A.P. Says It Wants to Know Everything About Britney Spears

The Associated Press is bolstering its entertainment news coverage — and for many readers and viewers, Britney Spears is nothing if not entertaining.
An internal memorandum from The A.P.’s Los Angeles bureau dictating coverage of the troubled pop star was published by several media blogs on Tuesday, prompting some punch lines at the news service’s expense.
“Now and for the foreseeable future, virtually everything involving Britney is a big deal,” Frank Baker, the Los Angeles assistant bureau chief, wrote on Tuesday morning, three days after Ms. Spears was released from the hospital where she had been admitted in the wake of a custody dispute.
“Boy, that qualifies as an understatement,” Tirdad Derakhshani, a Philadelphia Inquirer writer remarked in the online column SideShow. On Romenesko, a popular online media site owned by the Poynter Institute, a commenter added, “Not a good day for journalism as a discipline.”
In the memo, Mr. Baker said that not every rumor should be published by The Associated Press. But “we want to pay attention to what others are reporting and seek to confirm those stories that WE feel warrant the wire,” he wrote, adding, “And when we determine that we’ll write something, we must expedite it.”
In an interview last week, Lou Ferrera, the managing editor for sports, entertainment and multimedia, defended Mr. Baker’s message.
“If you’re an editor in L.A. and Britney Spears is in your backyard,” he said, “you want to know everything about that story.”
While not directly related, the renewed interest in Ms. Spears comes as The Associated Press is putting new emphasis on entertainment coverage. Mr. Ferrera said the news service’s clients — more than 1,500 daily papers and thousands of other media outlets — were yearning for more photos and videos of celebrities.
Alluding to the memo, Mr. Ferrera said: “You can exchange Britney’s name with writers’ strike, with Paris Hilton, with the Dennis Quaid hospital problems. You can name any story — we can do a better job in breaking entertainment news.”
Last week The Associated Press announced a new position, director for entertainment content, to direct its multimedia efforts. Mr. Ferrera said The A.P. planned to add 22 positions to expand entertainment coverage, mainly in Los Angeles, New York and London, in the coming year. Some staff members will be moved from other areas to fill the jobs.
“We’re investing in a lot of areas,” Mr. Ferrera said, citing sports and business and financial news as other examples. “It’s really part of a larger strategy for The A.P. to do what it’s always done well.”