The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

headquartered in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, not-for-profit

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

owned and operated by its member newspapers for most of its history. In mid-2010, however, it announced plans to become a for-profit business owned by three media companies once certain conditions were met. Over the years, The Canadian Press and its affiliates have adapted to reflect changes in the

media industry Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informatio ...

, including technological changes and the growing demand for rapid news updates. It currently offers a wide variety of text, audio, photographic, video and graphic content to websites, radio, television, and commercial clients in addition to newspapers and its longstanding ally, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP), a global news service based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Initially, Canada had only region-based news associations, lacking a national wire service. The Canadian Press was created by an act of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as a news co-operative, with an annual

government grant A grant is a fund given by an end entity grant – often a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local ...

from 1917 to 1924, for the purpose of helping newspapers cover and distribute news across the country. Initially operating as a distribution network, its first editorial staff came on board during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to report on the efforts of

Canadian soldiers } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

overseas. During World War I, CP began operating Press News Limited, a radio news

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

. In 1944, Press News served 35 of 90

radio stations in Canada The media of Canada is diverse and highly regionalized. News media, both print and digital and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a handful of major media corporations. The largest of these corporations is the country’s nati ...

, had a five-person staff in Toronto, and an annual budget of . In 1945, CP established a French-language radio news service, the first such

wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

for French broadcasters in North America. CP Picture Service was established in 1948, to wire photographs to television stations and

newspapers in Canada This list of newspapers in Canada is a list of newspapers printed and distributed in Canada. Daily newspapers Local weeklies Alberta * Airdrie – ''Airdrie Echo'' * Bashaw – '' Bashaw Star'' * Bassano – ''Bassano Times'' * Beaumont – ...

, instead of the images being mailed via the postal service. The Canadian Press operates in both English and French, the latter service being established in 1951 as . With the arrival of

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, The Canadian Press created Broadcast News (BN) in 1954, a subsidiary to deliver text specifically written for broadcasters.McCarten, James (editor). ''The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, 18th edition''. Toronto: The Canadian Press, 2017. On January 1, 1954, BN replaced Press News. The venture operated in co-operation with private broadcasters, and supplied news reports to privately owned radio and

television stations in Canada Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. Charles Edwards was named the first manager and secretary of BN. In 1956, BN established the first national voice news wire service for broadcasters in Canada, which became BN Voice in 1961, which then served 34 radio stations with national and international news. When Edwards retired in 1971, BN had grown to serve 298 radio and television stations in Canada, and increased to 45 staff and a $2-million budget by 1971. In 1979, CP added network newscasts for subscribing stations. The news agency has a staff of more than 180

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s in its bureaus across Canada, as well as a correspondent in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. It had also operated a bureau in London, England, until 2004, has had reporters covering the Canadian mission in Afghanistan since 2002, and delivers news coverage to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. With its alliance through the Associated Press, there is now a worldwide exchange of news. Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. is the entity that was to "take over the operations of the ''Canadian Press''" according to a November 2010 article in the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. The new board met for the first time on November 29, 2010 to review the operations of The Canadian Press. As of January 2020, Torstar, Globe and Mail and Montreal's La Presse continued to be the owners of The Canadian Press.

Operation

Playing an essential role in the development of

Canadian identity Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Primary influences on th ...

, The Canadian Press is wholly dependent on

leased A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

telegraphic Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

lines in order to send stories back and forth across the country to their vast number of readers''.'' In addition to providing news to

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

, and

, The Canadian Press provides online news and photos. Now, almost every daily newspaper in Canada relies on the service brought forth by The Canadian Press. It introduced this online breaking news service in 1996 and now its multimedia content is published by most major Canadian news websites. The Canadian Press launched breaking news video in 2007, with clips produced specifically for websites and wireless services. On June 30, 2007,

CanWest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

left The Canadian Press cooperative. In September 2007, The Canadian Press launched a rebranding campaign in an effort to stay competitive, notably in the wake of the pullout by The CanWest Global's newspaper, television and online news outlets (see below). All of its services, including radio networks ''Broadcast News'' and ''Nouvelles télé-radio'', were rolled into a single brand: The Canadian Press. The change marked the end of the familiar (CP) service logo. The Canadian Press also operates the largest online editorial archive of news pictures shot by

photojournalists Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

. It was the first in Canada to develop this online archive in 1996 and now it is home to over two million digital images with hundreds of images added each day. These photos appear in newspapers, books and magazines, and online. In addition to news and information, The Canadian Press publishes the ''Stylebook'' and ''Caps and Spelling'' book, which are considered the chief

style guides A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gener ...

for Canadian journalists, public relations professionals, editors, and writers of all disciplines. Through a longstanding partnership, The Canadian Press is the exclusive distributor of the

(AP) and

Associated Press Television News {{About, the global video news agency, TVRI television programme, Dunia Dalam Berita, the airlines of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines, the Indonesian public television, TVRI Associated Press Television News, also referred to as AP Video and often abbr ...

(APTN) material in Canada. The AP is likewise the exclusive distributor of The Canadian Press in the United States and worldwide. On March 11, 2009, Sun Media announced that it would also be pulling out of the cooperative. In July 2010, a tentative deal was struck between The Canadian Press' three largest stakeholders,

CTVglobemedia Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

Torstar Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes daily and community newspapers. In addition to the ''Toronto Star'', its flagship and namesake, Torstar also publishes daily newspapers in Hamilton, Peterborough, Ni ...

, and

Gesca Gesca Limitée is a division of the Power Corporation of Canada, which published French-language daily newspapers in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Gesca has since 2013 responded to the Internet challenge by expanding its free online servic ...

, to transform the newswire from a co-operative into a for-profit entity. On November 26, 2010, Torstar, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', and Square Victoria Communications Group announced they have invested in a new for-profit entity, Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., to take over the operations of The Canadian Press. The change in the ownership structure from a non-profit co-operative to a for-profit private business allowed the company to cover its pension needs and take advantage of future business opportunities, Phillip Crawley, publisher of ''The Globe and Mail'', said in an interview, November 26, 2010. The Canadian Press had a serious pension shortfall, which was, in 2010, valued at $34.4 million.

Notable staff

William Ashbury Buchanan William Francis Asbury Buchanan (July 2, 1876 – July 12, 1954) was a Canadian journalist, newspaper publisher and politician from Alberta. Early life William Francis Asbury Buchanan was born on July 2, 1876 at South Monaghan, Northumberl ...

, elected president of The Canadian Press in 1944 * Charles Edwards, The Canadian Press journalist from 1933 to 1944, manager of Press News from 1944 to 1954, manager of Broadcast News from 1954 to 1971 * Jack Sullivan, The Canadian Press sports editor from 1948 to 1975

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Press, The 1917 establishments in Ontario Canadian journalism organizations Former cooperatives of Canada News agencies based in Canada Mass media companies established in 1917 Torstar The Globe and Mail Power Corporation of Canada Companies based in Toronto

History

Operation

Notable staff

See also

References

External links