Media Port Migration FAQs

Why do I need to migrate from AP Media Port?

The AP is working with you to migrate the delivery of video clips with the associated scripts from satellite to internet delivery. Today’s AP Media Port functionality is being replaced with AP’s new delivery technology: AP Newsroom, AP Media API and AP Media Agent.

What is AP Newsroom?

The AP Newsroom portal is a simple and user-friendly platform to browse, search and download AP content. Learn more >>

What is On-Demand?

Together with AP Media Agent or direct AP Media API calls, AP Newsroom offers a useful feature of On-Demand delivery. On-Demand allows you to select an individual story in AP Newsroom and transfer it to your local storage via the Media API/Agent. By transferring only selected stories, you do not overload your internet bandwidth and storage systems. Learn more >>

What is Replay?

AP Newsroom offers another very useful feature of Replay of AP’s live video content. You can replay a live video content of AP Direct or Live Choice service using a video decoder supplied by the AP. Learn more >>

Which Media Port functionality is supported by AP Newsroom and Media API/Agent?

What is AP Media Agent?

AP Media Agent is a Java application for downloading AP content to your local machine. It is replacing AP’s legacy WebFeeds Agent and Media Port.

What are direct AP Media API Calls?

If you have software development resources, you can write your own program—an equivalent of the AP Media Agent—to pull the content from the AP servers. Programmatic access to content allows for tighter integration with your newsroom system. Direct Media API calls are replacing direct WebFeeds calls and are also available as a programmatic integration option if you are migrating from Media Port. Access the content programmatically via AP Media API >>

What are some notable differences between Media API/Agent, WebFeeds/Agent and Media Port?

• AP ATOM is replaced by JSON or NewsML-G2 metadata format.

• The improved NewsML-G2 format delivered by the Media API/Agent supports more comprehensive metadata.

• ANPA and plain text stories are not supported by the Media API/Agent. All textual content is available only in NITF.

• Serial Port Integration, which is not widely used, is not available in the Media Agent.

• Migration from Media Port or WebFeeds/Agent affects only the format of textual content, including text stories, metadata files and textual content associated with media files (such as scripts and captions).

What is changing from my perspective?

If you are using Media Port server to browse AP scripts and video content and ingesting text and video to your own newsroom system, you may be using textual content in the AP ATOM, ANPA, NewsML, NewsML-G2 or NITF format.

If you are calling WebFeeds directly or using WebFeeds Agent to download scripts and/or text stories, you may be receiving the AP ATOM, ANPA, NITF or plain text format.

AP Media API/Agent supports only the NITF format for textual content. For metadata, you can choose either JSON or NewsML-G2 format.

What is NITF?

News Industry Text Format (NITF) is an open standard format that is widely used and supported in the news media industry. It is developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). NITF uses XML to define the content and structure of news articles.

Why isn’t NITF alone a complete solution?

NITF files contain limited or basic metadata (for example, only the headline, byline and location fields as well basic category codes) and don’t include information about the media items (pictures, graphics and video) associated with the story. JSON and NewsML-G2 files provide significantly more comprehensive AP metadata including standardized subjects, geography, people, organizations, and publicly traded companies that help identify the subject matter of content more precisely.

What are JSON and NewsML-G2?

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data. JSON is an open standard text-based format for representing structured data based on JavaScript object syntax.

NewsML-G2 is also an open standard for exchange of news information such as text, pictures, graphics, audio and video. It is developed by IPTC and supported by the AP due to its popularity and use by other international news agencies.

What do I need to change for this migration?

The migration affects only the format of the text and metadata files for APTN scripts and AP Stories. There is no change in the formats of the media files (pictures, graphics, audio and video).

Currently, after downloading the AP text content in formats such as AP ATOM, NewsML-G2, ANPA or NITF, you are using a script/program (also known as parser), to process the received file and ingest it into the database of your newsroom system; for example, ENPS, iNews or Octopus.

The existing program/script or parser and the newsroom software need to be updated with the new metadata format that you choose – JSON or NewsML-G2.

If you are currently using Media Port, see the minimum changes required in metadata field mapping to migrate to Media API/Agent. To review the complete list of differences between the new and legacy metadata formats, refer to Metadata Mapping.

If you are currently using ANPA, see the ANPA Migration Metadata Guide for information about metadata fields that you can use to route and manage content.

AP integration specialists are ready to assist you with any aspect of the upgrade to AP Media API/Agent.

What are the minimum required changes in metadata field mapping?

If you are currently using Media Port, the minimum changes required in metadata field mapping to migrate to Media API/Agent involve the following fields:

To review the complete list of differences between the new and legacy metadata formats, refer to Metadata Mapping.

Ready to migrate to AP Media Agent?

Follow these quick migration steps >>