Since 1846, The Associated Press has been on the scene wherever news is
breaking. AP is a not-for-profit newsgathering cooperative whose content -
across subjects, formats and continents - is seen by half of the world's population
every day. Our unmatched expertise in global newsgathering, distribution
and service makes AP the most trusted, definitive source for news.
The AP's mission is to get it first but first get it right, and to be the first
choice for news, by providing the fastest, most accurate reporting from every
corner of the globe across all media types and platforms.
Headquartered in New York, AP delivers coverage of news, sports, business,
weather, entertainment, politics, lifestyles and technology in text, audio, video,
graphics, photos and interactives. AP is also a leader in developing and marketing
innovative newsroom technology and newsgathering services.
AP does what it takes to get the story, even in the world's most dangerous
and challenging places. Our global network of journalists work in more than 280
locations in uo countries worldv.ride. Journalists staff every statehouse in the
United States, providing unrivaled access to more sources of information and
newsmakers.
The extensive network that is the AP grew from a single notion more than a
century and a half ago: that cooperation can help authoritative news reach readers
faster.
In late 1846, hostilities began in what would become the Mexican War. American
newspapers, most based in the Northeast at the time, faced huge obstacles
in reporting the conflict.
War reports for the New York Sun were sent from Mexico to Mobile, Alabama,
by boat, rushed by special pony express to Montgomery and then 700
miles by U.S. Mail stagecoach to the southern terminus of the newly invented -
and costly - telegraph near Richmond, Virginia. That express gave the Sun an
edge of 24 hours or more on papers using regular mail.
But Moses Yale Beach, the Sun's publisher, relinquished that advantage by inviting
other New York publishers to join a cooperative venture. Five newspapers
signed on: the Sun, the Journal of Commerce, the Courier and Enquirer, the
Herald and the Express. It was the beginning of the AP.
AP assumed its mcxlem legal form in i900 when it incorporated as a not-forprofit
cooperative under the Membership Corporation Law of New York state.
Today, the AP membership elects the board of directors, the cooperative's governing
body.
AP staffers are governed by a comprehensive ethics statement, available for
viev.ring at http://www.ap.org/company/news-values.
More than 165 years since its inception, AP remains the undisputed source
for news, delivering fast, unbiased news globally to all media platforms and
formats.