Associated Press CEO to discuss "War and the White House"

By Ian Little
VCU School of Mass Communications

RICHMOND, Va. - Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press, will present the first Bill Turpin Lecture in News Management at 11:30 a.m., on Thursday, Feb. 26 at the Virginia Commonwealth University Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballroom A, 907 Floyd Ave. 

Curley, former president and publisher of USA Today, will discuss "War and the White House", recent events in Iraq and the relationship between the media and the White House during times of war.

In June 2003, Curley became the 12th person to lead AP since its inception in 1848.  With more than 31 years experience on the editorial and business side of news management, Curley is the first person in more than 40 years to be hired from outside of AP to run the news organization.

Curley is overseeing the transformation of a company that has more than 3,700 employees serving in 137 countries world wide and in the United States alone serves 5,000 radio and television stations and 1,700 newspapers.  In October, AP announced the creation of "eAP," a new interactive network of multimedia content, which will help AP provide quicker service to its customers and streamline content.

The Turpin Lecture in News Management was created in 2002 by former students who wished to honor Dr. William H. Turpin, who taught at VCU for 16 years and died in 2002.

The lecture is sponsored by VCU?s School of Mass Communications and is free and open to the public.