AP Global Media Services (GMS), which provides television production and transmission facilities covering the biggest news stories around the world, will soon be opening a new purpose-built bureau in Kabul, Afghanistan. The bureau will complement APs existing newsgathering operations in the capital.
GMS, the outside broadcast production and transmission arm of The Associated Press, announced the bureau will be fully operational for the elections in Afghanistan this August. These controversial elections will be in the international spotlight not least because incumbent President Hamid Karzais term which officially ends on May 22nd – has been extended until a new leader is elected in August, causing additional tension in the country.
Whilst AP supplies breaking news stories and footage directly to clients, APs GMS division also supports broadcasters with services ranging from renting out studio space, crewing, equipment and satellite/fibre links to providing complete news packages. Clients include the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as independent online and broadcast outlets. GMS also runs a specialist international news reporting and broadcast facilities service for television clients in the Middle East, which is staffed by Arabic-speaking reporters and producers.
APs new Kabul office will be a state-of-the-art media centre. It will house a team of engineers, camera crews, video editors, and a live camera backdrop with satellite connectivity that links in to APs global satellite network. AP will be able to deliver a one-stop solution to broadcasters. Local producers, fixers and drivers will provide the resource and local expertise to enable GMS to help clients deliver the latest breaking news content to their local audiences, wherever in the world they may be.
Kabul is the next logical step in the global expansion of GMS, as the focus of coverage moves away from Iraq, says Alla Salehian, Director of GMS, Associated Press. International broadcasters need to know that they have a reliable method of covering the news in Afghanistan. What we are setting out to do is offer a bespoke and highly professional service which will help broadcasters cover one of the most dangerous regions in the world.
AP already has bureaux in Iraq and Pakistan with additional broadcast services provided from New Delhi and Mumbai, India In Iraq, GMS provides a network of bureaux and services in Baghdad, Najaf, Irbil, Kirkuk, and Basra, enabling AP to supply clients with over 5,500 news reports from Iraq in 2008 alone. GMS extended its operation to Islamabad nearly two years ago and has helped broadcasters cover the major political stories originating from the country since then, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
With bureaux in Iraq, Pakistan and India, and now Afghanistan, we can be certain to offer broadcasters the best live shot positions, production facilities, and transmission paths with which to cover events as they develop across these news flashpoints, Salehian added.