She writes, she shoots video, she talks on the radio, and she is on a TV news program…

She is an Associated Press reporter! Today we visited the AP Washington Bureau and for the first time I learned how news organizations are actively responding to the evolution of how people receive and respond to media. “Convergence” is THE hot button term in media and while this is being addressed on a an educational level (by allowing students to practice skill sets in a variety of different formats), professional organizations like AP are also training their reporters in different formats and making them as professionally versatile as possible.

AP is also using their reporters to create a new sense of brand awareness and influence in media. We talked about how half of the world’s population gets information from AP (print, online, mobile) but the majority of those people don’t realize that AP is the original source. There is an obvious disconnect and since AP generates the majority of its money from membership fees, maybe there hasn’t been as much (financial) pressure to address this issue. But it isn’t as simple as running a marketing campaign or using social media to reach a target audience - AP has to avoid becoming competition to its members – and therefore they can use their talented, respected and knowledgeable reporters to promote AP across print media, TV and radio.

I was surprised by how much AP does – print, video, radio, research, fact checking (accountability journalism) – they are much more than a wire service. They go beyond reporting just the facts. Their position, relation and influence on media (specifically political news in D.C.) reminded me of CSIS’s role in the creation of public policy – AP provides content, facilitates conversation and informs the public (through different formats of media) but mostly in the background. AP is slightly more vocal about receiving credit for their contributions but they aren’t in direct competition for readers. Their reputation and ability to be in so many places around the world where news may or may not occur makes AP extremely powerful and influential in the news media world.

I would have liked to ask more questions about their social media strategy – it was briefly mentioned that AP uses forums like facebook and Twitter to monitor for possible stories/sources and allow for the public to bring stories to their attention. This strategy is something that PR practitioners and organization representatives need to be aware of – social media is a multipurpose tool and can only be used effectively if users are aware of all potential uses.

A final thought: people want to engage with news they care most about. One of the AP representatives made an interesting comment about by providing raw content, specifically online, AP allows consumers to make their own judgments about the validity and importance of the story. Additionally, the general public responds better to raw content – not information influenced by a news organization or a reporter’s personal opinion. This goes back to a simple business practice – give consumers what they want…and I believe AP is evolving o doing just that.