Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-01
DESCRIPTION OF
ASSOCIATED PRESS
No Institution More Widely
Known by Name or More
Vaguely Understood.

the Associaued Press, appears in the
May issue of the North American Re.
view: Probably no institution is more
widely known by name than the As.
ISOLATED Press and, on the other hand,
more vaguely understood by the public
generally as to its organization and its
functions. For whatever cause this may
be, that 1t is a fact is daily apparent.
The Associated Press is an association
of something over eight hundred and
fifty newspapers, operating under a
charter of the State OF New York as a
mutual and cooperative organization for
the interchange and collection of news.
Under the terms of its charter "the cor
poration is not to make a profit nor to
make or declare dividends and is not
to engage in the business Of selling in
telligence nor traffic in the same"
In other words, the Associated Press
is simply a common agent of its men,
bers by which they arrange an inter-
change of the news that each collects,
and is bound by its membership obliga-
ton to contribute for the common use
of its fellow members and also as the
agency through which reports Of for
eign and certain classes Of domestic hap
penings are collected and distributed to
the newspapers served by the organiza-
ton.
The fact that in the present year we
celebrate the twentieth anniversary OF
the first nationwide cooperative and
non-profit-making new~s-gathering or
ganization in the world seems to make
the publication of something respecting
It timely.
SERVANT OF NEWSPAPERS.
The Associated Press is in no wise the
master of the newspapers constituting
its membership; it is distinctly their SER
want.
Its board of directors is composed of
active newspaper men chosen at annual
meetings by the membership and, in
an experience running through twenty
years of intimate connection with the
present organization and also nat of
the older Illinois corporation, 1 have
never known an instance in all the
changing personnel Of boards of direc-
tors when there was any departure from
the most rigid observance of the highest
obligations of trusteeship and disregard
of private and selfish interests. The
president, vice-prcsidents, and members
of the board of directors serve without
salaries.
The Associated Press of to-day is the
outcome of a many-year struggle be-
tween two opposing systems. One, that
of news-gathering concerns with private
or limited ownership which dealt at
arms length with newspapers to which
they sold news at such profit as might
be secured, and over which the news
papers who bought from them had no
more control than over the paper mill
supply them with print paper.
The other system Is based on the
theory that a powerful, privately owned
and controlled news-gathering agency is
a menace to the press and people.
Determined to establish an agency
subject only to the control of the news
papers for whom II acted, in 1899 a group
of western men composing the Western
Associated Press began a light to attain
this end, and since that time a contest
between these two opposing principles
has been waged. In asserting that the
Associated Press, as to-day constituted,
is the servant and agent only of the
newspapers for which It acts, l have no
thought of minimizing the tremendous
Importance of the work 1t does as such
an agent, but wish simply to emphasize
the thought that properly speaking It has
no entity Of its own, no mission save to
serve its members.
EVERY BELIEF REPRESENTED.
Its members are scattered from the At
lantic to the Pacific, from Canada to the
CUR, and represent every possible shade
OF political belief, religious faith and
economic sympathy. 1t is obvious that
the Associated Press can have no parti-
san nor factional bias, no religious affili-
ition' no capitalistic nor pro-labor trend.
Its function is simply TO furnish its
members with a truthful, clean, compre-
hensive, non-partisan, and this In it's
broadcast sense, report Of the news OF
lhe world as expeditiously as is compati-
BILE with accuracy and as economically
as possible.
10 DO this the composing
It's membership contribute first, the news
Of their localities and second, weekly as
OF money a~ggregating about
10000 per annum, with which an ex-
tensive system OF leased wires is main
tanned CS,m miles oc wire In the daytime
snd 2S'Oc miles OF wire at night, bureaus
IN the principal American cities supnIe.
menting and collating the news OF local
newspapers and bureaus for the original
collection OF news throughout the world
The volume of the news report Ia
members varies greatly. ranging from
hve hundred words daily by telegraph
or telephone to papers able to utiliza hy,
n small amount of general news matter.
10 more than fifty thousand words daily
or thirty-fve newspaper columns in the
more important cities.
COLLECTING FOREIGN NEWS.
The method OF collecting foreign news
has been greatly changed in recent
years. Formerly the Associated Pross
collected its foreign service in London
receiving the news there OF the Reuter-
company. Of the Wolf Agency OF Ger.
many, and of tho Havas Agency OF
France with smaller affiliated agencies
in Italy INC Spain,
The objection to this method was that
the news as received In London wa.
alleged to be impressed with an Eng
fish bias, In any event It was conceded.
ly not collected from ar American view.
point.
To meet this criticism the Associated
Press has established regular bureaus OF
it's own in all the great news centers
and now maintains Offices and staffs In
London, Par.s, Berlin, Rome. st. Peters,
burg, Vienna, Toxic, Picking, Mexico
City and Havana, in addition to hundred:
of individual correspondents scattered
through the world.
1t is probable that in the foreign news
90 -.