Press releases

The global news and media industry is battling once-in-a-lifetime challenges: recession worsened by a dramatic fall in advertising income, and the technological challenge of the digital revolution, the rise of the Internet and innovation in the mobile phone sector.

The world is changing and so is Agence France-Presse, so that it can give an ever better service to its clients. Our agency dates back to 1835, but it has never had to confront an upheaval such as the Internet era. What is not changing is our devotion to facts, a near religion, an age-old tradition that must never be considered out of date. The agency has a passion for getting it right, preparing a sourced and checked story and delivering it as quickly as possible.

Global news agency AFP (Agence France-Presse) will extend its successful interactive online sports products with two new offerings in 2009. The Champions League and Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup) Flash™ applications will launch in September 2009 and be available in a wide range of languages.

¡Fútbol Ya!, a photo-rich application covering soccer news from across Latin America and the world powered by one of the most trusted sources, Agence France-Presse (AFP), is now available for Hispanic media outlets as a customizable, branded mobile application.

Agence France-Presse on Monday named Philippe Massonnet as its new global news director with a mission to oversee the international news agency's evolution to a fully integrated multimedia operation. Massonnet, a former Beijing bureau chief and China specialist, takes over the post from Denis Hiault at the head of a revamped news management team. A new post of deputy global news director will be filled by Juliette Hollier-Larousse, AFP's current international multimedia editor.

Getty Images, the leading provider of digital media and Agence France-Presse (AFP), the global press agency, announced today that they have renewed their agreement. The renewed contract takes effect on 1st June 2009 and extends the partnership between the two companies for a further three years.

AFP and Getty Images have agreed a worldwide video partnership, effective from the beginning of March, which will allow both agencies to market their video content in English.

The awards, co-organised by Amnesty International, the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club and the Hong Kong Journalists Association, recognise news stories, features, photos, broadcast reports and online articles that highlight human rights -- or the lack of them -- across the Asia Pacific region during 2008, a year when there was the Olympic Games in Beijing, a major cyclone in Myanmar and a quake in China, unrest in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and a vast range of other issues, from AIDS to migrant workers to police brutality.

Up to the Minute Video News and Headlines From Global News Leaders Will Be Pushed to Viewers’ Screen of Choice – Smartphone or Desktop

Agence France-Presse and French agency relaxnews have launched a global leisure newswire in Asia that they hope will become the world's leading source for lifestyle news. Aimed at the media, industry brands, PR agencies and telecommunications companies, the service will offer stories and multimedia reports on tourism, home life, entertainment, health and well-being.