26 June - AAP - Australian Associated Press closes - the word closes needs to be in big print - AAP to CLOSE 26 June
AAP for decades (85 years) sent out articles about political, sport, social and international news which regional and country newspapers picked up - often the major media did not send someone to an event and themselves picked up the AAP.
The ABC announced about 200 jobs will be lost.
Digital publishers, including the Guardian and Daily Mail, rely on AAP for much of their breaking news content and it is understood they were not informed of the changes ahead of time. Those publishers are estimated to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to AAP.
Guardian journalist Calla Wahlquist said on Twitter: "One of the reasons places like Guardian Australia have time to do investigations is because AAP covers the basics."
AAP is also Facebook's fact-checker, a role which it took on in mid-2019. The future of that arrangement is not clear.
The company posted a profit in 2019 after a major restructure, with Mr Davidson assuring it would be the last of the major editorial redundancy rounds for the news wire service (AAP Chair).
AAP family
I wrote ‘field hockey’ for AAP from the Olympics. World Cups, Australian Championships, Champions Trophies …..
AAP circulated ‘around the world’ my now famous 1984 Olympic hockey article on how the US journalists rephrased all the field hockey terms into ice hockey terminology - tender for goalkeeper, puck for ball, offensive for attack etc etc.
Indian and Pakistani newspapers sold out as everyone (hockey lovers) were besotted with such a news item. Pakistan won the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic ‘Gold Medal’.
Ramon Williams
Ramon Williams was the AAP equivalent on religious media news in Australia for over five decades. He has been contacted by AAP and will retain his Medianet account.
From the 1970’s when I initiated my Christian news writing - Ramon Williams circulated them around the world - year after year after year – Ramon undertook a mammoth task telling others what the Lord has done.
My international hockey writing (including 5 books on hockey) and as The Australian newspaper hockey writer (stringer) for 24 years to 1994 - gave me an idea how to catch readers attention. Ramon Williams appreciated this.
The Illawarra Mercury Chief of Staff Peter Newell wrote me a reference when I moved from Wollongong to Sydney having written his hockey from 1972-76 - “Mark Tronson has a flair for news angels”. Ramon Williams recognised this too.
Now we’re helping young people write for Christian Today (10 years now) in the young writer ministry “Press Service International”. Last year the Australasian Religious Press Association awarded this young writer program their premier award ‘The Gutenberg’ for 10 years promoting young writers.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Dr Mark Tronson’s Press Service International in 2019 was awarded the Australasian Religious Press Association’s premier award, The Gutenberg. In September 2020 Summer Moore presented her commission portrait of Dr Mark Tronson holding the Gutenberg plaque. The above photo is the upper part from this portrait.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at: http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
