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Outlet profile

Associated Press

U.S. center / wire-service news (generally mainstream, center-left in critics' ratings)

Owned byA not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its member U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. An elected board of member representatives governs it. No single owner or parent company.
FundingMostly fees for its news, photo, video and audio services. These come from U.S. and international media members and subscribers, plus commercial customers. A growing share comes from licensing deals with technology and AI companies, including Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and Amazon. U.S. newspapers now supply roughly 10% of revenue, down from about 30% in 2007.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The AP was founded in 1846 in New York by a group of newspapers that shared the cost of reporting on the Mexican-American War. It grew into a cooperative that supplies text, photos, video and audio to media outlets around the world. Its Stylebook is widely used as a language standard by U.S. newsrooms. Its business has shifted as local newspapers have declined: newspapers now account for only about 10% of revenue, and the AP has turned to video, digital products and AI licensing deals. In April 2026 it offered buyouts and issued layoff notices to at least 120 U.S. staff as part of a pivot toward visual journalism and new revenue sources. In February 2025 the White House barred AP journalists from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other press-pool events because the AP kept using 'Gulf of Mexico' instead of the administration's 'Gulf of America.' A district judge, Trevor McFadden, ordered access restored on First Amendment grounds. In June 2025 a divided D.C. Circuit panel (2-1) ruled for the administration, finding that those spaces are not public forums and that the White House can limit access based on viewpoint. The AP's wire style aims at neutral, attributed reporting, and critics on both the left and right have at times accused it of bias. I did not find evidence of coverage that is systematically supportive or hostile toward the administration, and my research on 2026 coverage was limited.

Sources

  1. Associated Press (Wikipedia)
  2. The AP is offering buyouts in a pivot away from newspapers (Nieman Lab)
  3. Associated Press trimming staff amid new focus on video, digital platforms (The Desk)
  4. Court Rules Trump White House Can Ban AP Over 'Gulf of America' Issue (Variety)
  5. Trump Must Lift AP News Ban in White House in Gulf of America Ruling (Variety)
  6. US federal court upholds White House restrictions on Associated Press (JURIST)

Profile compiled 2026-10-15; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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