Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) () is a government-operated national news agency of Pakistan. APP has News Exchange Agreements with 37 Foreign News Agencies and has "around 400 editorial staff including around 100 Correspondents at the District and Tehsil levels" .
History
Antecedents
The news agency called Associated Press of India (API) was formed in British India in 1905 and was acquired by Reuters in 1915. In the 1940s, Reuters altered its constitution enabling co-partnership of news agencies in British Dominions, and the Associated Press of India became an independent company in 1946, though with significant backing by Reuters.
After the Partition of India in August 1947, API continued to function for more than a year. Some Indian journalists such as G. K. Reddy worked in Pakistani areas. In 1948, the Indian press formed the Press Trust of India to take over the operations of API, which occurred in September 1948. In January 1949, the Pakistani operations were reorganised as a Reuters subsidiary under the name "Associated Press of Pakistan". In September 1949, company was transferred to national control.
Initial years
The APP was organised as a trust, with the Chief Justice of Pakistan serving as the chairman of the board of trustees The remaining members of the board were elected on two-year terms. The new-born country's press was economically weak, and was thus unable to financially support the agency. APP asked the Government of Pakistan for financial support, which was granted in the form of loans and subsidies. Government support enabled APP to subscribe to the services of the world's news agencies and to open offices in major cities of Pakistan.
Government take-over
The financial situation of APP continued to deteriorate until it was on the verge of collapse. This was a direct result of the withholding of payment of funds from the Government of Pakistan due towards APP from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in an effort to create a financial crisis for the national news agency. In the early 1960s, APP owed about Rs. 8 lakhs (Rupees 800,000) to the government's Post and Telegraph Department and another Rs. 12 lakhs (Rupees 1200,000) in unpaid subscription fees to foreign news agencies. The Government of Pakistan intervened and took over the agency on 15 July 1961 following the instructions of certain vested interests within the Government of Pakistan. A government ordinance was issued for it. The given reason was to strengthen APP's financial foundation.
The takeover took place with several changes: Malik Tajuddin was removed and A K Qureshi, a senior government officer with some journalistic experience, was hired as Administrator of APP. The head office of the agency was shifted to Islamabad, the new capital of Pakistan. While the financial position of the agency further deteriorated, its coverage became more biased as the government started to use it as an official mouthpiece. A K Qureshi was a member of the ill-fated National Press Trust delegation traveling to London by PIA Flight 705 that crashed at Cairo on 20 May 1965. He is buried in a mass grave at Cairo alongside his fellow passengers: victims of Pakistan's first jet aircraft disaster.
In 2015, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and a three-member committee had conducted interviews of 18 candidates for the position of Managing Director of Associated Press of Pakistan to be able to finally appoint a Managing Director.
Editorial operation
Besides its head office in Islamabad, APP maintains five bureaus at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar Quetta and Rawalpindi and eight news centres at Sukkur, Multan, Quetta, Faisalabad, Larkana, Hyderabad, Muzaffarabad ,Sialkot and now Gilgit-Baltistan .
The editorial function of any news agency is the same as that of a newspaper i.e. it is divided between reporting teams and the news desk. In smaller centres, the editorial staff consists of a reporter and sub-editor. The reporting team is composed of about reporters, responsible for specific beats such as economy, sports, crime, national and provincial assemblies or major government departments. These news desks are responsible for copy-writing and for coordinating activities of the reporting team. They also handle press releases of government information and private organisations including national and international NGOs, embassies and foreign missions