AAP FactCheck Organisational Structure

Australian Associated Press Ltd is an independent not-for-profit organisation established in 2020 to advance tolerance and understanding by protecting independent, ethical and sustainable news gathering and reporting in Australia. The organisation acquired the former Australian Associated Press Pty Ltd Newswire and FactCheck businesses on August 4, 2020. Australian Associated Press Ltd continues the 85 year legacy of the original Australian Associated Press Pty Ltd and provides media companies and corporations with news and information of public interest.

As a not-for-profit entity, Australian Associated Press Ltd has no owners or shareholders. It is constituted by a small group of members who have no ownership rights over the organisation. The organisation is governed by a board of elected directors.

AAP derives income from subscriptions to its news, image and information services. AAP is an independent and non-partisan organisation. AAP accepts philanthropic donations and funding to support the losses of its operations. Donors and funders neither seek nor are granted any influence over editorial operations or the governance of the organisation.

AAP FactCheck is funded by income earned through fact-checking and the provision of related services, such as training and media literacy campaigns.

One-off seed funding to establish AAP FactCheck was contributed by Google News Initiative. Google has since supported AAP FactCheck to undertake limited-term projects designed to support democracy and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. Meta support allowed AAP FactCheck to run several media literacy educational campaigns, while TikTok provided one-off funding for a short media literacy training initiative. ACF support enabled increased environmental fact-checking for a limited time in early 2022. 

It is a strict condition of all projects and partnerships that AAP FactCheck retain full editorial independence.