AP to Launch Its First Blogs at Pol Conventions

By: Joe Strupp The Associated Press will launch its first Web log at the political conventions in Boston and New York, utilizing Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Walter R. Mears, AP officials announced Monday.

"We like to try new things at the conventions because we have such a large staff in one place," AP's Washington bureau chief, Sandy Johnson, said in a release. "In 2000, for instance, we created AP's first-ever convergence newsroom and had print, photos, graphics, TV, radio and multimedia all working in the same room. We also filed from the convention floor via Palm Pilot in 2000, a pioneering use of the Palms, which were fairly new then, as a reporting tool."

Mears will pair with Washington-based AP reporter Nancy Benac to provide running commentary, insight, and news tidbits from the Democratic and Republican conventions, the news cooperative said.

Blog@ap.org will be available to subscribers of AP's premium election services, AP Politics and AP Election Online.

The service will open the Sunday before each convention and will run through Thursday night of each event. In Boston, site of the Democratic National Convention, the blog will operate July 25-29. In New York, where the Republican National Convention is set to take place, the blog will run from Aug. 29 to Sept 2.

Mears covered politics for most of his 45-year career with the AP, winning the Pulitzer for his coverage of the 1976 presidential campaign. He has served as AP Washington bureau chief, executive editor of the AP, vice president, special correspondent, and columnist. Mears retired in 2001 and wrote his third book, "Deadlines Past," published last year.

Benac joined the AP in 1980, with her first convention assignment at the Democratic event in New York City that year. She has reported from Washington for more than 20 years, including covering Clinton's first term and directing AP's political coverage in 1990, 1992 and 1996, AP said.

AP also announced Monday that it will use software from Convera Corp. to categorize, search and distribute its multimedia news content as part of a major technology initiative.

Under their agreement, AP and Convera also will work to tailor the software, called RetrievalWare, to address broader needs of the publishing industry. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Convera specializes in products that enable the search and categorization of information across text, video, image and audio formats, AP reported. Its software will make it easier for AP's thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television and online customers to specify the news they want to receive and obtain it using a Web-based delivery network, the companies said in a news release.