AP defends – AP Executive Editor Julie Pace defended a plan to build a centralized production hub in India, saying the shift is meant to strengthen AP’s video and photo capabilities—even as it is expected to affect the current U.S.-based production staff and potentially tr
The question landed the way it always does when a newsroom starts moving pieces: what happens next to the people doing the work right now.
In a memo to staff obtained by the New York Times’ Ben Mullin. Associated Press Executive Editor Julie Pace wrote that many employees had asked for “more details” about the organization’s effort to “strengthen” AP so it can “sustain” its mission: delivering fact-based. nonpartisan news that informs the world.
Pace’s answer was blunt about where that strength is headed. AP is “planning to develop a centralized global hub in India. ” aimed at increasing the size of AP’s production staff to scale both “our video and photo capabilities” while improving “speed a quality.” She also said AP was looking to explore “production changes in other global locations.”.
That plan, Pace wrote, is designed to impact AP’s current U.S.-based video and photo production staff—and it will likely come with additional layoffs.
Her defense focused on the business reality she said AP can’t ignore. Pace said India has “a vibrant. digital-first media industry.” She added that AP had “done some hiring in production earlier this year to test the market. ” and that the organization “has long had success hiring for other teams there.” She pointed out that “other news organizations have been building their presence in India in recents years as well.”.
For staff members still uneasy, Pace framed the decision as an investment problem, not an editorial one. She said AP is “a fully independent global news organization” and therefore had to be “intentional about where and how we invest.”
“We do not have the backing of a large corporate parent or outside ownership,” Pace wrote. “And while that is a great thing for our journalism. our ability to sustain world-class reporting depends on adapting to changes in the industry. thinking strategically about where to allocate our resources and investing in the areas where we can grow and best serve customers.”.
Pace stressed that AP’s mission statement has not changed: “To inform the world with factual. independent and nonpartisan journalism.” Before signing off. she thanked the newsroom for their “work. ” “resilience” and “commitment to AP journalism. ” telling staff they’ve “navigate[d] a lot of change amid an intense and unrelenting news cycle” while still delivering the AP report with “speed. authority. ambition. resilience and courage.” She ended with a promise to “keep you updated as we move forward in this process.”.
The memo lands after an earlier round of cuts that still hangs over AP’s production teams. Pace’s statement came more than a month after the AP laid off 20 U.S.-based journalists as part of a restructuring intended to shift the organization “from print to visual news.” At the time. the AP News Guild slammed the job cuts as “indicative of ‘just how directionless AP leadership has become.’” In that same message. the guild also criticized outsourcing work to India.
The guild said the layoffs included “U.S. news, photographers, investigations, business and sports across 12 states.” It added that while AP outsourced video production work to India “away from video staff in the U.S. and elsewhere,” AP had “found plenty of resources” to do so.
Earlier in 2026, AP proposed downsizing and offered buyouts to more than 120 journalists working in the United States. Around 40 staffers accepted the buyouts, according to what the AP News and its guild shared at the time.
Now, Pace’s India hub plan points to the next phase of AP’s shift—one she argues is necessary for sustaining the work, while staff face the prospect that the impact will keep arriving in the places where production jobs are currently based.
Associated Press AP Julie Pace India production hub video production photo production layoffs AP News Guild outsourcing U.S. journalists visual news restructuring
So theyre moving the news to India and laying off Americans. Cool cool.
I don’t buy the “nonpartisan” thing if they’re cutting staffing in the US. Like who’s gonna fact check when they can’t even keep people employed? Seems like a money move first and “speed and quality” second.
Wait so the hub is in India because India has a “digital-first media industry”?? Isn’t that just coding? Also I read somewhere AP is owned by the government so this is like… propaganda jobs swap? Not sure if that’s true but it feels like it.
AP says it’s independent but also says centralized hub in India will mean more layoffs here. That’s the part people are mad about, not the “video and photo capabilities.” Speed and quality for who? I swear these corporate memos always sound like they’re helping the mission while quietly chopping the mission staff. And then “explore production changes in other global locations” means it’s not stopping.