Save the dates: Texas APME in Tyler
Mark your calendars for the 2011 Texas APME convention and awards presentations March 25-27 at the new Courtyard Marriott in Tyler.
Your APME board has put together another outstanding program aimed at working editors and their staffs. And bring someone along. Besides an informal barbeque Friday night and the Buster Haas scholarship auction Saturday night, non-industry people will enjoy all that Tyler has to offer — including the glorious opening weekend of the Azalea Festival.
Watch soon for your registration packets and plan to be there.
Push under way for more member photos
The Texas photo report grew by 34 percent in 2010, to 12,288 images (compared with 9,166 in 2009). But we need your images to bring more geographic diversity to the AP photo report.
Kim Johnson, Dallas news editor for photos, has made increased member contributions a goal for 2011. So please think of fellow AP members when you have a compelling image. And please be receptive to Kim when she calls with photo requests.
We’re off to a great start in January, with contributions up 30 percent from last year. Let’s keep up the momentum through the year.
Civil War Anniversary
The 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War occurs in April, and the AP is working on a coverage plan that will include text, video packages and an interactive.
Please feel free to offer your thoughts and suggestions on this package to news editor James Beltran (jbeltran@ap.org) or South regional editor Lisa Payne (lpayne@ap.org).
New faces join AP Texas staff in Dallas, El Paso, Austin
The year is still young, but the AP Texas staff has already welcomed a few additions.
In Dallas, James Beltran joins the staff as Texas news editor. Beltran previously worked as a supervisor in the AP’s Los Angeles bureau. Beltran is a Texan and a graduate of the University of Houston. He is a former city editor for The Brownsville Herald.
In Austin, Chris Tomlinson is the new correspondent and oversees the AP’s four-person staff in the capital. Tomlinson is a graduate of the University of Texas and previously served as the AP’s correspondent in Nairobi, Kenya.
In El Paso, Juan Carlos Llorca has been named correspondent and is expected to arrive in Texas this month. Llorca most recently was the AP’s correspondent in Guatemala City. Before joining the AP, he was a political writer for El Periodico in Guatemala City .
Also in Austin, we welcome Sommer Ingram to the coverage team for the 2011 legislative session. Ingram is a December 2010 graduate of Baylor University.
AP Live offers coverage of entertainment’s busy awards season
AP Live is your single source for the best in Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars coverage with news, photos and live red carpet video.
Deliver the excitement of entertainment’s awards season to your website with an easy-to-use packaged player that wraps stories, photos, videos and interactive into one dynamic, engaging presentation.
Coverage kicked off with the Golden Globes nominations and runs through March with the Oscars wrap-ups.
Comprehensive coverage includes nominations, live red carpet interviews and the after parties at the Golden Globes, the Grammys and the Academy Awards.
The AP Live Player includes on-demand video clips and real-time social media connectivity through Facebook and Twitter. It is offered in several configurations.
AP online video service moving in March to NDN platform
AP is moving its Online Video Network to the News Distribution Network.
OVN members were notified in December of plans to end the OVN service on March 31. At that time, OVN players and tools on your site will no longer be functional.
However, the NDN solution will continue to offer you the breaking news video you have expected from the AP’s OVN service. In addition, NDN offers video from other news sources.
You can find more about the transition of OVN to the NDN at http://newsinc.com/ndntransition/. AP and NDN are offering weekly WebEx sessions to help our OVN members see the NDN service and ask questions directly of NDN.
Meetings are offered every Thursday, from Jan. 6 to April 7, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Contact Dale Leach or Barry Bedlan for instructions on joining a meeting.