. In 2008, we debuted Member Marketplace on Exchange, a feature that allows AP
projects to improve efficiencies,
members to easily share text, photos and graphics with each other, and a new, automatical-
modernize outdated systems and
ly updating hosted platform that lets customers drag and drop modules into their own pages
as well as create their own content modules and custom photo galleries. AP Images, meanwhile, procedures, and enhance financial
introduced a robust new platform that makes it a one-stop shop for news agencies and reporting and internal controls.
media companies seeking photos, video and interactive graphics. Work also began on further
developing AP’s video capabilities, allowing the movement, editing and distribution of video
over the Internet and assuring that the Cooperative maintains its edge in the fastest-growing
media arena.

Deep structural changes within AP’s editorial resources paralleled these advances to match
the increasing demand for multimedia content delivered quickly to all platforms. A system of
four regional hubs was created in the United States to drive better and faster coverage of
breaking news; by the end of 2008, two of the desks — in Atlanta and Philadelphia — had
been launched. The benefits were immediate: The time it takes a story to move from a
reporter’s screen to the national wire has decreased by 80 percent, reporters are spending
more time reporting and creating original content, and more stories and multimedia content
are being produced. This year, regional editing desks will open in Chicago and Phoenix. AP
also opened an additional international editing hub, in Johannesburg, and plans to open
another this year in Cairo, to complement the ones already in operation in London, Bangkok,
New York and Mexico City.

FINANCIAL CHALLENGES BRING FURTHER EFFICIENCIES

The Associated Press achieved solid financial results in a weakening economy last year, while
also instituting changes and cost-cutting programs that will allow the Cooperative to react more
nimbly to the further economic weakness expected in 2009 and beyond. While unable to match
the record financial performance of 2007, we finished 2008 with a pre-tax operating profit of $36.9 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip/Feb. 2009
million, compared to $45.8 million the previous year, and reported earnings before interest, taxes Palestinians inspect the damage to a Hamas
security complex, destroyed after an Israeli
and depreciation of $81.6 million, slightly lower than the previous year’s $83.4 million. » air strike. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Annual Report | 3
Once again, as we have since 1848,
AP counted the vote for the media
in a nearly flawless performance
over the long, grueling primary
battle and in the final election —
reporting on more than 10,000
races in all.
Above:
DUJIANGYAN, China/June 2008
In the debris of the Xingjian elementary
school, a woman mourns her grandson,
killed in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that
devastated Sichuan Province on May 12. (AP
Photo/Oded Balilty)
Opposite page:
NILIN, West Bank/May 2008
Palestinian protesters take cover behind an
olive tree as they get caught in a barrage of
tear gas canisters fired by Israeli troops.
(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
MUMBAI, India/Nov. 2008
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel burns
after being besieged by heavily armed gun-
men who staged deadly attacks across India’s
financial capital. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)
4 | Annual Report
Revenue grew at more than 5 percent in 2008, while overall operating expenses were up
approximately 7 percent over the prior year. Most of the increase in both areas can be attrib-
uted to the Beijing Summer Olympics and the U.S. presidential election; excluding the impact
of these events, revenue was up 3.2 percent and expenses 4.8 percent over 2007. The
Olympics and the election were the largest and most complex events that AP has ever under-
taken. In terms of custom coverage and global transmissions, some 1,500 individual satellite
transmissions were booked and delivered to customers for the Olympics, and more than
1,200 during election night in the United States.
Revenue growth in new media, video and photo archive markets was partially offset
by declining revenues from traditional newspaper customers. Expense growth was due
primarily to increased depreciation and staff costs, including the impact of higher exchange
rates related to international salaries.
At year-end, AP had $30.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, about $10
million less than at the end of 2007. The Cooperative remains debt free.
The majority of cash generated from operations was used to finance
investments in AP’s infrastructure and improve the technology underlying
content delivery. In addition, we continued to fund the restructuring of our
bureaus to improve news planning, coverage and editing across formats.
Notably, in 2008, we completed the consolidation of our text and video
offices in London, at a cost of approximately $21 million, and established
the regional editing desks in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
During 2008, the company also completed or launched numerous projects
to improve efficiencies, modernize outdated systems and procedures, and
enhance financial reporting and internal controls. A global procurement
team was organized, enabling the company to reduce vendor costs while
better controlling quality. Several outdated subsystems were replaced, and
a new core system was chosen that will bring together our disparate
financial systems to improve the timeliness and transparency of the reporting of financial
results. Meanwhile, we also introduced an integrity hotline — a confidential service where
staff can anonymously report concerns about inappropriate business activities at AP —
further expanding our corporate responsibility mission.
Like nearly all in our industry, AP faces unprecedented economic challenges in 2009. The new
member pricing program, coupled with attrition in renewals, will result in a revenue decline
not seen by the company since the Great Depression. To counter this, we must reduce our
expense base. Late last year, we announced a hiring freeze with a goal of reducing staff costs
by 10 percent. We hope to achieve most of this reduction through attrition. Investments in
infrastructure and technology improvements are crucial for us to remain competitive, but they
will be difficult to fund in a period of declining cash flow. Accordingly, every capital invest-
ment will be carefully considered and prioritized.
You can find our complete 2008 financial report online at www.ap.org/annual09. »

Top:
BILIN, West Bank/June 2008
Demonstrators run to avoid tear gas canis-
ters fired by Israeli troops during a demon-
stration against Israel’s separation barrier.
(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Above, left to right:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan/March 2008
A Pakistani lawyer flees tear gas fired by
police officers during a protest outside the
residence of the country’s deposed chief
justice. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
ST. LOUIS, Mo./Oct. 2008
Sarah Palin gives her famous wink at the
vice presidential debate. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
AFGHANISTAN/April 2008
Members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary
Unit gather for a pre-dawn roll call. (AP
Photo/David Guttenfelder)
SEVILLE, Spain/Feb. 2008
A bull charges a “forcado,” an eight-man
team of bullfighters, during a media
presentation at the World Bull Fair. (AP
Photo/Miguel Angel Morenatti)
NEW YORK/Jan. 2009
Airline passengers wait to be rescued on the
wings of a US Airways jet that ditched in the
frigid waters of the Hudson River after a
flock of birds knocked out its engines. (AP
Photo/Steven Day)
6 | Annual Report
ENHANCING THE VALUE OF NEWS AND NEWS VALUES
Last year, the public reconnected to hard news at a level not seen in decades, and AP’s
role in delivering the news was never more apparent. From the cyclone in Myanmar and the
Olympics in Beijing to the marathon presidential election in the U.S. and the global
economic meltdown, AP’s reach and speed were unmatched. Once again, as we have
since 1848, AP counted the vote for the media in a nearly flawless performance over
the long, grueling primary battle and in the final election — reporting on more
than 10,000 races in all. On Inauguration Day, AP covered the historic event from every
photographic and video angle and across all formats, including live, streamed coverage that
set a record for viewership on AP’s Online Video Network.
An investigative series by Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza and Justin Pritchard revealed how
routine prescription drugs have made their way into our drinking water, leading to
Congressional hearings on the issue. Front pages and Web sites across the country carried
Sharon Cohen’s heart-wrenching narrative of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry
Division of the Minnesota National Guard enduring the longest deployment of the Iraq War.
In Haiti, Jonathan Katz captured the desperation of a country so poor that children there eat
cookies made of dirt. AP opened its first bureau in Saudi Arabia, headed by a female bureau
chief, Donna Abu-Nasr. For the 10th year in a row, Associated Press Television News recorded
more exclusive stories than its closest competitor, Reuters.
Meanwhile, a dedicated team was established in 2008 to protect all of AP’s valued content and
to assure it is not used without permission — a complex but critical mission in an era when
news is atomized instantly across the digital space. Equipped with advanced tools to comb all
media in search of illegal use of AP content, the intellectual property governance team won
several significant victories last year.
Beyond the headlines, The Associated Press continued its long commitment to uphold the
public right to know. Our efforts were key to the passage last year of the Freedom of
Information Act amendment, significantly beefing up the 42-year-old law. In statehouses,
European courtrooms and war-torn Iraq, on our own or joined with other media, AP fought
attempts to use legal force or government power to limit coverage of news.

As our industry faces its most challenging period in 150 years, it is imperative we persevere
in our pursuit of the truth and the right to tell it. We must not step back from our vital role in
democracy, nor let government or other interest groups step in. Vigilance is the price of a
free press. Without it, AP Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Bilal Hussein would still be
imprisoned in Iraq. Hussein, picked up in 2006 by the U.S. military, was detained for nearly
two years without charges as AP, other media and advocacy groups worked relentlessly on
his behalf. Last year, an Iraqi judicial panel found nothing to justify his detention and
ordered him released. On April 14, Hussein was freed. “What we discovered,”
he said upon release, “is that the price of truth is very expensive.”

Dean Singleton
Chairman

Tom Curley
President and CEO

Annual Report | 7
NEW ORLEANS/Feb. 2008
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack
Obama, D-Ill., speaks at Tulane University.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

8 | Annual Report
 the value of
news
In photos, video and text for newspapers, broadcasters, online and mobile
platforms, The Associated Press covered a jam-packed news year –
frequently first and rarely outdone. Beyond the breaking news of elections,
wars and natural disasters, compelling enterprise and high-impact
investigative efforts provided local relevance and rich material for AP
members’ own coverage.
At the same time, AP realigned its editorial structure to more tightly
match the needs of news consumers and further enhance the value of our
journalism. We also stepped up actions to prevent the illegal use of AP
content and to protect against efforts by governments and others to restrict
access to information the public has a right to know.

Annual Report | 9
 A YEAR OF FIRSTS IN POLITICAL COVERAGE
The longest primary season in U.S. history gave way to a historic election, and AP was
eyewitness to it all. Our election service covered 179 different events over the period, from
presidential and state primaries, caucuses and state conventions to special and general
elections — counting 3,500 races during primary season and nearly 7,000 in the general
election. In the 12 hours after the polls closed on Election Day, AP’s report included 135,280
race updates. Throughout the political season, AP’s Fact Check Service made sure no ques-
tionable assertion by candidates went unchallenged; more than 100 such pieces were pro-
duced last year, and they proved to be so popular that AP’s Washington Bureau has carried
them over into coverage of the new administration and Congress.

Among many other firsts, AP was first to give Hillary Clinton the New Hampshire primary
upset, first to announce John Edwards was dropping out of the presidential race, first to
report that Barack Obama had amassed the number of delegates needed to win the
Democratic nomination and first to report that John McCain had chosen Sarah Palin as his
running mate. After Obama was inaugurated, AP was first to report that he would close the
Guantanamo terrorist detention center and first to report that Tom Daschle would drop his bid
to become Obama’s secretary of health and human services over failure to pay taxes on a car
service made available to him.

The extended campaign season and the extraordinary interest it generated led to the creation
of the highly successful multimedia Campaign Plus. Aimed at online audiences, Campaign
Plus provided in-depth news and analysis with photos, video, interactive graphics and other
data for customers who wanted to delve deep into the mesmerizing political year. Associated
Top: Press Television News covered Obama-mania around the world and was on hand to capture
BEIJING/Aug. 2008
the president’s step-grandmother dancing for joy outside the family home in Kenya, an exclu-
Runners compete in the men’s 10,000-meter
final in the National Stadium at the 2008 sive image that appeared on nearly every major news channel around the world. On Election
Olympics. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Day, APTN delivered a record 27 straight hours of continuous live coverage, with top-of-the-
Above:
hour updates on the vote count from the AP tally room at East Washington University
KOGELO VILLAGE, Kenya/Nov. 2008
Kenyan family members of Barack Obama – in Spokane.
including his step-grandmother, Sarah
Obama, center – celebrate after his victory in On Inauguration Day, AP mobilized its most comprehensive multiplatform reporting effort
the U.S. election was announced. (AP
Photo/Matt Dunham) ever, harnessing technology and story-telling devices in ways never before brought together.
Opposite page:
For the first time, AP streamed the inaugural ceremonies and related events with a live Web
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn./April 2008 cast anchored by AP journalists, while also providing online users with a special widget that
Sgt. John Kriesel, who lost both of his legs gave them access to eight video cameras positioned at key locations around Washington.
in a 2006 roadside bomb attack in Iraq, plays
cards with his two sons, Elijah and Broden.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

10 | Annual Report
ENTERPRISE AND INVESTIGATION TELL A LOCAL STORY
Major investigative and enterprise projects last year brought important news to the front door
of the Cooperative’s news consumers. A database analysis of political contributors to
California’s Proposition 8 showed who, in all 50 states and 20 other countries, contributed to
the successful campaign to ban same-sex marriages there. An interactive look at deficient
bridges across the United States—one year after the deadly rush-hour collapse of the I-35W
bridge in Minneapolis — revealed how little progress had been made toward critical repairs
on bridges in every state. More than 1,000 bridges carrying 40 million vehicles a day were
analyzed by AP for the project. In a series that prompted national and state action, AP
investigative reporters discovered how a vast array of pharmaceuticals — from antibiotics to
mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have made their way into the drinking water supplies
of metropolitan areas serving at least 46 million Americans.

National enterprise reporter Sharon Cohen pieced together the story of the Minnesota
National Guard unit sent to Iraq in what would become the longest deployment of the war—
a grueling 22-month journey where, Cohen wrote, “Some came back with broken bodies,
some came back to eulogies and grieving loved ones and final resting places.” The story of
the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division was meticulously reconstructed from
scores of interviews with soldiers and their families and friends, official documents,
after-action reports, and personal journals, e-mails and letters. »

“As calmly as she could, she told her sons their dad was
hurt and she had to go to Germany to help him. What
kind of hurt, they asked? ‘Dad doesn’t have his legs any-
more,’ she said. They looked puzzled. Everything will be
OK, she said. He’ll get a wheelchair. Later, as Katie read
her sons a bedtime story, 5-year-old Elijah had a ques-
tion. ‘Are Dad’s legs going to grow back?’ he asked. ‘No,
honey, they don’t grow back.’ ‘I just don’t want to talk
about it anymore,’ Elijah said.”
—Sharon Cohen, “The Long Haul”

Annual Report | 11
 behind the
news
The 2008 presidential election was a multidimensional news event, demanding a
extraordinary breadth of coverage and a fast flow of photos and videos, poll results,
and in-depth analysis. AP had exceptional access throughout the campaign, right up to
the historic events of Inauguration Day, when photographer J. Scott Applewhite was given
the prime position: right on the platform at the U.S. Capitol.

Above: Bottom, left to right:

WASHINGTON/Jan. 2009
Barack Obama, joined by his wife, Michelle, and
daughters, Malia and Sasha, takes the oath of office from
Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 44th president
of the United States. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
WASHINGTON/Jan. 2008
Before President Bush’s State of the Union address to a
joint session of Congress, Sen. Barack Obama talks with
Sen. Edward Kennedy, and Sen. Hillary Clinton shakes
hands with colleagues. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Left: WOODBURN, Ore./May 2008

WASHINGTON/Jan. 2009
AP photographer J. Scott Applewhite is right on hand
as President-elect Barack Obama arrives for the
inauguration ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Sen. Barack Obama shares a laugh with diners at Luis’s
Taqueria. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Opposite page:
BERLIN/July 2008
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama
arrives to address the crowd at the Victory Column.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

12 | Annual Report
Annual Report | 13

Above:
BAGHDAD/Dec. 2008
During a news conference with Iraq Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President George W.
Bush has two shoes hurled at him by a man
protesting U.S. policy in Iraq. (AP
Video/Wameed Muwfaq Fathi)
Opposite page:
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti/Nov. 2007
Jean Tony prepares cookies made of dirt,
water, salt and butter. Mud has become a
daily staple for some of the country’s most
desperate people. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
14 | Annual Report
EARTHQUAKES, CYCLONES AND SHOES MAKE NEWS
A multimedia staff converged on Beijing for two weeks of Olympic games that proved the
most popular ever and drove the demand for video higher. AP Television News provided 70
hours of live coverage during the games, and shortly beforehand also captured the desper-
ate search for survivors in China after an earthquake devastated Sichuan Province. AP video
of angry parents mourning the loss of schoolchildren killed in shoddily built schools provid-
ed a rare public window into a display of outrage against the government. AP also exclusive-
ly captured the joy of a pregnant woman, trapped for days under the rubble, later giving birth
to her child, whom she named Joy.
AP’s broad reach provided critical coverage when a cyclone hit Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta,
killing at least 84,000 people. AP obtained exclusive video, images and reports of the
devastation in a country so closed off from the rest of the world that it wouldn’t let in aid work-
ers to assist. AP also scored the iconic image of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai: a lone
surviving insurgent prowling the train terminal as the rampage began. APTN delivered 20
hours of live coverage from Indian affiliates, besting its closest competitor, Reuters, three to
one in exclusives. APTN also scored what may have been the most widely watched video of
all last year: an angry Iraqi journalist hurling his shoes at President George W. Bush during a
press conference in Baghdad.
In continuing coverage of Haiti’s intractable poverty, AP writer Jonathan Katz captured how
rising food prices and corrupt government created a recipe for starvation. “It was lunchtime
in one of Haiti’s worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud,” Katz wrote in his open-
ing story. Meanwhile, he documented, containers loaded with food rotted at the nation’s
ports because of red tape and corruption.
And in Africa, staff writer Rukmini Callimachi witnessed firsthand — and AP captured in
photos and video — the unthinkable practice of children traded like animals and forced to
work in conditions not safe for animals. In “Toiling for Gold,” one in their series, Callimachi
and staff writer Bradley Klapper tracked gold from “bush mines,” where children as young as
four are forced to work, to Switzerland, where it enters the world market. “If you wear a gold
ring on your finger, write with a gold-tipped fountain pen or have gold in your investment
portfolio, chances are good your life is connected to these children,” they wrote.
NEW WORKFLOW ENHANCES NEWS VALUE
Since the opening of the first
AP restructured its U.S. editorial operations last year in moves that dramatically improved the
speed at which news gets to members and customers, without compromising accuracy.
regional desk in the U.S. in April
When the regionalization of news operations is complete this year, AP will effectively have 10 2008, the number of unique stories
regional hubs around the world — an aggressive network that extends the Cooperative’s has increased by half and the num-
reach and penetration at the same time that it reduces duplication and provides a faster and ber of multimedia stories has more
more nimble response to breaking news. than doubled.
The first regional desk in the United States opened in Atlanta in April 2008, covering 13 states
and filing directly to the national wire. Since then, the time it takes to move copy to the wire
has been cut by up to two hours. The number of editors handling a story has been reduced
by half while the number of unique stories being produced has increased by half. The num-
ber of multimedia stories, meanwhile, has more than doubled. The regional approach has
reduced confusion when news happens across state lines — as when a bus of tourists from
South Carolina crashed in Mississippi and the injured passengers were taken to a hospital in
Tennessee — allowing seamless and fast coverage of important regional and local news.

A second U.S. desk opened in Philadelphia late last year, and this year regional desks will
open in Chicago and Phoenix. Outside of the United States, AP extended its existing region-
al desk structure, establishing an editing desk in Johannesburg for sub-Saharan Africa, and
laying out plans for a Middle East hub to open in Cairo this year.

Accompanying the reorganization of the news operation was a parallel restructuring in the way
stories are filed to provide instant first word and fast follow-up of breaking news for all formats
simultaneously. Under the 1-2-3 filing system, journalists first file an AP NewsAlert — a 94-
character headline that can be used by print, broadcast and online — followed by an AP
NewsNow, a 130-word present-tense story that can also be used by all formats. A longer story
then follows. The new workflow has now been rolled out to all AP bureaus around the world. »

Annual Report | 15
 MORE PROTECTION FOR NEWS AND NEWSGATHERING
News values are AP’s values, and protecting them is an essential service that The Associated
Press brings to its members and customers, and to their audiences. Both on our own and with
other media, AP last year challenged attempts around the world to use legal authority or gov-
ernment power to cut off access to public information.

AP’s key role in the founding of the Sunshine in Government Initiative four years ago was
elemental to the passage of an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act which, among
other things, creates an independent ombudsman position to resolve disputed FOI requests.
In Missouri and North Carolina, AP teamed up with member newspapers in cases that
successfully challenged government attempts to destroy official e-mail, arguing that when
state business is conducted by e-mail, it must be saved and disclosed like any other state
records. AP also joined the major U.S. networks to successfully challenge efforts in four states
to push exit poll takers so far back from voting sites that it would have been impossible to
obtain reliable results.

Above, left to right: AP was also a major participant in the London-based News Media Coalition, which last year
BEIJING/Aug. 2008 won important negotiations to prevent restrictions over media coverage of soccer, rugby,
Security officers forcefully detain AP
photographer Ng Han Guan after pro-Tibet cricket and other international sporting events. In Switzerland, AP successfully fought
protesters held a demonstration opposite
repeated attempts by a Swiss company to halt publication of its “Toiling for Gold” story. And
the National Stadium during the Olympic
Games. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) in Iraq, AP photographer Bilal Hussein was finally freed by the U.S. military, after two years
BAGHDAD/April 2008 of struggle by The Associated Press and other media to obtain his release. No charges were
AP photographer Bilal Hussein is released ever filed to explain his detention.
from a U.S. military prison, where he was
held for more than two years without being
formally charged. (AP Photo/Petr David Last year, AP also created an Intellectual Property Governance team to register and monitor
Josek)
use of AP content and take action when it is misappropriated. The team is equipped with a
Opposite page: high-tech toolkit that can comb print, Web sites and television broadcasts to identify illegal use
REIGER PARK, South Africa/May 2008
of AP content. At the same time, AP also launched an internal system so staff can now
People run from police firing rubber bullets
in a settlement on the outskirts of report on potential misuse of its news. The campaign is proving successful: In many cases
Johannesburg. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
the team stopped illegal use of content by issuing legal notices or licensing the user.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan/March 2008
In addition, two substantive lawsuits involving the misappropriation of AP content were
Pakistani women struggle to enter a subsi-
dized food store. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) successfully settled in 2008. ■

16 | Annual Report
Annual Report | 17
KLAGENFURT, Austria/June 2008
Poland’s Jacek Bak and Germany’s Miroslav
Klose go for a header at the Euro 2008
European Soccer Championships. (AP
Photo/Jon Super)

18 | Annual Report
 foundation for
success
Last year marked an important milestone in AP’s digital technology shift.
Just five years after the vision for a multimedia content management and
distribution system was conceived, the core pieces of that platform were all
delivered, integrated and in service.
The original blueprint for what was then called “eAP” was laid out in late
2003. It identified the necessary components of a system that not only
would replace AP’s legacy systems for text, photos and other media, but also
would usher in a new era of true multimedia access for AP journalists and
customers alike.

Annual Report | 19
 GATEWAYS TO INNOVATION
In a series of rollouts beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2008, four key components
of AP’s new digital infrastructure were deployed and integrated: a robust database for storing
content across media type, a metadata system for organizing and linking multimedia content,
browser-based gateways providing customer access to content, and Web-based feeds and
hosted solutions for distributing and presenting content.

Customers are served by these newly integrated pieces both visibly and invisibly. Most
visible is the password-protected, individualized access to the AP database, now provided
through AP Exchange, AP Images and AP Archive. With these secure, browser-based
gateways in place, individual journalists and producers can access and search the full range
of AP content from their computer desktops. Already, more than 100,000 accounts have been
activated for the content portals, effectively transforming AP from “push” delivery to
customer “pull”: Rather than push content down separate media pipes for customers to catch
and sort, the new platform enables customers to pull just what they need, when they need it.

Less visible, underneath the hood of the portals, is the database itself — basically a searchable
warehouse of content — organized by a metadata system for tagging the news by category,
geography and “entity,” meaning famous people, places and things. The database and
metadata work in concert to provide ready access to the content, just as the Dewey decimal
system opened up the wonders of the local library.

BEIJING/Aug. 2008
Michael Phelps of the U.S. powers through
the men’s 200-meter individual medley,
winning one of his eight gold medals.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

20 | Annual Report
MULTIPLE DELIVERY OPTIONS
In addition to pulling content from the password-protected portals, customers can elect to
have it automatically delivered, either in the form of Web feeds moving over the Internet to
customer systems, or as hosted pages (or smaller modules) that customers can plug directly
into their own Web sites.

More innovation is on the way. A programming interface to the database called an “API” will
be introduced in 2009 to enable customers to pull content from the AP database and populate
Web sites and mobile applications automatically, with proper permission and usage tracking. “The value of Member
In addition to these new ways to access AP content, every component of the new digital plat- Marketplace already is being
form is available for members to use for their own benefit. Through the Digital Cooperative realized in our newsroom,”
program, members are adopting the metadata system and are being invited to opt into oppor-
Mark Pickering, editor,
tunities to distribute their content for mobile applications and more. By early 2009, most
The Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph
newspaper members were already enrolled in the program.

Meanwhile, members in several states around the country are using AP Exchange to upload
their own content and share it with other members. Through the Member Marketplace, edi-
tors can decide what content to share, when to share it and with whom. All kinds of content,
from recipes and stimulus spending news to college hockey profiles, have been shared since
Marketplace was introduced in 2008.

Lee Enterprises, a Davenport, Iowa-based group of 53 daily newspapers including the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Arizona Daily Star, is taking advan-
tage of Marketplace to replace an existing internal sharing network for all of its newspapers.
“We see great potential in AP Exchange’s Marketplace,” said Joyce Dehli, Lee’s vice president
for news.

In addition to making it easy to share content, Marketplace also takes advantage of AP’s con-
tent enrichment process to categorize stories, add the same metadata that AP stories have
and make the stories available in search results, right alongside AP stories.

“The value of Member Marketplace already is being realized in our newsroom,” said Mark
Pickering, editor of The Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph.

As the industry enters into a period of slower growth,The Associated Press is able to provide
members and customers a range of cost-effective and innovative solutions for new develop-
ment with our integrated content platform. ■

Annual Report | 21
 behind the
action

In a year that included the historic Beijing 2008 Olympics, AP rolled

out increased coverage of sports worldwide. AP’s video, photos and
reporting of everything from gymnastics to rugby, and everyone
from Michael Phelps and Dara Torres to Rafael Nadal and the
Pittsburgh Steelers, provided the rich sports coverage that
is increasingly in demand.

Above: Below, left to right:

CHICAGO/May 2008
The Chicago Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano slides
into home plate to beat the tag by Arizona
Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder. (AP
Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
LONDON/Feb. 2009
England’s Nick Kennedy is tackled by Italy’s
Gonzalo Garcia during a Six Nations rugby
union match at Twickenham Stadium. (AP
Photo/Tom Hevezi)

Left: MELBOURNE, Australia/Jan. 2009

BALTIMORE, Md./ Sept. 2008
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps is
interviewed by AP South Region sportswriter
Dave Ginsburg. (Photo by Rob Carr)
LOS ANGELES/Jan. 2009
Shane Mosely connects with Mexico’s
Antonio Margarito in a WBA welterweight
title boxing match that Mosely won by TKO in
the ninth round. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Serena Williams lunges for a return at the
Australian Open. (AP Photo/Rick Stevens)
Opposite page:
BEIJING/Aug. 2008
Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts as he wins the
men’s 100-meter final with a world record at
the Beijing 2008 Olympics. (AP Photo/Anja
Niedringhaus)

22 | Annual Report
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip/Dec. 2008
Palestinian prisoners flee over the rubble of
the central security headquarters and prison,
known as the Saraya, after it was hit during
an Israeli missile strike. (AP Photo/Adel
Hana)

24 | Annual Report
 beyond the
headlines
The Associated Press provides business and revenue opportunities as well as
special services that leverage the resources of the news organization and offer
value beyond the news. The Digital Cooperative, for example, formed two
years ago, enriches member content with a metadata system developed by
AP and then works with members to create new products and services in
online and mobile markets.

Annual Report | 25

The Associated Press offers members
the chance to capitalize on their own
imagery using the revolutionary and
highly successful AP Images photo
archive. At no cost, AP digitizes a
selection of members’ own best pho-
tos, hosts them on AP’s advanced
Images sales site platform and shares
revenues from any sales.
26 | Annual Report
ONLINE VIDEO NETWORK TAKES OFF
Interest in online video exploded in 2008, and AP expanded the amount and variety of video
it produced while also introducing improvements in the Online Video Network platform. The
changes created new flexibility in the way affiliates can display video, enabling members to
showcase locally relevant stories or topics of interest on their Web sites.
By the end of the year, more than 2,000 affiliates were participating in the network, which
allows them to display AP video along with their own ad-supported video. Other members
opted to use AP video on their own players. In addition to AP’s robust video coverage of
breaking news — some 60 segments a day — we also began offering live feeds of significant
events, including gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions;
anchored coverage on election night, a first ever for AP; and live streamed video on
Inauguration Day. The inaugural provided OVN users with a widget that effectively put them
in the director’s seat, allowing them to select a camera view from eight live video cameras
positioned at key locations around Washington. The innovation propelled AP’s Online Video
Network to record usage — more than 8 million video streams.
The Associated Press also offers members the chance to capitalize on their own imagery
using the revolutionary and highly successful AP Images photo archive. At no cost, AP digi-
tizes a selection of members’ own best photos, hosts them on AP’s advanced Images sales
site platform and shares revenues from any sales. The program leverages AP’s global foot-
print in the photo market, where revenue last year increased 21 percent.
AP MOBILE NEWS LAYS A NEW TRACK
AP’s global scale and technological innovation helped members get broad mobile distribution
of their local content last year with the roll-out of AP Mobile News. This mobile news service,
designed to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of new-generation smart phones,
received critical acclaim and has quickly gained a loyal consumer following. Among other
awards, it was honored by Time magazine, which last year ranked it No. 3 on its list of Top 10 Top:
iPhone applications, and was named runner-up in a competition for the best iPhone Web BERLIN/Feb. 2009
Kate Winslet arrives for the screening of
application at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. “The Reader” at the Berlin International Film
Festival. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
Launched in May 2008 on the iPhone, the service has attracted more than 1,100 AP affiliates
Above, left to right:
who have signed up to make their own branded news accessible on AP Mobile News. BUENOS AIRES/May 2008
Monthly traffic has topped 38 million page views. BlackBerry has released a version of the Colombian pop star Shakira and Spanish
singer Alejandro Sanz perform during “The
service, and it will soon be carried by most of the major carriers. In addition, AP is securing Concert For The Children,” a benefit for
distribution arrangements with mobile handset manufacturers, and applications are now Shakira’s foundation for needy children in
Latin America. (AP Photo/Emiliano Lasalvia)
being built for other mobile operating systems, including Google’s Android, Microsoft
CANNES, France/May 2008
Windows and Java/J2ME. Since its launch, interest in local news on smart phones has con- Sean Penn and Bono arrive for the premiere
tinued to rise and now accounts for 20 percent of viewership of AP Mobile News. AP has been of “The Third Wave” during the 61st Cannes
film festival. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
managing national sales efforts and will soon roll out a pilot program for local ad sales. While
LOS ANGELES/March 2008
advertising revenue projection for all mobile products has been revised downward due to this
Paris Hilton strikes a pose backstage during
year’s economic slump, experts still predict double-digit growth in the area. » Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. (AP
Photo/Matt Sayles)

TOKYO/April 2008
Jack Nicholson appears at a press confer-
ence to promote “The Bucket List.” (AP
Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

LOS ANGELES/Jan. 2009

Freida Pinto, a star of “Slumdog Millionaire,”
arrives at the Los Angeles Film Critics
Association awards ceremony. (AP
Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Annual Report | 27
 headlines
behind the

As the global economic meltdown unfolded, AP was there to witness and record the
unprecedented crisis. AP photographers — including Richard Drew, who has covered Wall
Street for more than 35 years — captured the extraordinary collapse in photos that ran on
front pages and Web sites around the world.

Left: Opposite page, top:

NEW YORK/Oct. 2008 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia/Oct. 2008
Richard Drew shoots on the floor of the New York Stock A Saudi trader watches the stock market results.
Exchange. (AP Photo/Bernadette Tuazon) (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Below: Opposite page, bottom, left to right:

SHANGHAI/Feb. 2009 FRANKFURT, Germany/Oct. 2008
An investor watches the stock price monitor at a private Brokers watch the European markets tumble amid ongo-
securities company. (AP Photo) ing fears about the state of credit markets. (AP
Photo/Michael Probst)
Bottom, left to right:
NEW YORK/Sept. 2008
NEW YORK/Sept. 2008
On Sept. 29, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Trader Christopher Crotty reacts as the Dow Jones
plummets nearly 778 points, a trader takes a break
plunges on Sept. 17. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
outside of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP
NEW YORK/Oct. 2008 Photo/Stephen Chernin)
AP Radio’s Warren Levinson, right, interviews a trader
on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP
Photo/Richard Drew)

28 | Annual Report
Annual Report | 29
 STATE NEWS DIGS DEEPER
The Associated Press is the only news organization covering every statehouse in the United
States. Last year, AP reporters across the U.S. worked to further enhance local content for
members, such as by providing details of hometowns and locations so members can more
easily localize AP news. The efforts are particularly critical in an era when many newspapers
have had to trim their own capital bureau coverage just as state governments are generating
more news as they work to deal with the growing economic crisis.

Customers also are getting more locally relevant news, and getting it faster. State reports now
contain a greater number of separate stories, especially in the early morning hours so critical
to broadcast and online news. In the South, for example, where AP opened its first regional
U.S. editing hub, the average number of early morning stories increased sevenfold last year.

Last year AP also reorganized its regional reporting team covering Washington, in
another effort to assist members and customers who have had to retrench their national
legislative coverage. The restructuring will provide every state with regional representation
in the nation’s capital and assure coverage of spot news from their delegations, as well as
broader Washington issues that affect their region. ■

Above, left to right:

CHICAGO/Jan. 2009
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich listens to a
caller while on the air at the WVON radio
station. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

LOS ANGELES/Oct. 2008

Residents flee their hillside homes during
a fast-moving brush fire. (AP Photo/Dan
Steinberg)

Opposite page:
ATLANTA/Feb. 2009
Thousands of people turned out for a federal
government job fair. (AP Photo/Journal
Constitution, Rich Addicks)

30 | Annual Report
 board of

R. Jack Fishman
directors
FIRST ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: SECOND ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT:

Walter E. Hussman Jr.

STANDING, LEFT TO RIGHT:

Mary M. Jacobus (deceased)

Craig A. Dubow
Gannett Co., Inc.
Rochester Democrat
Citizen Tribune Arkansas Democrat-Gazettte The New York Times and Chronicle
Morristown,Tenn. Little Rock, Ark. Regional Media Group McLean, Va.
The Ledger
Steven O. Newhouse Julie Inskeep Lakeland, Fla.
Advance.Net The Journal Gazette
The Jersey Journal Fort Wayne, Ind. Bruce T. Reese
Jersey City, N.J. Bonneville International Corp.
Boisfeuillet (Bo) Jones Jr. Salt Lake City, Utah Gary Pruitt
W. Dean Singleton — Chairman The Washington Post The McClatchy Co.
MediaNews Group Inc. Washington, D.C. R. John Mitchell Sacramento Bee
The Denver Post Rutland Herald Sacramento, Calif.
Denver, Colo. Donna J. Barrett Rutland, Vt.
Community Newspaper Holdings
Jon Rust The Eagle-Tribune David Lord
Rust Communications Lawrence, Mass. Pioneer Newspapers, Inc.
Southeast Missourian Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Cape Girardeau, Mo. Bozeman, Mont.
Charles V. Pittman H. Graham Woodlief
Schurz Communications Inc. Media General Inc.
Petoskey News-Review The News & Advance
South Bend, Ind. Lynchburg, Va.

Michael E. Reed
GateHouse Media, Inc.
The Leader
Corning, N.Y.
David Westin Sam Zell
ABC News Tribune Company
New York Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Ill.
Mary Junck
Lee Enterprises, Inc.
Quad City Times
You can find our complete Davenport, Iowa
2008 financial report online at
www.ap.org/annual09

32 | Annual Report
inside
letter 2 the value of news 8 foundation for success 18 beyond the headlines 24

Cover:
BEIJING/Aug. 2008
Runners compete in the men’s 10,000-meter
final in the National Stadium at the 2008
Olympics. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Opposite page:
DENVER/Aug. 2008
Vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden
joins presidential candidate Sen. Barack
Obama on stage on the final day of the
Democratic National Convention. (AP
Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Back cover:
NEW YORK/Sept. 2008
Trader Joseph Acquafredda checks the
numbers on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average drops 449.36 points on Sept. 17.
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FLINT, Mich./Sept. 2008

Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
Barack Obama speaks at a town hall
meeting. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) This report is printed on FSC-certified recycled paper with vegetable oil based inks.
The Associated Press | 450 West 33rd Street | New York | N Y | 10001 | www.ap.org
2008
Annual Report