Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, major U.S. daily newspapers and radio and television broadcasters.

He lobbied for the renegotiation of the tripartite contract binding the agencies and their respective news markets at the League of Nations in 1927, attempting to give the AP a more important place in competition with Reuters.

[13] In 1935, the AP launched the Wirephoto network, which allowed transmission of news photographs over leased private telephone lines on the day they were taken.

[24] In June 2024, Axios reported that the AP would be launching a nonprofit with the goal of expanding state and local news, hoping to raise $100 million.

[38] Since April 2022, the chairperson is Gracia C. Martore, former president and CEO of Tegna, Inc.[39] With its more than 100 regional offices, AP also reports from countries where press freedom is restricted, sometimes under adverse circumstances.

[41][42][43] The AP is the only organization that collects and verifies election results in every city and county across the United States, including races for the U.S. president, the Senate and House of Representatives, and governors as well as other statewide offices.

The Stylebook offers a basic reference to American English grammar, punctuation, and principles of reporting, including many definitions and rules for usage as well as styles for capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, and numerals.

Additionally, the AP Stylebook also provides English grammar recommendations through social media, including Twitter,[57] Facebook,[58] Pinterest,[59] and Instagram.

[65] The AP had requested news organizations including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post to suppress the story to discourage the emboldening of the kidnappers.

Some of the nonexistent agencies quoted in his stories included "Education Alliance", the "Institute for Crime and Punishment in Chicago", "Voice for the Disabled", and "People for Civil Rights".

[67] In 2007, an FBI agent working in Seattle impersonated an AP journalist and infected the computer of a 15-year-old suspect with a malicious surveillance software.

[71][72] In December 2017, following a US court appearance, a judge ruled in favor of the AP in a lawsuit against the FBI for fraudulently impersonating a member of the news media in conjunction with the 2007 case.

Many bloggers and experts noted that the use of the AP news fell squarely under commonly accepted internet practices and within fair-use standards.

The artwork, based on an April 2006 picture taken for the AP by Mannie Garcia, was a popular image during the 2008 presidential election and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

[77] In January 2011 this suit was settled with neither side declaring their position to be wrong but agreeing to share reproduction rights and profits from Fairey's work.

[82] On April 23, 2013, hackers posted a tweet to AP's Twitter account about fictional attacks on the White House, falsely claiming that President Obama had been injured.

[83] The hoax caused a flash crash on the American stock markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly falling by 143 points.

[84] On May 13, 2013, the AP announced telephone records for 20 of their reporters during a two-month period in 2012, had been subpoenaed by the U.S. Justice Department and described these acts as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into news-gathering operations.

[88] U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified under oath in front of the House Judiciary Committee that he recused himself from the leak investigations to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

[93][94] The mechanism for this interchange involved a courier flying to Lisbon and back each day transporting photos from and for Nazi Germany's wartime enemy, the United States, via diplomatic pouch.

[94] In his book Broken Spring: An American-Israeli Reporter's Close-up View of How Egyptians Lost Their Struggle for Freedom, former AP correspondent Mark Lavie claimed that the editorial line of the Cairo bureau was that the conflict was Israel's fault and the Arabs and Palestinians were blameless.

[96][97][98] Israeli journalist Matti Friedman accused the AP of killing a story he wrote about the "war of words", "between Israel and its critics in human rights organizations", in the aftermath of the Israel/Gaza conflict of 2008–09.

[96] On September 29, 2000, the first day of the Second Intifada, the AP published a photograph of a badly bloodied young man behind whom a police officer could be seen with a baton raised in a menacing fashion; a gas station with Hebrew lettering could also be seen in the background.

[108][109] AP CEO Gary Pruitt released a statement on May 16, stating that he "had no indication Hamas was in the building" and called on the Israeli government to provide the evidence.

"[110] On 17 May, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he had not seen any evidence that Hamas operated from the building housing the AP and Al Jazeera, but it is the job of others to handle intelligence matters.

Israel reportedly shared intelligence with American officials and U.S. president Joe Biden showing Hamas offices inside the building.

[112] On June 8, Israeli Ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan met with AP CEO Gary Pruitt and vice president for foreign news, Ian Phillips, to discuss the operation.

In a press briefing, the spokesperson for the National Security Council commented on the seizure, saying "The White House and the State Department immediately engaged with the government of Israel at high levels to express our serious concern and ask them to reverse this action.

[117] On January 10, 2022, AP announced it would start selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of their photographs in partnership with a company named Xooa, with the proceeds being used to fund their operations.

The tweet received negative backlash from users and other journalists, with AP being accused of profiting off of human suffering and the picture choice being "dystopian" and "in extremely poor taste".