AAP Celebrates 75th Birthday in Style

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, November 18, 2010. Some of Australia’s most regarded media figures, journalists and special guests came together last night in celebration of Australian Associated Press’ (AAP’s) 75th year of operation.

Over 200 guests gathered at Doltone House to celebrate the contribution that AAP has made to the Australian media landscape over the past 75 years.

Master of Ceremonies; Channel 7 personality Kylie Gillies kicked off the evening introducing guests of honour including former AAP Chairman; official historian of the Australian Olympic Committee and author Harry Gordon, AAP Chairman Michael Gill, AAP’s Board of Directors along with a host of media figures, journalists and staff all who have played a part in AAP’s long history.

AAP’s Chief Executive Bruce Davidson said “To bring together such an esteemed crowd of past and present media figures to celebrate this milestone in AAP’s long history is a momentous evening and is testament to AAP.”

AAP’s Chairman Michael Gill said “As we celebrate tonight, we should remember that the performance of AAP over seven and a half decades has been, more than anything, one of reliability.”

Bruce Davidson also said “Our mantra at AAP in 2010 has been “how can we help.” How can we help with the daily news grind, by providing things like breaking news direct to websites, 24 hours a day, and offering other content in a web-ready format – cutting down labour at the publisher’s end.”

He added, “For those of you who may not know, we financially support much of this with successful and healthy enterprises outside the editorial space – Medianet, our press release distribution business; Newscentre, our media monitoring operation that is seeing fantastic growth at the moment; Media Research Group, which is developing strong media and business analysis revenues; and Pagemasters, our pageready and editorial sub-editing outfit. I believe those enterprises will only get bigger and better, expanding into many niche areas to generate substantial revenue in order to help support our most vital purpose, the beating heart of the agency – the fast, accurate, trusted editorial content.”

“We have a lot to be proud of at AAP – and will have even more to be proud of in the future.” Davidson concluded.

The event also saw the launch of On the Wire, a commemorative book discovering and celebrating the 75 year old history of Australia’s only news agency.

Since 1935, AAP has been at the forefront of bringing the breaking news from all over the nation and the globe to Australians. For over 75 years, AAP has consistently delivered on its mission; to provide the Australian media, private and public sector with an unbiased, reliable and comprehensive news and information service.

About AAP

Founded in 1935, AAP is the national news agency of Australia employing more than 700 people. It provides a comprehensive domestic and international news service to the Australian media, business sectors and beyond - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In addition to bringing breaking news to Australia, AAP also provides media monitoring, media and message distribution and page ready services.

AAP’s headquarters are in Sydney and it has commercial operations in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and internationally.

www.aap.com.au


For more information:
Rita Athanassiou
Australian Associated Press
+61 2 9322 8701
rathanassiou@aap.com.au