More than two dozen news organizations in New York state are sharing their content and coverage plans using AP StoryShare, a tool developed by The Associated Press to enable stronger collaboration and foster local news.
The project is supported by the Google News Initiative.
Since AP StoryShare launched in January, over 200 stories have been shared by news outlets ranging from The (Albany) Times Union to the (Utica) Observer-Dispatch to the Niagara Gazette. Photos are also being shared between news organizations.
Participating newsrooms can republish each other’s stories and photos in their own newspapers with proper credit.
The result has been greater access to local news for communities across New York.
“We are delighted that AP StoryShare is helping newsrooms with what they need most: more local and state news coverage for their communities,” said AP Deputy Managing Editor for U.S. News Noreen Gillespie. “This platform provides an easy way for news outlets to connect with each other in the shared — and critical — interest of preserving local news.”
Stories have ranged from accountability journalism that revealed how New York’s top government transparency official was hired in darkness to policy-driven reporting, like the impact of new state laws for farm workers, to a takeout on the proposed doubling of the tax on beer to help fund public education, and human interest pieces, such as the role of Otsego County in the filming of a new World War II-era movie.
“AP StoryShare is another enormous step forward in newspapers helping and collaborating with each other,” said Ken Tingley, editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York. “Although in its early stages, AP StoryShare is already providing us important state coverage that we were not getting before. This is the future, where we each help each other to better serve our readers.”
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise explained to its readers the significance of AP StoryShare in an editorial published last month, writing:
It gives every newsroom in New York more high-quality options on what to present to their audience, beyond what their own staffs produce. It lets us offer you in-depth reporting on a topic that we can’t spare a reporter for, but some newsroom somewhere can.
It therefore helps every news reader, listener or viewer in the state be more informed on more goings-on statewide, not just in typical news hubs such as New York City or Albany but in small towns.
“Hearing the feedback from the participating New York state publishers reinforces the reasons we looked to work with The Associated Press on this important project,” said Google Managing Director of Global Partnerships Jason Washing. “I couldn’t be more excited to work on a project with The Associated Press that not only increases coverage and distribution on critical local news stories but puts in place a process and technology that will serve as a roadmap to replicate this already successful collaboration.”
The New York pilot project will run through the fall. It was announced in collaboration with the Google News Initiative last June. New York was selected because of its rich history of journalism, AP memberships, broad geography and news volume.
AP pioneered the idea of news sharing. The independent, not-for-profit news cooperative was founded in 1846 when five New York City newspapers funded a pony express route through Alabama to bring news of the Mexican-American War north faster than ever before.
Contact
Lauren Easton
Global Director of Media Relations and Corporate Communications
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
leaston@ap.org
Patrick Maks
Senior Media Relations Associate
The Associated Press
212-621-7536
pmaks@ap.org
Maggie Shiels
Communications Lead
Google News Initiative
maggies@google.com
