Associated Press Closing Rhode Island Office

Associated Press Closing Rhode Island Office

Associated Press staff announced that the news company’s office in Providence is closing.

The Associated Press operates as a "cooperative, unincorporated association" and produces news reports that are distributed to its member newspapers and broadcasters.

This is just the latest cut in media in Rhode Island.

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Just weeks ago, the Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call were merged into one newspaper. The combined paper is now called the "Call Times."

Rhode Island's Public's Radio is being merged with RIPBS. 

Some have blamed the AP for the decline of newspapers. 

 

Local AP in Focus

GoLocal has had its friction with the AP -- specifically, repeated situations in which the news service just lifted GoLocal's work.

An exclusive report published in 2014 by the investigative team of GoLocalProv.com about a Providence Democratic Mayoral candidate plagiarizing a letter from another politician in Rhode Island was rewritten and distributed by the Associated Press without attribution.

“It is amazing that the Associated Press de facto plagiarized our investigative team's work on unveiling a mayoral candidate's plagiarism,” said Josh Fenton, CEO and Co-Founder of GoLocal24, the parent company of GoLocalProv.com, at the time. 

Other news organizations, including WPRI-12 and RINPR, the public radio affiliate in Providence, both sourced GoLocal’s investigative reporting by Stephen Beale and Kate Nagle.

There were several other incidents, including a viral story, that the AP ripped off. 

In 2016, Nagle exclusively broke the story of College Hill neighbors concerned about a metal carport in the middle of one of America’s most historically preserved neighborhoods - that GoLocal was first to uncover belonged to New England Patriot Danny Amendola.