Associated Press of Pakistan

1905 – Established as Associated Press of India before the 1947 partition of Indian sub-continent

1919 – Taken over by Reuters news agency during British rule

1947 – Renamed as Associated Press of Pakistan under private ownership after creation of the country in August 1947

1961 – Taken over by government through an Ordinance on 15th June 1961

2002 – Converted into a corporation through Ordinance on 19^th October, 2002

The Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has come a long way since its inception in 1947. The wire-service as it stands now began its life in 1905 as Associated Press of India, before the partition of sub-continent. Its operations were taken over by the Reuters news agency of the United Kingdom in 1919.

Following the creation of Pakistan in August 1947 the offices of the news agency within Pakistan went into a private hand and were renamed Associated Press of Pakistan. Owing to financial and administrative issues, the APP was taken over by the Government through an Ordinance on 15th June 1961; with an objective “to ensure free and efficient flow of news to the people through an independent and efficient news service. APP got converted into a Corporation on October 19, 2002 through an Ordinance.

Making a humble beginning from dingy small buildings at Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi with the reporters using bulky typewriters, whose sound of the carriage return still sounds music to the old hands, and noisy tele-printers churning out yards of punched paper tape, the APP over the years has evolved into a modern news organization.

Instead of releasing news in dull and drab plain English text, the APP today with its dedicated in-house software development team releases its multi-lingual news directly on to the computer screens of editors of news papers/channels on their news desks, across the country and abroad.

The reporters file their news items through; laptops, mobile phones etc. using a secure link and a specially developed News Processing System. The APP now provides Multilingual News Service in English, Urdu, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pushto, Arabic, Balochi and Barahvi, besides its photo and a Video News Service.

Headquartered at the Capital Islamabad, the Associated Press of Pakistan has bureaus at Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Hyderabad, Faisalabad and Gilgit. On a smaller scale it has Stations at Larkana, Muzaffarabad, Sargodha, Abbottabad, Sialkot, Bahawalpur and Sukkur.

For its international coverage the APP has Foreign Correspondents based at Washington, London, New Delhi and Beijing, besides Stringers at the United Nations – New York, Brussels and Jeddah who contribute towards promoting country’s image and highlight its stance on national and regional issues in true perspective.

For domestic news the APP has over 108 Correspondents at District and Tehsil levels. The APP with its Charter for provision of an uninterrupted flow of news to the people avails its professional freedom through a team of around 500 highly qualified, competent editorial staff which remains committed to excellent journalistic traditions.

The Video News Service launched in October 2007 produces documentaries on diverse subjects and distributes news footage and documentaries to news channels. It provides feed through FTP, DVs and DVDs.

The APP has its own Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) vehicle, Earth station and latest editing equipment for beaming live coverage of important events besides launching test run of the APP Web TV.

Over the years, despite swift competition, decline in news paper reading trend and rise of the citizen journalists, where every person carrying a smart phone captures events and shares it through text, photo and video reports on social media; Facebook, twitter, the APP manages to capture prominent space in the national and regional dailies.

It has its own vibrant social media section that regularly tries to capture space through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

The number of News Reports Released to the national media daily has recorded significant improvement over the years. We release on an average 30,000 stories a month to our subscribers in English, Urdu, 4500 in Pushto, Sindhi, Arabic, Saraiki and Balochi languages, and around 2000 photographs and video clips.

Besides on-spot coverage of news items, features and analytic reporting, the APP also extensively monitors major local and foreign news channels and news papers. It has its own dedicated Monitoring Section that simultaneously monitors more than a dozen news channels.

The APP Reporters after grueling training in diverse fields of journalism hone their professional skills and report on economy, with exclusive pieces on culture, social issues, sports, environment, apart from specialized coverage of the Parliamentary proceedings and diplomatic activities.

APP has News Exchange Agreements with over 40 foreign News Agencies under which bouquet of important text, photo and visual news services are exchanged daily.

The APP Android app helps mobile users get access to latest news feed of the wire service. The APP’s Arabic language service has seen a positive feedback from the media in the Middle-East and is getting good display in Arabic newspapers. The APP Social Media Section regularly updates its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages.

Its future plans include launch of news services in Kashmiri, Chinese and Persian languages, Digital News Display Screens. APP plans to further expand its on-job training and capacity building of journalists to raise professional standards and cope with the challenges of a digital world. Launch of a dynamic web portal, improvement of marketing services. With experienced professional hands and young blood, APP is well-positioned to make bold forays on professional horizons.

• Associated Press of Pakistan official website