'Not wrong for long': the role and penetration of news wire agencies in the 24/7 news landscape

Abstract

This paper examines the role of Australia's single news agency, Australian Associated Press (AAP), in the Australian news media landscape. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of AAP copy in the 'Breaking News' sections of two major news websites in an effort to create a preliminary understanding of the impact of AAP on Australian news content. The results suggest an overwhelming reliance on copy from not just AAP, but international news agencies, in major news websites. Increasingly, the need for large volumes of news copy, coupled with the need for that copy to be published online as soon as possible, would appear to be having a significant impact on the type and depth of news covered. The paper and its associated data-gathering techniques form part of a much broader examination of the role of AAP in Australian journalism, and particularly the evolving role of AAP and other wire services as a source or origin for news stories in an increasingly 24/7 news environment where the pressure to be first may be overriding the pressure to be right (Gawenda & Muller, 2009).