Company Updates

New Zealand maintains and independent voice in media

Wednesday 31 August, 2011

Australia's national newsagency Australian Associated Press is launching a service in New Zealand to fill the void left by the closure of its trans-Tasman counterpart NZPA.

NZ Newswire starts Monday, September 5, taking over where NZPA left off after a 131-year presence.

NZ Newswire reporters in Wellington and Auckland, supported by freelancers around the country, will produce approximately 40 news, feature, finance and sport stories a day for New Zealand and Australian print and digital publishers and broadcasters.

Images, interactive graphics and video will also be a part of the service.

"I think we would all prefer that NZPA continue, so it's very sad to see such an institution close its doors," said AAP Editor in Chief Tony Gillies.

"But every country deserves a free and independent voice in media so it's proper that an independent news agency like AAP with a 75-year tradition of balanced, fair, accurate reporting is able to step in."

"NZ Newswire has no political axe to grind, nor advertisers to please. News value is paramount and the independence and reporting integrity are guarded above all else."

"I'm also very proud of the fact that we have been able to employ quite a few NZPA journalists for our venture; we're so happy to have them on board."

The service will be edited and prepared for transmission by a team in Sydney headed by Nick Brown, who was the editor of NZPA until late 2010.

NZ NEWSWIRE SERVICES

NEWS FEEDS
Breaking news, business and sports stories covering the length and breadth of New Zealand and the outer reaches of the Pacific are delivered in real-time. Stories are updated as developments occur while features and analysis pieces add context to the issues as they unfold.

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
A selection of news and sports images to support the New Zealand breaking news wire are complemented by raw on-the-spot video footage. The New Zealand content is supported by rich feeds of Australian and international news photographs and video from Australian Associated Press.

INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS
Stories can be told in many ways - using words, images video or audio. Interactive news graphics employ a smart combination of all of these elements to add another dimension to the news. Designed for online, the graphics enrich a story in a thoroughly entertaining and informative way.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Tony Gillies, Editor in Chief – Australian Associated Press
P: +61 2 93228500 E: tgillies@aap.com.au

Pagemasters Extends Subediting Services for Fairfax Media

Tuesday 3 May, 2011

Newspaper production services provider Pagemasters is to take on additional subediting for Fairfax Media.

The company, a subsidiary of Australia's domestic news agency Australian Associated Press (AAP), will expand its current services to include the subediting of general news, business and sport for The Sydney Morning Herald, the Sun-Herald, The Age and The Sunday Age.

Pagemasters has been editing feature sections for the titles since September 2008.

The expanded editorial production services will be delivered from Pagemasters centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

AAP CEO Bruce Davidson said he was honoured that Fairfax Media had entrusted Pagemasters with the extra sections of the newspapers.

"Subediting live news pages is a huge responsibility, and one which Pagemasters is pleased to accept," he said.

"We will be assembling a team of dedicated and experienced journalists for this new work, which represents a significant expansion for the company, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Davidson said the decision by Fairfax to move more of its subediting to Pagemasters was a reflection of the changes sweeping the newspaper industry, not just in Australia but globally.

"We are seeing the outsourcing and centralisation of newspaper production across the world as the balance between print and digital distribution shifts," he said.

Pagemasters has a subediting centre in New Zealand, where it produces more than 1000 broadsheet pages of news, sport, business and features for the New Zealand Herald and seven regional daily newspapers. The company also has an operation in London, providing subediting for the UK's pre-eminent national broadsheets, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Pagemasters Launches iPad Production Service

Monday 29 March, 2011

Pagemasters, Australia's premier provider of newspaper editorial services, has launched an iPad production service.

The iPad application offers newspapers, websites and other media organisations a simple, fast and cost-effective way of getting on to the new publishing platform in a matter of weeks.

Using smart technology, Pagemasters will push daily news and advertising content to the iPad and, in the near future, other digital tablets.

The service will also encompass solutions for smartphones and iPhones.

Publishers will not need to install software or employ staff – instead Pagemasters will provide the complete digital production service on a low-cost annual subscription basis.

The elegant and flexible design of the application presents daily news content in two ways – as a fully searchable story-by-story view, or as an "e-reader" version of the way the newspaper was presented for print.

Daily content from the publisher – whether a regional daily newspaper, a radio station, or another media organisation – will be supplemented by live news feeds from Australian Associated Press (Pagemasters' parent company).

The news app package will also provide various channels for advertising support. AAP CEO Bruce Davidson said the move to a digital production service was a natural progression for Pagemasters, which provides editorial services for all major newspaper publishers in Australia and New Zealand.

"We believe our iPad service will be the most cost-effective way for publishers, especially regional daily newspapers, to get into new mobile digital platforms," he said.

"We have invested in technology that does all the hard work for publishers. All we need is their content, and we will make it appear on an iPad by 6am every day."

FURTHER INFORMATION

For pricing or to see our news app in action, contact Tim Campbell on 613 8413 3209 or tcampbell@pagemasters.com.au

To download an overview of the new service, please click here

AAP's Pagemasters Launches Imaging Services with Sir Stephen Tindall Backed New Zealand Company

SYDNEY, Australia, March 1, 2011 / Medianet International/ --

Pagemasters, Australia's premier supplier of editorial production services, has entered into a strategic alliance with New Zealand-owned imaging and graphics company Velocity Made Good to provide imaging services for the print and online publishing industry.

The new service will enable newspaper and magazine companies to significantly reduce costs while maintaining quality and fast turnaround times.

Pagemasters, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Associated Press (AAP), will provide marketing and client liaison for the new service, and VMG will manage operations.

VMG, of which Sir Stephen Tindall is a major shareholder, currently supplies imaging production for Fairfax Media in New Zealand and for Hearst Magazines in the US, including titles such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping.

AAP Chief Executive Officer Bruce Davidson's endorsement of the young Kiwi business was resounding. "It was important for Pagemasters to work with the leading provider in the market. VMG is not only that player but has already earned a deserved reputation of reliability with key clients such as Fairfax NZ and Hearst Magazines," he said.

The imaging service - which will encompass clear-cutting, image enhancement, colour correction and 360 - degree imaging for iPads - will use VMG's operation in the Philippines to access a highly skilled, cost-effective workforce.

The service will be available for both advertising and editorial images.

Mr Davidson said the move into imaging was a logical extension to Pagemasters' suite of services for the publishing industry.

"Publishing, especially in newspapers, is now all about content. With the advance of technology and communication, the production functions, including imaging, can be outsourced effectively. This will have real benefits for publishers, and help them navigate the challenging times facing the industry," Mr Davidson said.

VMG Sales & Marketing Director Doug Drury said the outsourcing of imaging by Hearst and Fairfax Media was completed smoothly and was now providing significant savings and quality improvements.

"The feedback from production managers has been extremely complimentary, and Hearst in particular is looking to increase its throughput to Manila in the coming months. With the support of Pagemasters and AAP, we are now looking forward to offering these services to a wide range of publishing groups in Australia and beyond," Mr Drury said.

For further information, please contact:

Pagemasters
Brook Thomas
Pagemasters Business Development Manager
bthomas@pagemasters.com.au
+61 3 8413 3207

VMG
Doug Drury
VMG Sales & Marketing Director
doug@velocitymadegood.co.nz
+61 450 055 286

ABOUT PAGEMASTERS

Pagemasters is leading the world in the establishment and operation of centralised sub-editing centres for the newspaper and magazine industry. Its operations in Australia and New Zealand provide complete design, editing and production services for a range of metropolitan, regional and community newspapers and weekly and monthly magazines.

Pagemasters is also Australia's premier provider of pageready listings and other editorial pages. These services range from TV guides and cinema listings, to racing form guides, sharemarket data, weather information, crosswords and comics, as well as editorial and design services. Formed in 1991, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Associated Press.

ABOUT VMG

VMG is the market leading provider of pre press imaging services, working with major publishing companies globally.

Specifically its services include image background removal, retouching, colour correction, and online/offline advertisement design. These services are fulfilled through a wholly owned production studio in the Philippines.

VMG was founded in 2007 by now 27 year old Auckland entrepreneurs Jonathan Reid and Doug Drury, receiving seed capital from Sir Stephen Tindall through his investment vehicle K1W1, who remains a major shareholder today.

The company now has operations in 4 countries and a growing staff of approximately 40.

AAP Celebrates 75th Birthday in Style

November 18, 2010

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. 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

PANPA - Newsroom revolution: Interview with Bruce Davidson, CEO of AAP

5 March, 2010

In an era of spending constraints, the new boss of Australian Associated Press believes newspapers will soon be spending more on his company’s journalism.

Editors will dedicate more of their budget to specialist journalists who analyse and comment and will rely on agencies to provide the straight news reporting, predicts Bruce Davidson, who took over as the chief executive of Australia’s largest news agency earlier this month.

By providing the “nuts and bolts” of the news, AAP will free editors to focus on distinctive content that readers value.

Editors might decide they won’t use their own journalists to cover “every court story, or the road toll, or those sorts of things which everyone wants to know about, everyone wants to hear about” but are easily covered by a myriad of news sources.

Instead editors will ask, “What can we do to distinguish ourselves from everyone else”, says Mr Davidson.

“AAP will become more important, more relevant, as everyone struggles with where they’re going to be in the next 10 to 15 years.”

Mr Davidson says newspapers are unlikely to look the same in a decade as they try to find the editorial balance to sustain print and digital models.

“As revenue shifts to the website, they (publishers) must come up with the compelling content for those platforms. AAP has a fantastic role to provide the base of the news every day for all publishers,” he continues.

Mr Davidson’s vision for the future of the newsroom will be sobering for many journalists, but he is not alone in his view.

The need to hire specialist journalists and editors to create content that the reader values is a priority for the chairman and chief executive of News Ltd, John Hartigan.

He told The Bulletin last October: “Commercially, we are going to need to focus on journalism that makes a difference.

“For print we are going to have to hire more specialists – individuals with great knowledge of specific subjects who have the ability to write and communicate in all forms – a style of journalism that really gives context, and the truth.”

Such a mission for exclusivity and quality will take its toll on editorial budgets even in robust economic times.

Mr Davidson believes the option to reduce costs dedicated to straight news stories to pay for higher value journalism will benefit AAP.

His optimism is tempered by the current challenge that the economic downturn has given the agency, and the difficulty in recovering revenues to previous levels.

The company has created diversity in its media portfolio so that it does not have to rely on the news agency alone for its profit.

The agency also runs a media services business, Medianet.

“The challenge is that as one revenue stream slows down and then goes into another area, there are sometimes short-term difficulties in keeping something alive, because all of a sudden you’re not making any money out of it any more.

“We need to be ready to meet those shifts so we maintain the health of the agency in terms of the ability to pay for all our business units and make it all work.

“AAP is first and foremost a news agency, which has a very long standing tradition of quality journalism and fast and accurate supply of editorial, of text and image and now video on a daily and hourly basis.

Mr Davidson presents an optimistic vision for print media, mentioning several times that he believes the “death of newspapers” is an exaggeration.

“Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemies,” he continues.

“There’s been a lot of woe-is-me about newspapers recently, and it’s probably time we got off that treadmill.

We should be talking about the health of newspapers.

“I don’t think newspapers will die now that the internet has come along, but they’ll be different. They may not sell as many copies, but they still should be healthy in whatever sphere they end up being in.”

Although he’s only been in the job for a few weeks, taking over from Clive Marshall who left for the top job at the Press Association in London, Mr Davidson brings with him the experience of running Pagemasters – the most profitable part of AAP.

“I’ve got some advantages in that I was managing director of Pagemasters, so I have a fair bit of knowledge of the inner workings of AAP,” he says.

“That’s made the transition a bit easier than if you’d come directly in from outside.”

Mr Davidson started Pagemasters with Martin Thomas in 1991, after both finished working for the Herald & Weekly Times, the Melbourne-based newspaper company owned by News Corporation.

After 15 years of gradual growth, Mr Davidson says the AAP acquisition in 2002 gave Pagemasters the opportunity to extend further into editorial work, which led to the editorial outsourcing for sub-editing for APN New Zealand, Fairfax Media in Australia, and the Daily Telegraph in London.

Pagemasters’ future lies in markets outside of Australia. “We’re continually talking to other publishers, not just [in Australia] but also in the UK and Asia, about trying to develop more editorial services,” he says.

“We’re becoming known in the industry as someone to approach, and talk to and see what we can offer.”

Overseas, other companies offering editorial services have begun outsourcing to India in an effort to lower costs.

While he doesn’t rule out going down a similar path, Mr Davidson says it is unlikely that will happen in the medium term, believing that sub-editing and listings require culture-specific knowledge to be done well.

“I’d rather develop technology here to enable us to be more efficient,” he says.

“The interesting model that we’ve got, as opposed to perhaps the Indian companies that are working in America and elsewhere, is that we’re not about a wage arbitrage.

“We’re more about efficiency, productivity, centralising and using the economies of scale and having 10, 12, 15, 29, 30 or 40 people in one room that can be more flexible, can iron out the deadline fluctuations throughout the day.”

“You’ve got these peaks and troughs in any newspaper cycle, and if you’ve got a group of people working across several titles, or across several parts of titles, you can make that more efficient.”

As far as the quality of sub-editing goes, Mr Davidson challenges anyone to distinguish the work of Pagemasters from in-house subbing.

“Pick up the Sydney Morning Herald and tell me who subbed what,” he says as a challenge.

“I’d be very interested if you can tell me which bits Pagemasters have subbed, and which bits the internal editors subbed.”

Mr Davidson says he is privileged to have become the chief executive, and he is proud of the agency’s history, which enters its 75th year.

“It’s a lot different than it was 75 years ago, and it’ll be a lot different in another 75 years,” he says philosophically.

By: Nick Evershed

Pagemasters’ editorial production services launched in North America

13 August, 2009

Australian editorial production house Pagemasters has announced a deal that will lead to the services it pioneered in Australasia being offered to newspapers in North America.

Under an alliance with The Canadian Press, Pagemasters North America will provide newspapers in Canada and the US with a complete range of editorial services, from design to sub-editing and headline writing.

The launch of Pagemasters North America by The Canadian Press follows Pagemasters’ success in providing editorial production services to newspapers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, including sub-editing for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The New Zealand Herald and the UK’s Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.

Under the agreement with The Canadian Press, Pagemasters will provide consulting and advisory services and earn revenue based on the success of Pagemasters North America.

Pagemasters currently produces more than 10,000 editorial pages per month in four production centres in Australia and New Zealand and employs more than 100 sub-editors. Pagemasters is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australian Associated Press (AAP).

AAP chief executive Clive Marshall said: “Pagemasters has experienced extraordinary growth over the past few years as more newspapers outsourced their editorial production. The launch of Pagemasters North America will enable us to capitalise on the high level of interest that we have received in Pagemasters’ services from newspapers in both the US and Canada – the largest English language newspaper market in the world.”

Pagemasters managing director Bruce Davidson said: “The launch of Pagemasters North America is a major development and I believe one which has the potential to lead to significant changes in the editorial production model for US and Canadian newspapers.

“We will be heavily involved with The Canadian Press in setting up editorial production centres in North America, working closely with newspaper publishers as they grapple with the radical changes sweeping the industry.”

Eric Morrison, president of The Canadian Press, said: “We wanted to be a part of the solution to the industry’s current difficulties so it was a natural choice to work with a world leader like Pagemasters to give Canadian and US newspapers the benefit of their expertise in significantly reducing editorial production costs.

“The key is the savings through greater productivity and efficiencies are not achieved by sacrificing the quality of the pages.”

The Pagemasters model being adopted in North America guarantees quality in two main ways:

• Pages will be developed in close consultation with clients, allowing pages to be highly customised while publishers retain complete editorial control of everything from story selection to placement and treatment. Pages can be created live within the client’s editorial system using advanced technology that enables clients to monitor quality throughout the process, raising the standards of accountability even higher.
• Features, news pages and common pages will be edited by North American staff on North American deadlines, adhering to local language and style guidelines and ensuring proper use of sports, political and other terms specific to Canadian and American culture.

Australian Enquiries: Kate Priestley Phone: +61 (2) 9322 8892 Email: kpriestley@aap.com.au

Canadian Enquiries: Sharon Hockin Phone: +1 416 507 2137 Email: sharon.hockin@thecanadianpress.com

Australian Associated Press CEO to Step Down in New Year

12 November, 2009

Australian Associated Press announced today that Chief Executive Officer Clive Marshall will leave the company at the end of January 2010 following his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Press Association Group in London.

Michael Gill, the Chairman of AAP, said Clive Marshall had transformed the business into a dynamic, customer-focused and diversified media group with a growing reputation worldwide.

“Clive fostered the essential news focus of our agency and managed the business smoothly into some well-suited diversification,” Mr Gill said.

“While Clive will be missed, his efforts and management have built in AAP a team of executives that we are confident will provide strong leadership in the years ahead.

“We certainly wish Clive well in his new – or perhaps renewed – challenge,” Mr Gill said.

Clive Marshall said: “It has been my privilege to head up AAP for the past nine years.

During that time, the company has gone through an extraordinary period of change. We have significantly strengthened and developed our news and information services whilst broadening and diversifying our revenues through a number of stand-alone commercial businesses including Pagemasters, Medianet and Newscentre.

“It is testimony to the skill, commitment and dedication of our employees that Australian Associated Press is now recognised by its peers as one of the world’s leading news agencies.

“I am particularly proud of the success of our page production business Pagemasters. In the past seven years Pagemasters has grown from a company employing 30 people providing TV listings to Australian newspapers, to one which today employs over 140 people and produces 4500 editorial and data pages each week for newspapers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Pagemasters is receiving enquiries for its services from newspaper publishers around the world.”

Mr Marshall joined AAP in 2001 having originally spent eight years at the PA Group in a number of senior roles. He was appointed a director of the PA Group in 2000.

Australian Associated Press (AAP)

Founded in 1935, AAP is the national news agency of Australia employing more than 600 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 the news agency, AAP’s businesses include Pagemasters, the page production outsourcing service; Newscentre, the news monitoring and media intelligence company; and Medianet, Australia’s largest distributor of corporate news releases.

Virtually all of Australia's newspaper, broadcast and digital media subscribe to AAP news services.

http://www.aap.com.au

About PA Group

PA Group owns the Press Association the national news agency of the UK and Ireland.

For over 140 years, the Press Association’s network of journalists has been gathering news and information for the media. Today the company supplies everything from breaking news and showbiz interviews to real-time sports results and weather forecasts.

Other PA Group companies include international weather forecasting business MeteoGroup and CNW Group, Canada’s leading news distribution company.

PA Group employs almost 1500 people. Its headquarters are in London, UK with major operations centres in Yorkshire, England and Mangalore and Puna, India.

PA Group Limited is a private company with 27 shareholders, including Associated Newspaper Holdings Limited, News International plc, Trinity Mirror plc and United Business Media plc.

www.pressassociation.com

Media Enquiries: Michael Gill, Chairman. Phone: +61 (0) 2 9322 8701

AAP's Newscentre Set to Shake up the News Monitoring Market

27 August, 2008

Newscentre, the news monitoring division of Australian Associated Press (AAP), today announced a significant expansion of its monitoring services with the launch of broadcast monitoring - a move that will provide clients with fast access to video and audio news clips at highly competitive prices.

"For far too long there has been no significant competition in the Australian broadcast news monitoring market" said Clive Marshall the CEO of Australian Associated Press. With the launch of Newscentre's radio and television news monitoring service, business and government now have a real choice in broadcast news monitoring - and the opportunity to make significant cost savings."

Two years in the planning and utilising the very latest search technology, the broadcast monitoring service will complement Newscentre's extensive newspaper, magazine and text monitoring service, providing a one-stop solution for organisations who wish to monitor the Australian news media.

To coincide with the launch, Newscentre clients will be able to access their print, text, internet, radio and television clips via a newly-designed online platform, with all their content available at the click of a mouse.

Kylie O'Reilly Managing Director of AAP's commercial divisions said, "Over the past few weeks we have been trialling the service with a number of clients and the feedback has been fantastic. Customers love the ease of use of the new platform, the fact that they can access all of their print and broadcast clips without delay and particularly in the current business environment that they can make real savings on their monitoring services."

"I am delighted that with the launch today, Newscentre can now showcase the service to companies and government departments across Australia.'' Ms O'Reilly concluded.

Media Enquiries: Kylie O'Reilly, Managing Director - Commercial Divisions Phone: (02) 9322 8120

AAP Acquires Capricorn Analysis

11 March, 2008

Australian Associated Press (AAP), Australia's national news agency, today announced that it has acquired the client business of Queensland-based press monitoring service, Capricorn Analysis.

AAP Newscentre will provide the press clipping and analysis services for the newly-acquired business.

AAP Chief Executive Clive Marshall said "this acquisition complements our recent purchase of the Melbourne based Media Research Group (MRG) and gives us a strong base from which to grow our media monitoring business in Queensland. Over the past 12 months through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions our monitoring businesses have enjoyed significant growth. There is clearly a strong demand from both government and commercial clients for media monitoring services that focus on providing a high level of value for money and excellent customer service."

About Australian Associated Press: Australian Associated Press (AAP) is the national news agency of Australia providing news and information 24 hours a day to media, corporations and government in Australia and around the world. Established in 1999, AAP Newscentre provides corporate and government clients with relevant media coverage on any topic from a wide range of Australian publications and sources.

About Capricorn Analysis: Capricorn Analysis provides specialised media analysis services to a number of large corporate and government clients.

Media Enquiries: Kylie O'Reilly, Managing Director - AAP Commercial. Phone: (02) 9322 8120

AAP Acquires The Media Research Group

5 July, 2007

Australian Associated Press, the national newsagency, today announced the acquisition of The Media Research Group (MRG) the Melbourne based media monitoring and analysis company.

Under the terms of the deal, MRG will continue its current operations in Melbourne and its principal, Michael O'Connell, will remain with the company as Managing Director.

AAP Chief Executive Clive Marshall said: "This investment is part of a major commitment by AAP to develop our range of media monitoring, analysis and media distribution services. The acquisition of The Media Research Group will complement AAP's existing media monitoring business, AAP Newscentre. The combined business will enable us to expand our current range of services whilst continuing to provide clients with the highest quality of service."

Michael O'Connell Managing Director of MRG said "Over the last 10 years we have enjoyed considerable success in growing and developing our business. Following the sale of the company to AAP we will be able to invest in our systems, infrastructure and services to ensure that we can continue to capitalise on the enormous growth in demand for media monitoring and analysis services. In addition MRG clients will, for the first time, have the ability to monitor around the clock, in real-time, the editorial newswires of AAP."

About Australian Associated Press: Australian Associated Press (AAP) is the national newsagency of Australia providing Australian focused news and information 24 hours a day to media, corporations and government in Australia and around the world. Established in 1999 AAP Newscentre provides corporate and government clients with relevant media coverage on any topic from a wide range of Australian publications and sources.

About Media Research Group: The Media Research Group (MRG) was established in Melbourne in 1996 with the objective of providing clients with focused high quality cost effective media monitoring and analysis. The company has expanded to become a national operation, undertaking media analysis, monitoring and related services to a diverse group of client roster that include some of Australia's largest and most successful public and privately-listed companies, government departments, not-for-profit organisations and public relations specialists.

Media Enquiries: Clive Marshall, CEO, Australian Associated Press, Tel: +61 (2) 9322 8701