The Key West Citizen

Friday, April 18, 1958
THE Key West Citizen
Page

General Manager Tells Of Specialized Staff Reporters
AP Was Ready For Space Age Coverage

the space age found The Associated Press geared to cover, in depth the resulting interest in science, education and defense, Frank J. Starzel, AP general manager, said today.

"The staff of writers covering science and other specialized fields has been reinforced, and the broad interest in this type of news is reflected generally through the organization," he said in his annual report.

He said,
"Our planning assumes a broader perspective, and we must be ready to meet new challenges quickly and positively."

Starzel's report was sent to members of The AP, worldwide news-gathering cooperative, in advance of the annual meeting to be held Monday in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The luncheon speaker will be Robert McLean, president of the Philadelphia Bulletin and former president of The Associated Press.

"It is no longer enough for the newsman to be just a competent reporter or editor," Starzel said.

"Demands of the news are so multiple that staffers must background themselves educationally as never before in history....

"At the same time, the boundaries of news have become unlimited. The subject matter is vastly more diversified and the areas where it breaks have spread enormously and shifted greatly in emphasis."

He said that to meet these demands, The Associated Press in the coming year must keep versatile, mobile and knowledgeable staffers at home and abroad.

"News interest is constantly shifting," Starzel said. "The borderline between national and international news is disappearing. Set events and occurrences cannot be counted on to have all-consuming interest. Instead, trends and implications of seemingly minor events often assume major importance."

This, he said, places great premium on perceptive and diligent reporting, expert knowledge of the subject, and ability to write clearly and with sufficient background and explanatory matter so that the average person can understand.

"Our planning is not limited to technological advances and economic trends," he said.

"The man in the street is still interested in the man on the next street, and in the man in foreign lands now only a few hours away. We have increased our reporting about people - many of them just plain people without title or social significance - and plan to do still more of it."

Starzel said one area of news reporting requiring great care is in telling the story of the business recession. The AP, he said, will continue to emphasize balance to keep the story in focus.

"The Associated Press business news department," he said, "accelerated the flow of interpretive and analytical articles and national and international roundups to provide a comprehensive picture of the vast forces that were at work in the economy."

Starzel reported that many technical advances have made possible a faster and better flow of news and photographs.

AP news photo

AP Wirephoto service moved into 1958 with the strongest resources in its 30-year history, and with an all-time record participation of 525 subscribers to direct service on the Wirephoto network.

"AP's camera staff, which pioneered in development and use of the modern sequence camera, is accumulating equipment that may well be the most versatile in the profession," he said.

The general manager said 1,741 newspapers and other publications were represented in AP membership at the end of the year. Radio-television membership expanded by 96 in 1957 to a total of 1,702 a record.

Starzel said 1957 was notable in the increasingly important part played by radio-television members in cooperative news coverage.