The Charlotte Observer and the Associated Press shared a history reaching back more than a century. The AP was conceived in 1846, when New York Sun proprietor Moses Yale Beach brought together six New York newspapers to share reports across a wire. Soon after, the New York Times joined. [1] The new initiative galvanized contentious rivals around the idea of sharing in order to augment their newsgathering and extend both their reach and influence.

Daniel Craig became the APs first general agent in 1851 and redefined the service as a news vendor. The AP, headquartered in New York but with national and international ambitions, sold its news to out-of-town newspapers and in turn asked those papers to contribute news reports to the association. The business modela not-for-profit news cooperative owned and governed by participating newspaper memberstook shape. AP content came both from its own reporters and from members (AP staff rewrote member content in its own style before sending dispatches out on the wire).

For hometown publishers of all sizes, the wire as it expanded offered unprecedented advantages, making it possible for a paper to publish a story from Europe or Asia as quickly as the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune . [2] As such, it became indispensable for a local editor striving to produce a complete and credible newspaper. In the early 20 ^th century, the cooperative boomed, expanding its newspaper clientele by 1,300 percentfrom 100 to 1,400 membersfrom 1914 to 1940. [3]

Charlotte Observer building
Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer. The press in Charlotte, North Carolina, stirred to life in the late 1860s. Charlotte, known as the Queen City, had escaped the ravages of the Civil War better than most of its southern counterparts, projecting a spirit of enterprise that attracted people and inspired optimism. [4] Responding to the citys growing prosperity and sophistication, the Charlotte Daily Observer opened its presses in 1869 and, in 1875, joined the Associated Press as a subscribing member. [5] Observer Editor Thames , a career newspaper reporter and editor who first came to Charlotte in 1988, recalls the APs early value to its members:

It was the newspapers window to the world. Newspapers knew what was happening locally, but especially in that day, they performed a service of telling their readers about the entire world, and the AP made that possible. [6]

Over the decades, AP offered its members breaking news, international reporting, and sports coverage, including a full catalogue of out-of-town scores, statistics, and game briefs. Members relied on it for news that was fast and accurate. When something is developing rapidly, no one can touch AP with the speed of their updates, says Charlotte Observer Page One Editor John Arwood . [7] One of the APs greatest assets is consistency of style and format, adds Charles Broadwell, publisher of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer . [8] Its bylaws were specific: The news gathered and distributed by the Associated Press shall be as objective and complete as human endeavor can make it. [9]

By 1960, it had 3,000 reporters, photographers, and editors spread across 242 bureaus in 121 countries. These journalists produced most of the wires national and international news, though member newspapers contributed 45 percent of the content for state AP reports. Some 1,800 news organizations were members, paying the AP handsome monthly fees, which varied according to the circulation of the news operation. The members owned the cooperative, and top newspaper executives occupied 18 of the 19 board of directors seats.

In the US, the cooperative maintained a bureau in most states; the bureau chief was responsible for fulfilling partners requests for coverage and voicing members concerns to the board. Former New York and Ohio AP Bureau Chief Beth Grace reflects on the strong bond between the AP and its members:

AP for many, many years was seen as a partner to papers or a member of their staff. I remember when I was a brand new bureau chief in New York, and I went to see the publisher of the Elmira Star-Gazette . He didnt know me from a hole in the wall. I walked in and we sat down, and hes telling me stories like Ive known him for 100 years. He opens his budget to me shows me every page of his budget. And I realized for the first time, I was a member of his staff. I was his partner. [10]

Listen to Grace describe the AP ' s relationship to newspapers.

The APs well-defined purposeto provide members with national and global reachcontinued into the 21st century. That purpose weathered many a technology-driven change. In the 1920s, the innovation was radio, followed by television in the 1950s, cable TV in the 1970s and, by the 1990s, the Internet. Each new technology weakened the market for newspapers, the APs principal partner, and as early as the 1960s, the AP began to see its growth plateau. [11] Between 1960 and 1985, according to one study, contracts for major wire services fell by 12.3 percent, while the number of newspapers buying multiple wire services declined by 15.6 percent. [12]

Then, after 2001, the established relationship between the AP and its members began to shift.