AP expands project to distribute content from nonprofit news organizations

NEW YORK — The Associated Press is expanding its project to distribute content from nonprofit news organizations to newspapers through delivery technology that will make it easier for newspapers to find and use the material.

Newspapers, for the first time, will be able to request that feeds of nonprofit materials be delivered directly into their content management systems through AP’s Webfeeds software. The project will begin testing with nonprofit organizations in California and will use Internet delivery feeds that have been put in place at newspapers over the past year.

“I think this is a win-win for all involved. Newspapers will get professional content from award-winning journalists and we have wider distribution,” said Dori J. Maynard, president of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

The Maynard Institute, which produces America’s Wire, is one of about a dozen nonprofits that are discussing ways to set up the system. It expands on an earlier project that brought several nonprofit publishers and content on issues such as campaign financing into distribution through an AP website. The move expands the footprint of nonprofit journalism as a growing number of foundation-supported and nonprofit organizations produce public service journalism.

“The goal of the project is to provide the nonprofit journalism organizations an additional distribution channel for their work while making it easy for newspapers to find and use the content. As a not-for-profit news cooperative, AP was founded to enable publishers to share content as well as to provide original AP coverage,” said Sue Cross, senior vice president, Business Development & Partner Relations, Americas.

The service is for nonprofits who provide content to other news outlets free of charge. AP provides distribution for paid nonprofit and other syndicators through its APT delivery services. Newspapers must opt in to receive the content through Webfeeds. Newspapers that do not receive Internet delivery will be able to find the content in the Marketplace section of AP’s Exchange portal.

The project started with four nonprofit investigative organizations in June 2009.

About The AP
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