Since the day they opened for business. I might suggest that if you have a local paper that is conservative enough to not like this act of AP, Call them. Call the Radio stations that Carry Hannity and Rush, etc.
These stations pay thousands of dollars a month for Associated Press.
Associated Press. works for the tV,Radio, and newspapers in the US. It is they who pay the bills. If they people who pay the bills get angry, then AP will take notice. As far as the general public is concerned they don't care.
They are like a car parts maker who makes parts for Chevies. If you call up angry they don't much care. If GM calls up ticked, they get very compliant.
Since the days of William Randolph Hearst, and Joseph Pulitzer, in the late 1890's, if not before...
the infowarrior
Since the invention of the printing press...or perhaps longer...MUD
You're kidding, right?