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American Press Institute
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American Press Institute

nonprofit organization
Also known as: API
Written by
Sony Jalarajan Raj
Contributor to SAGE Publications's The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (2020) whose work appears in Britannica as part of a joint publishing agreement with SAGE.
Sony Jalarajan Raj
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

American Press Institute (API), an academic nonprofit institution established in 1946. Located in Reston, Virginia, it was initially based at the Columbia University Journalism School in New York. The mission of API is to preserve a free press in the interest of the public. It organizes training and conducts research on challenges in the field of journalism. In 2012, API became part of the NAA Foundation of the Newspaper Association of America, now part of the News Media Alliance.

API, in conjunction with the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago, organized a combined research enterprise called the Media Insight Project to study news consumers in the United States. API has brought together academic researchers and news industry leaders through its Research Advisory Group and held summits for journalists on relevant issues. The organization conducts workshops across the country to help journalists deal with challenges and learn about best practices.

The main areas of focus for API are understanding news audiences and helping publishers to reach them, approaches to increase direct support by readers for journalism rather than relying on advertising, accountability journalism, and organizational change and transformation. Other areas of focus for API include fostering innovation, business models and leadership, aggregation and curation, community engagement, and data reporting and visualization.

API helps newsrooms develop coverage strategy based on content analysis, audience surveys, and other data. It is conducting research to improve political fact-checking and works directly with news organizations to improve accountability journalism practices. The organization provides a news literacy curriculum for middle-school and high-school educators and guides for educators who use newspapers in the classroom to teach current events. It also offers other resources that news organizations, schools, parents, and students can use to develop news literacy and to understand how the media operate.

API puts out newsletters that share recent news and research about journalism and the media business. Its website also includes Q&As and in-depth reports on best practices in areas such as engagement, revenue models, and technology. With partners at the Poynter Institute and the Knight Foundation, API provides online training. The API’s diversity programs aim to encourage newsrooms to recruit, advance, and retain diverse employees and to help newsrooms reach minorities and other underserved audiences.

The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.

Sony Jalarajan Raj