A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to organizations in the news trade: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. These are known as wire services or news services.

History

The oldest news agency is Agence France-Presse (AFP). It was founded in 1835 by a Parisian translator and advertising agent, Charles-Louis Havas as Agence Havas. Two of his employees, Julius Reuter and Bernhard Wolff, later set up rival news agencies in London and Berlin respectively. In order to reduce overheads and develop the lucrative advertising side of the business, Havas's sons, who had succeeded him in 1852, signed agreements with Reuter and Wolff, giving each news agency an exclusive reporting zone in different parts of Europe.

Commercial services

News agencies can be corporations that sell news (e.g. Thomson Reuters, UPI). Other agencies work cooperatively with large media companies, generating their news centrally and sharing local news stories the major news agencies may chose to pick up and redistribute ( i.e. AP, Agence France-Presse (AFP), MYOP). Commercial newswire services charge businesses to distribute their news (e.g. Business Wire, the Hugin Group, Market Wire, PR Newswire, and ABN Newswire). Governments may also control news agencies: China (Xinhua), Britain, Canada, Russia (ITAR-TASS) and other countries also have government-funded news agencies which also use information from other agencies well.

The major news agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations. They provide these articles in bulk electronically through wire services (originally they used telegraphy; today they frequently use the Internet). Corporations, individuals, analysts and intelligence agencies may also subscribe.

Internet-based alternative news agencies as a component of the larger alternative media emphasizes a "non-corporate view" that is independent of the pressures of corporate media, business media and government-generated news and releases.

Major news agencies

• Agence France-Presse
• Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau
• ANSA (news_agency)
• Associated Press
• Bloomberg L.P.
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur
• European Pressphoto Agency
• ITAR-TASS
• Interfax
• Kyodo News
• Magyar Távirati Iroda
• RIA Novosti
• Reuters
• United Press International
• Xinhua News Agency
• Yonhap
• Agencia Brasil