Agence France-Presse

The French AFP (Agence France-Presse ) is the oldest international news agency. Founded in 1835 in Paris by Charles -Louis Havas she was known as " Agence des feuilles politiques, correspondence générale " first. Today, it operates worldwide as the third- largest news agency and in addition to the headquarters in Paris offices and staff in 150 countries. It offers news in English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese. Per day shipped worldwide AFP around 3,200 articles, 2,500 photos, 100 infographics and 150 video entries. In Germany AFP operates a subsidiary GmbH, which is largely independent of the French headquarters and produced for the German market in all major departments messages. Since 1998, the Sports Information Service is a wholly owned subsidiary AFP.

Naming

It was renamed on August 20, 1944, marched the day of the liberation of Paris, when a group of journalists to the Agency building at the Place de la Bourse and sent the first text of the " Agence de Presse " in the world. A month later, she received her final name of " Agence France-Presse ".

Legal status

1957 received the AFP a legal status that comes to public service broadcasters in Germany near. The board ( " conseil d'administration ") consists of ten members of the media ( including eight from the print media and two out of the radio ), three representatives of the French government and two representatives of AFP employees. The statutory status should guarantee the independence of the state and private owners. But Financially there is a significant dependence on the French state: 40 percent of the revenues come from subscriptions by AFP state institutions.

Today, the AFP has about 1,200 salaried journalists, including about 250 photographers, and more than 2,000 freelancers in 165 countries. Thus it has one of the densest networks of correspondents worldwide.

Controversial

AFP pursued since at least 2009 in the Federal Republic of Germany alleged copyright violations on blogs and micro- website operators in the form of mass warnings by the law firm KSP in Hamburg. Controversially this is the threat of drastic financial and legal consequences lawsuit threats. The claims for damages made ​​on the basis of hypothetical license fees under compensation rules of the DJV ( German Association of Journalists ). Numerous bloggers and small website owners feel threatened by the massive financial controversial commissioned by AFP attorney debt collection and pay regardless of the outcome of the claim, as they shy away from the legal battle against the French agency.