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III WORLD CongresS OF NEWS AGENCIES
20th to 22nd OCTOBER 2010
"NEWS AGENCIES: CONTENTS AND SERVICES QUALITY"
Summary Madrid Meeting
Date: October 20th, 2008
Place: Madrid, Spain
Aim: Election of the III World Congress of News Agencies venue
The representatives of the Executive Committee of the World Council of Agencies, met in the main headquarters of the news Agency EFE, agreed to celebrate the III World Congress of News Agencies in Argentina in October, 2010.
The celebration of the Bicentennial of the Argentine emancipation as well as the opportunity to integrate the Latin American agencies at international level, were some of the reasons for the host selection.
Télam took on the organization of the Congress because it represents a commitment with the freedom of speech, the diversity and the role of the agencies in the world.
Summary Beirut Meeting
Date: May 15, 2009
Place: Beirut, Lebanon
Aim: First preview meeting of the III Congress
The World Council of News Agencies gathered in Beirut to hold the first preview meeting in which the dates and the main issues of the III Congress were defined.
The agenda will cover, among other questions, the new services and technologies, the new competitors coming out within the journalistic market, the new role for the local, national, regional and international agencies and the concept of the “multimedia journalist.”
Also, a new category was set up for the “World News Agencies Photo XXI Century”, photographic contest that was established in the II World Congress carried out in Estepona, Málaga.
Télam news agency stood out the importance of welcoming the world agencies to be able to move forward on integration proposals and professional collaboration.
Summary Madrid Meeting
Date: January 22, 2010
Place: Madrid, Spain
Aim: Second preview meeting of the III Congress
The World Council of News Agencies, met in Madrid, approved the celebration of the III World Congress from October 20th to 22nd in the Argentine city of San Carlos de Bariloche, under the motto "News Agencies: Contents and Services Quality."
The members of this executive organism presided over by the Spanish Álex Grijelmo, President of EFE, have agreed the program of the next meeting.
The III Congress will bring together the presidents of the main international news agencies, and highest-level directors in the editorial and technological scope, to debate on the challenges in the immediate future of the media.
Among other issues, the new demands, new services, products and technologies shall be addressed at the Congress; the journalist's multimedia role; the technological advances and the new ways to produce and to sell information.
In order to do so, there will be simultaneous work shops on the protection of the news agencies in views of the information piracy; the security of the journalists and their freedom of entrance to the major interest events; the new integrated wordings and the response of the customers considering the agencies' offer.
Meeting of the World Council of News Agencies, Madrid, January 2010
Picture from left to right:
AFP – France
Mr. Eric Scherer
FANA (Federation of Arab News Agencies)
Mr. Farid Ayar – Secretary General
NAWC (New Agencies World Council)
Mr. Uffe Riis Sorensen – Secretary General
OANA (Organization of Asian News Agencies)
Dr. Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf – CEO of ANTARA News Agency
Thomson Reuters
Mr. Luis Carlino – Sales Manager Iberia
Télam – Argentina
Mr. Roberto Luzardi – Development and Institutions Relations
EFE - Spain
Mr. Alex Grijelmo – President
EANA (Eurpean Allience of News Agencies)
Mr. Malte von Trotha – DPA German Press Agency
EFE - Spain
Ms. Lola Álvarez – General Director
EANA (Eurpean Allience of News Agencies)
Mr. Erik Nylen – Secretary General
OANA (Organization of Asian News Agencies)
Mr. Asro Kamal Rokan – Member of Supervisory Board
ANSA - Italia
Mr. Giulio Pecora
Summary of the meeting
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II World Congress of News Agencies
"Facing the challenges"
October, 24th to 27th, 2007
Estepona, Spain
Opening of the II World Congress, Estepona, Spain
The Congress of Estepona was inaugurated by the King of Spain, who stood out the close relationship that exists between the press freedom and the democracy, and highlighted the participation that “some free and independent media of unquestionable influence” have exercised in the modernization of Spain.
He remarked that the existence of independent agencies is “one of the best guarantees so the informative stream that guarantees a complete, truthful and responsible information keeps on flowing in each society”.
He urged that in a more and more globalized world, there exist a major cooperation among the world news agencies that face situations like "the preservation of peace, human rights, fight against the poverty, the hunger, the diseases, terrorism blight or environment aggressions".
Don Juan Carlos stated that the news agencies are "essential pieces of the informative production” which main value lies “in the rigor”, the seriousness and the truthfulness".
The King underlined “EFE Agency permanent thirst for renovation”, “present in its daily commitment to the news and the truth from the greatest efficiency and speed”, and said that EFE is “a key engine in the communication between Spain and the world, mainly with those five hundred million people that speak Spanish”.
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The Kings of Spain, authorities of the World Council of News Agencies and authorities of EFE Agency at the opeening of the II World Council, Estepona, Spain.
The President of the Russian agency ITAR-TASS, Vitaly Ignatenko, read a message of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in which he expressed his confidence that recommendations of the Congress of Estepona are useful to strengthen the role of the masses information media in the fight against the challenges and global threats.
The president of the Agency EFE, Alex Grijelmo, paid homage to the news agencies journalists that “work anonymous and provide the most valuable service to the information, which content is much more important than its own idea”.
Grijelmo remarked that the news agencies journalists are responsible for “informing those informing the citizens”, a task that for EFE Agency President, should be fulfilled with “rigor, honesty and diligence in the confirmation, because we are only entitled to pass on truthful information”.
The II World Congress of News Agencies, organized by EFE and by the municipal project “Estepona, the journalism city”, summoned representatives of nearly 100 news agencies from 80 countries. Issues like the security of the journalists working in dangerous spots, the access of the media to the major sport events, the fight against the piracy, the technological advances in the communication world and role of the news agencies in the future, were addressed.
Among the participants there were representatives of Reuters, AP, AFP, the German DPA, the Russian ITAR-TASS, the Chinese Xinhua and the Japanese Kyodo. Some Latin American agencies, like Mexican Notimex, the Cuban Prensa Latina, the Brazilian Agencia Estado and the Argentine TELAM also attended the meeting.
Besides, the representatives of news agencies that face serious difficulties carrying out their work like the Afghan Pajhwok or Iraq`s NINA and Aswat received special support.
Closing Dinner of the II World Congress, Estepona, Spain.
I World Congress of News Agencies
"Challenges and Tasks of the 21st Century"
September, 22nd to 26th, 2004
Moscow, Russia
On September 23th, 2004, the General Director of the UNESCO Koïchiro Matsuura, inaugurated alongside Vladimir Putin, President of Russia Federation and Vitaly Ignatenko, General Director of the Agency ITAR-TASS, the World Congress of News Agencies. This Congress was organized in Moscow to mark the 100th anniversary of Agency ITAR-TASS, the greatest and oldest press agency in Russia. Around 120 news agencies of 99 countries were present in that meeting.
After the opening speech of President Putin, in which he referred to his new fight policy against the terrorism and the role of the communication media in the current international context, Mr. Matsuura said in his speech that this "encounter of news agencies at world level should be seen as a stepping-stone for the dialogue and the exchange of ideas, information and experience among many of the most important news suppliers of the world". This event provides an useful forum for the realization of a professional debate on issues of vital interest for the news agencies. The Freedom of speech and the free flow of information are two of those issues within this globalization era. "
"It is a time in which the relationship between press freedom and the democracy has never been that close before". The editorial independence, the free access to the information and rigorous professional regulations are specially important for the news agencies, since they provide the press material and material for many other communication media".
In relation to the UNESCO like an organism of the United Nations with responsibilities on issues of masses communication and "the free circulation of ideas by means of the word and the image", the General Director described the commitment of the Organization with the process of the World Summit on the information society (WSIS). The concept of "knowledge societies" that the UNESCO encourages "should be seen as plural, variable and open to the democratic election".
The fundamental principles of the UNESCO for the WSIS are a group of four interrelated elements: the freedom of speech, the equal access to the education, the universal access to the information, as well as a solid public domain of the information, the preservation and promotion of the cultural diversity.
As the key role of these principles it was recognized in the first stage of the WSIS in Geneva that the main task “is to achieve the effective enjoyment of the freedoms and fundamental rights in practice", declared Koïchiro Matsuura. "I strongly believe that the freedom of the communication media, included the news agencies, as well as the pluralism are essential in this field". Its freedom cannot be left under an abstract level but rather it should take a real shape in the daily activities of the professionals and the media".
One of the UNESCO thematic meetings that took place in the period previous to the second stage of the Summit in Tunisia was an international conference named "The UNESCO between two stages of the World Summit on the Information Society", was focused in the cultural diversity in the knowledge societies. Organized by the Russian National Committee for the Program Information for everybody with the Culture and Communication Ministry, the Conference was carried out in Saint Petersburg in May, 2005 under the auspices of President Putin, and the General Director.
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