Burl Osborne, who is slated to be elected chairman of The Associated Press next year, has joined Public Strategies in Austin, Tex., as a part-time adviser.

Osborne, 63, who retired June 15 as publisher of The Dallas Morning News, downplayed any possible conflict of interest between AP position and his work for PS.

"I'm not advising on lobbying, and I'm not doing any lobbying," he told The Austin Citizen-News. "This is strictly strategy."