President Obama announced last week that photographs of Osama bin Laden’s body would not be released to the public due to concerns that it would incite violence and hatred, but a number of news agencies and advocacy groups are attempting to have them released using a Freedom of Information Act request. The Associated Press is one of the agencies that filed a FOIA request (they’re also requesting that video of the raid be released), and the US government has 20 days to respond.
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High quality video on consumer DSLRs is changing how journalism is being done. Kevin Roach, the VP of In this video interview by Beet.tv, Kevin Roach — VP and Director U.S. Broadcast News at Associated Press — called the Canon 5D Mark II “game changing” when asked by Beet.tv about the future direction of the AP.

(via DSLR News Shooter)

Got an assignment? Hire an AP photographer!

The AP announced a new program allowing outside sources to hire some of their top photographers for regional assignments. AP Director of Photography Santiago Lyon said in a press release that the deal is pretty straightforward:

If a particular publication or media outlet wants to use one of our staff photographers for an editorial assignment — photographing Easter festivities in Spain, for example — and it would fit into the photographer’s scheduling and our commitments, we would assign that shooter to the story.

There are 25 elite AP photographers on board with the new program. Their names and bios can be seen on the AP Editorial Assignment page.

The AP hasn’t released price ranges for assignments, but it’s likely they will vary case by case.

It would seem that the AP is rapidly expanding and personalizing its agency services; they recently added AP videos to their imaging collection, and they offer image research services. The agency also currently allows their photographers to be commissioned to shoot commercial style and stock images for AP-owned PR Newswire.