Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-04-02
Staff Teamwork Keynoted
APP in 7943> Cooper Reports
BS the Associated Press.

~ " 1-T0/ W
Is the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April Perform
ance of the Associated Press staff
rose to new high levels of quality
and efficiency" in 1943, Executive
Director Kent Cooper has reported
to member newspapers, even though
the organization has lost more than
a fourth of its pre-Pearl Harbor
staff to the armed services and its
problems multiplied as the war
Heightened.
Mr.. Cooper's annual report, now
being distributed, stated:
Teamwork was the keynote, at
home and abroad.
There were heartaches and fail
ures. Best-laid plans went awry,
as inevitably some must. Military
restrictions and censorship enor-
mously increased difficulties of tell
ing the story in word and picture
of world at war.
But amid all the uncertainties
and despite the diminution of quail
fed personnel, the success with
which the overall challenge was
met is attested by the fact that
general performance rose to new
high levels of quality and efficiency"
This new peak of effectiveness in
1943" Mr.. Cooper attributed to ''the
finest all-around demonstration of
staff team work in our cooperative
history; team work which drew
its main inspiration from the cour-
age, the resourcefulness and the
Proportional brilliance of a band of
war correspondents moving with the
vanguards of Allied attacking forces,
from Tunisia and Salerno in the
Mediterranean to Tarawa and Ar
ava in the Pacific"
Casualties on Staff.
The hazards and hardships of
covering the second world war, in
which for the first time correspond
ents accompany troops, was DEM
onstrated during the year, Mr..
Cooper said, by casualties on the
AP foreign staff. Edward H. Crock
EFT lost his life in the torpedoing
of a British warship. Wounded
were Yves Gallagher, George Tuck
er, William F. Boni, Rembert James
and Lynn Heinzerling.
The number of APP staff members
in war theaters was substantially
increased in 1943, the report con-
Itinued, the largest increase being
in London where the staff was dou-
bled in preparation for the inva-
sion of the continent.
The executive director had spe-
cial commentator for the odd
fashioned scoops" scored in war
coverage by Daniel DeLuce in Yugo-
slavia, Don Whitehead in Tunisia,
Sicily and Italy, Bob Eunson of
New Britain and Lloyd Stratton,
president of APPS British subsidiary,
Associated Press, Ltd, at the Te-
heran conference.
Some of the beats on the home
front listed by Mr.. Cooper were
Kirke L. Simpsons revelation of the
United States attitude toward Gen.
de Gaulle, John M. Hightower's Sc
ries telling the first full story of
Radar, Jack Bells story of the pre-
paration of the Burton Ball. Hill
Hatch postwar resolution and the
|entire Washington staff's polls Of
Senate sentiment on international
Questions.
Move Toward Freer Writing.
At the September conference of
the AP Managing Editors Associa-
ten, the report related, plan was
presented for more straightfor-
ward methods in news reporting and
interpretive writing by qualified
tstaf Memberships marking an ina
portant milestone in the forward
progress and liberalization Of AP
news handling"
This move toward freer writing,
the report added, has been paral-
leled by the constant effort to dig
under the surface news and inter-
Ipret it.
Advances were made in increased
regional news coverage. which bu-
reau chiefs were instructed to en-
lphasize, particularly at this time
when both the APP and member
newspapers might be tempted to
neglect vicinage news amid the all
lpervading problems of covering the
war"
In keeping with the problems of
member papers confronted with
manpower and newsprint shortages,
a campaign for streamnning the
report was undertaken and the
overall volume of the news report
was reduced by 20 per cent, the
A. Especial production cut 40 per
cent, routine was curtailed and the
feature service redesigned to better
serve papers plagued by a lack of
manpower and white paper" Mr..
Cooper said.
Newsphoto coverage from war
theaterS was stepped up during the
year and transmission of news was
expedited by new wireless service
from North Africa and Australia
and by simplification of the trunk
wire system, he reported.
AS high lights of the year in the
A n a