Associated Press (AP) and Censorship

• FOUNDED: 1846
• TYPE OF ORGANIZATION: American news-gathering service that supplies subscribing members with timely coverage of events

SIGNIFICANCE: The universal recognition of the Associated Press has given it the ability to create a news coverage agenda.

The number and variety of media outlets (newspapers, broadcast stations, cable channels) lead one to believe that the world has a diverse media system. In fact, much of the news presented on any outlet comes from wire services. In the United States, the single largest content provider is the Associated Press (AP). Even competing news services, including those operated by some of the country’s largest newspapers and broadcast networks, rely on AP to set the agenda for story prominence.

The AP has been the gatekeeper of US news since the mid-1800s. Increased literacy, industrialization, improved communication technology, and a changing definition of news (from partisan content to nonpartisan content) are some of the reasons for the founding of the AP. It was to serve as a news-gathering cooperative to allow publishers to improve the quality of coverage and reduce news-gathering costs. Members received timely coverage of domestic and international stories written in objective language.

The AP has increased worldwide information flow. During World War I, the AP helped break a news cartel created by France’s Havas news agency and Britain’s Reuters. (The French government had prohibited distribution of news about German successes in World War I, and that prohibition extended to international clients of Havas.) The AP was not, however, established to promote the universal free flow of information. Members have been severely penalized for violating their agreements with AP. The threat of antitrust action from the attorney general forced the AP in 1915 to begin allowing members to receive news reports from other wire services.

The governance history of the AP suggests that rank-and-file subscribers once had little power. In 1943, a federal district court found that financial investments by ninety-nine of AP’s 1,247 members provided them control over the election of the AP Board of Directors. Board members’ actions reflected the interests of wealthier members of the AP. One notable news dissemination controversy was whether the AP should serve the new and growing radio industry. Newspapers owning radio stations wanted to receive AP service; stations without radio properties opposed aiding a potential competitor. In turn, the AP recognized that radio networks might lead to independent news-gathering organizations in competition with the AP. The AP board in 1933 approved radio stations’ broadcasting AP news bulletins. Not until 1946 did AP create associate memberships for radio and television stations.

Federal Judge Learned Hand in United States v. Associated Press (1943) found the AP in restraint of commerce for prohibiting members from relaying news they collected to parties other than the AP. Hand’s decision supported the dissemination of news from as many sources as possible. Broad dissemination of news, he concluded, was virtually part of the First Amendment.

The AP has monitored the dissemination of its information to prohibit appropriation by nonmembers, but the prospect of the AP censoring coverage of significant news events is unlikely. The AP may be the single largest US news provider, but other newspapers and television wire services in the United States and the world zealously cover the news. A multiplicity of news-gathering increases the likelihood of newsworthy events receiving coverage.

News reporting, whether done by the AP or another news agency, involves critical decision-making and perhaps indirect censorship. The act of news reporting requires reporters and editors to make decisions about newsworthiness, including determining not only whether a story is reported, but also how much time or space a news medium devotes to reporting the story.

Into the mid-2020s, the AP continued to produce thousands of news stories daily, along with extensive video and photo content. Major national chains, such as Gannett and McClatchy, ended use of AP content, shifting to competitors like Reuters. A high-profile legal conflict also unfolded in 2025 when the White House rescinded AP’s permanent press-pool status, prompting AP’s lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.

Bibliography

Bauder, David. “AP Wins Reinstatement to White House Events after Judge Rules Government Can't Bar its Journalists.” Associated Press, 9 Apr. 2025, www.ap.org/media-center/ap-in-the-news/2025/ap-wins-reinstatement-to-white-house-events-after-judge-rules-government-cant-bar-its-journalists/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2025.

Cochran, Julia Kennedy. Ed Kennedy's War: V-E Day, Censorship, and the Associated Press. Louisiana State UP, 2012.

Halberstam, David. Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else. Princeton Architectural, 2007.

"Our Story." Associated Press, www.ap.org/about/our-story. Accessed 29 Aug. 2025.

Silberstein-Loeb, Jonathan. The International Distribution of News: The Associated Press, Press Association, and Reuters, 1848–1947. Cambridge UP, 2014.