12:43,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) is a good platform of cooperation, opportunities and exchange of experience. More than 30 news agencies around the world are members of this organization.
EANA Secretary General, Alexandru Giboi, and EANA Board Member, CEO of PA Media Group, Clive Marshall, visited Armenpress on June 13.
Speaking about their visit to Armenia, Clive Marshall said they are in Armenia to meet with the people from Armenpress and also with the general media, in order to progress the application that has been made by Armenpress to join EANA. “We had very interesting two-days learning more about the country, its history and its media”, he said.
Presenting the main mission of their organization, the EANA Secretary General stated: “The main goal is to actually create an environment of cooperation and insight sharing for the members. It’s an environment out of which each member can draw something useful for the evolution of the agency that they represent”.
EANA attaches great importance to the cooperation and empowerment of its members. He says that the core values that they represent are those of journalism, which they see as lying at the basis of the democratic societies. “So we try to empower our members to become the flag-bearers of these journalistic values to the, let’s say, larger goal of improving the democratic societies in which they function”, he noted.
Clive Marshall in turn stresses the necessity of news agencies to be “independent, impartial, balanced and perhaps most importantly in today’s world, in digital media, to be trustworthy, so that people, that are consuming news agency content, can trust that content and know that it comes as a reliable source”.
As for the their expansion plans, Alexandru Giboi said their organization became more digital because of COVID-19, adding that they are looking towards engaging a lot more with the stakeholder environment. “Personally I think that increasing connections in Europe of course, among various sectors, not only the media sector, the technology sector, consultancy, everything should be one of the keys to the evolution of EANA, and our members, of course. So in the future, I think, the cooperation is key”, the EANA Secretary General said.
Clive Marshall notes: “I think from the perspective of my news agency, the PA Media Group in London, it’s important that we are in a position to transfer our experience and skills to some of the small members of our organization”. He says that if the membership application of Armenpress succeeds, they can exchange information and knowledge that can help Armenpress develop and grow, which according to him, is good for Armenia, is good for the news agency and the consumers of the news content as well. Clive Marshall informed that they have discussed this issue with Director of Armenpress Narine Nazaryan.
As for the opportunities provided by EANA, the Secretary General said they are huge. “First of all, first and foremost, and I am saying this as Secretary General of EANA and also as a former director of a news agency which is member of EANA, and that is Agerpres Romania. You, as a member, benefit from the huge level of insight which is, actually, granted by the diverse membership that we have. Interaction, networking, access to ideas is one of the most important gains for a member agency, in my opinion. They are not, let’s say, in a way isolated anymore. They are part of this big family which we are. And we help our members anyway possible”, he added.
Clive Marshall highlighted the friendship and the community of the organization. He says that one of the greatest benefits of the organization is that it is possible to meet around 30 news agency heads, share experiences, concerns and opportunities.
EANA members are such news agencies as Agence France Presse (France), Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA, Italy), BTA (Bulgaria), Agerpres (Romania), CAN (Cyprus), EFE (Spain), the news agencies of Andorra, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Slovakia, Denmark and other countries.