Posts tagged Associated Press
How the media circus reported North Korea’s pro-wrestling throwdown
Sep 6th
When the isolated country hosted dozens of reporters, athletes and minor celebrities at its International Pro-Wrestling Contest in Pyongyang at the weekend, opinions on the experience were mixed to say the least. We took a look at the coverage.
By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian
Pyongyang is recovering from its International Pro-Wrestling Contest which saw North Koreans line up next to international wrestlers, including three Americans, over two days.
The event was organised by Antonio Inoki, a former a Japanese wrestler-turned-politician, best known for going up against Muhammad Ali in 1979.
Before the event last weekend, Inoki spoke of his hope that the conference would help More >
AP’s Guttenfelder named Time’s top Instagram photographer
Dec 19th
Time Magazine has named David Guttenfelder its top Instagram photographer of the year for his on-going series of photos that chronicle life in North Korea.
Guttenfelder, chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, has made numerous journeys to the DPRK over the past several years and began directly chronicling the country through Instagram earlier this year when North Korean opened up its cellphone network to foreigners.
One of the most attractive aspects of the pictures, especially from the point of view of those who follow North Korea closely, is that Guttenfelder’s photographs capture little moments of life not often seen. There’s the announcer More >
Associated Press names new Pyongyang bureau chief
Oct 16th
Eric Talmadge, Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press.
The Associated Press has named Eric Talmadge as the new chief of its Pyongyang bureau.
Talmadge was previously a news editor for the AP in Tokyo and also wrote on regional military and security issues. He is a long-time Asia correspondent for the New York-based newswire.
Most recently, he accompanied AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt on his four-day trip to Pyongyang. Talmadge filed the main story to come out of the trip, which was an interview with Kim Yong Nam, president of the country’s parliament.
With Talmadge’s appointment, previous bureau chief Jean Lee will move to More >
AP president concludes latest visit to Pyongyang
Oct 10th
Gary Pruitt, president and CEO of the Associated Press
The president and CEO of the Associated Press, Gary Pruitt, just concluded a four-day visit to Pyongyang during which he toured the city and sat down for an interview with Kim Yong Nam, president of the country’s parliament.
The visit was the first reported trip to North Korea for Pruitt, who took over as CEO of the AP just over a year earlier.
The AP became the first western news agency to open a text and photo bureau in Pyongyang in January 2012 and AP executives have made several visits to the country.
Former AP More >
AP’s Jean Lee on social media in North Korea
Mar 15th
Fresh from becoming the first person to tweet and Instragram on Koryolink’s new 3G data service, Associated Press Korea Bureau Chief Jean Lee was at the SXSW Interactive event to speak about social media in the DPRK.
She’s a great person to speak to on the subject.
Her pioneering posting as the first accredited correspondent of any western news organization in Pyongyang has seen her make numerous trips to the country. The opening up of the 3G network to tourists and then a few weeks later data service for foreigners — a story she broke — was widely followed.
As with just about More >
AP/KCNA photo exhibit opens in New York
Mar 17th
A joint photo exhibition being staged by The Associated Press and the Korean Central News Agency opened at New York’s The 8th Floor gallery this week.
The exhibition is one by-product of the AP’s opening of a news bureau in Pyongyang earlier this year and features 79 photographs, including shots from AP photographers, KCNA staffers and material from the KCNA archive.
The pictures are “designed to show what life is like in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the AP said in a news release.
They include the picture on the right, which is captioned: “A young North Korean dancer leaps by as girls put More >
AP opens Pyongyang bureau
Jan 17th
The Associated Press has opened a news bureau in Pyongyang making it the first western news agency to have a reporter and photographer based in the North Korean capital.
The bureau represents a coup for the AP over the competition, but its close cooperation with the state-run Korean Central News Agency, necessitated to realize the deal, brings with it questions over editorial independence.
AP President Tom Curley and KCNA President Kim Pyong Ho officially opened the bureau in Pyongyang on Monday. It came six months after the two met in New York and signed a basic agreement towards the office.
The bureau will be More >
AP expands KRT video deal to high-def
Sep 30th
The Associated Press has signed a deal with North Korean state television that gives it exclusive rights to high-definition video of major news events in the country.
The deal comes as AP and its biggest competitor, Reuters, race to expand their access to North Korea ahead of the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth — an event that is expected to see large scale celebrations and events in Pyongyang around April 15.
The new deal lasts three years and makes London-based APTN (Associated Press Television News) “the only agency to transmit broadcast-quality HD pictures of key news events in North Korea,” More >
AP hopes to open Pyongyang bureau in early 2012
Aug 25th
The Associated Press expects to finalize plans this week to open a news bureau in Pyongyang.
A team from the U.S.-based news organization is currently in the North Korean capital negotiating the details of the bureau, which AP President Tom Curley said he hopes will be open in early 2012.
Curley told South Korea’s Yonhap News that AP expects it will have “a text correspondent and a photographer, and we expect to have others as well” stationed at the bureau.
An opening in 2012 would allow the news organization to cover the April 2012 anniversary of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim More >
AP kills KCNA photo, says it was altered
Jul 18th
Hot on the heels of agreements between Korean Central News Agency and both The Associated Press and Reuters to more widely distribute KCNA video, The AP has withdrawn a KCNA photo saying it’s not what it appears to be.
The photo, below, was distributed to AP members and customers on July 16 and purports to show floods that hit Pyongyang a day earlier.
The original caption said: “In this photo taken Friday, July 15, 2011 and released Saturday July 16, 2011 by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, residents wade through a flooded street in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea More >
