has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article may require cleanup to meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this article if you can . march 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message this article does not cite any sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message associated press of pakistan app is a government operated national news agency of pakistan . the name app should not to be confused with the much larger associated press news agency ap based in new york though it is a subscriber to both ap and reuters based in london . contents 1 history 1.1 lack of financial resources 1.2 government takeover 2 editorial operation 2.1 communication networks 2.2 subscribers 2.3 staff 3 management and financing 4 services provided by app 4.1 news service 4.1.1 official news 4.1.2 political & other news 4.1.3 district news 4.2 foreign news 4.3 commercial service 4.4 photo service 4.5 urdu service 4.5.1 feature & write up service 4.5.2 video news service 5 references 6 external links history edit lack of financial resources edit following pakistan s independence the new born country s press was economically weak and was thus unable to financially support the agency . app asked the government of pakistan for financial support which was granted in the form of loans and subsidies . government support enabled app to subscribe to the services of the world s news agencies and to open offices in major cities of pakistan . government takeover edit since its inception after the independence of pakistan the financial situation of app continued to deteriorate until it was on the verge of collapse . this was a direct result of the withholding of payment of funds from the government of pakistan due towards app from the ministry of information and broadcasting in an effort to create a financial crisis for the national news agency . in the early 1960s app owed about rs . 8 lakhs rupees 800 000 to the government s post and telegraph department and another rs . 12 lakhs rupees 1200 000 in unpaid subscription fees to foreign news agencies . the government of pakistan intervened and took over the agency on 15 july 1961 following the instructions of certain vested interests within the government of pakistan . a government ordinance was issued for it . the given reason was to strengthen app s financial foundation . 1 the takeover took place with several changes malik tajuddin was removed and a k qureshi a senior government officer with some journalistic experience was hired as administrator of app . the head office of the agency was shifted to islamabad the new capital of pakistan . while the financial position of the agency further deteriorated its coverage became more biased as the government started to use it as an official mouthpiece . a k qureshi was a member of the ill fated national press trust delegation traveling to london by pia flight 705 that crashed at cairo on may 20 1965 . he is buried in a mass grave at cairo alongside his fellow passengers victims of pakistan s first jet aircraft disaster . 2 editorial operation edit besides its head office in islamabad app maintains five bureaus at karachi lahore peshawar quetta and rawalpindi and seven news centres at sukkur multan quetta faisalabad larkana hyderabad muzaffarabad and now gilgit baltistan . the editorial function of any news agency is the same as that of a newspaper i.e. it is divided between reporting teams and the news desk . in smaller centres the editorial staff consists of a reporter and sub editor . the reporting team is composed of about reporters responsible for specific beats such as economy sports crime national and provincial assemblies or major government departments . these news desks are responsible for copy writing and for coordinating activities of the reporting team . they also handle press releases of government information and private organisations including national and international ngos embassies and foreign missions the whole news operation is monitored by a central news desk cnd located at the head office in islamabad . news stories features write ups from all bureaus are sent to islamabad for editing and from there the combined service is distributed nationally . the cnd is connected with foreign news agencies local and foreign newspapers government entities tv channels radio via an internet . communication networks edit despite app being considered pakistan s premier news agency for decades the agency ran on old obsolete and unreliable equipment . news copy was being carried on a 50 baud duplex circuit between islamabad karachi and lahore . mr. m. aftab apps general manager in 1991 undertook to improve the agency s technical resources . the resulting upgrade saw a transformation of data output speed from 50 words per minute wmp to 1200 wpm most of which is now directly fed into the computers of the subscribers simultaneously throughout pakistan and overseas . subscribers edit being the national news agency of pakistan app collects and disseminate domestic and international news to 84 1992 newspapers of pakistan besides radio television and government offices and some foreign media . app s subscription rates are higher than other agencies in pakistan due to its credibility and services . for this reason every newspaper in pakistan tries to subscribe to its services . notable subscribers to app s services include dawn pakistan times frontier post the statesman the nation the news international business recorder the observer the post and nawa i waqt jang khabrain express and other english and urdu national dailies . staff edit the number of app s employees is estimated at between 800 and 1000 of whom over 200 to 350 are journalists and photographers while rest are administrative staff including computer engineers technicians peons traffic attendants data entry operators and finance staff . in addition there are a small number of stringers part time correspondents at various district headquarters in pakistan and aboard . after decades gap the system of journalists posting aboard was revived during the first tenure of mr. m. aftab . he secured approval of the ministry to post four senior journalists as special correspondents in washington d.c. london beijing and new delhi . the massive political induction by musharraf government s information minister muhammad ali durrani and subsequently by ppp led democratic government at federation from 2008 up till now october 2015 have badly affected the financial position of app . the organisation is unable to pay medical telephones newspapers bills over time feature and other allowances . the very unfortunate thing was that the backbone of the organisation are journalists but they are very less in number as compare to other staff members of the entity . management and financing edit app is a government organisation responsible to the ministry of information and broadcasting . the agency is headed by a director general appointed by the ministry . muhammad masood malik is the current managing director of app . since the government takeover app has continued with an undefined status neither an official government body nor an independent news outfit app has drawn criticism as a mouthpiece for the government of the day . in 1998 however a bill was proposed to convert app into a corporation . on 19 october 2002 an ordinance converted app into a corporation and renamed it associated press of pakistan corporation appc . due to this unclear status there is no long term financing in place for app with allocations being made on an annual basis by the ministry of information and broadcasting . app s annual expenditure is now placed at rs . 140 million . app generates 60 % of its revenue from the government and the remainder is raised through subscription from electronic media including television and radio and newspapers as well as foreign news agencies business and non media subscribers . services provided by app edit news service edit the app news service is mainly divided into three main areas official political and district news . official news edit app provides detailed coverage of the activities and statements of government dignitaries . newspapers and the government controlled radio and television rely heavily on app for government news . according to renowned journalist zamir niazi most of the time and energy of app since the days of ayub khan is being consumed in creeding long speeches of the president and other ministries the rest are allocated to the government press notes and other lesser government functionaries . political & other news edit being the government agency app mainly focuses on government news besides promoting cultural social economic and other sectors of national life . the organisation is well known for its credibility as being a state owned news agency it has to demonstrate it indeed . app also gives coverage to opposition leaders and parties in center and at provincial level but keeping in view its policy and as allow by the federal government . district news edit app s district news service is not highly regarded as its resources are so thinly placed across the country that most of the information from this department comes from government information officers . foreign news edit app has become the main source of international news for the pakistani media . the agency subscribes to reuters afp and the associated press of america ap . united press international was also linked with app but the agreement was allowed to lapse . app has co operation agreements with some 35 news agencies mainly in third world countries . under these agreements news is exchanged on a barter basis . prominent among these are the islamic republic news agency irna the press trust of india and mena egypt . commercial service edit the commercial service of app provides currency and commodity rates from reuters financial and economic services banks and large business houses . app planned to expand this service but suffered a setback in the mid 1980s when reuters bypassed app and began to sell its financial services directly to business houses and newspapers in pakistan . photo service edit app has its own photographic section equipped with photo receivers and photo transmitters in karachi lahore islamabad and quetta respectively . islamabad is the head office to receive photographs from within pakistan and aboard and transmits them to the agency s bureaux and stations which distribute them to local newspapers . urdu service edit the agency s urdu language service started in the 1980s to cater for the needs of the growing number of urdu language dailies in pakistan . the idea behind the setting up of the service was to avoid errors and ensure accuracy . as a practice urdu speech was often translated into english by the app and then back into urdu by newspaper editor greatly increasing the chances of translation emphasis or context errors . the urdu service while still small has been effective in producing text in both languages . feature & write up service edit app editorial staff regularly contribute english and urdu feature and write ups on socio economic issues including education health business which are well carried by national dailies . video news service edit the visual news service vns was launches during 2007 with a special focus to provide electronic news coverage of president prime minister parliament house to private media national and international channels the project was initiated on an idea to launch app s own news channel but financial restraints have hindered the idea and confined it to vns service