News agencies face financial problems due to global economic crisis

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

BELGRADE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- News agencies all over the world are facing
financial problems as a result of the global economic crisis, said participants
in a conference of European news agencies held in the Croatian capital Zagreb on
Thursday.

A decline in subscription revenue, a loss of clients, lower budget
allocations and salary reductions or freezes are problems common to both large
news agencies, such as the French AFP or the American AP, and small, national
agencies, the Croatian news agency (Hina) reported.

The two-day conference of leading people from the European Alliance of News
Agencies (EANA), which takes place in Croatia for the first time and are
organized by Hina, brought together about 70 participants to discuss the impact
of the economic crisis on the business operation of news agencies and possible
responses to the problems they are facing.

Representatives of about 30 European news agencies see new sophisticated
products as a solution, without forgetting their core line of business --
production and distribution of reliable news.

The Hungarian news agency MTI director Matyas Vince, who is also president
of EANA, said that MTI was responding to the crisis by providing new
sophisticated products, such as video news and PR services for local
authorities, and by constantly adapting its services to meet the needs of its
clients, offering them specialized stories concerning leisure, entertainment and
travel.

Participants agreed that in addition to new services it was also necessary
to return to "the roots" of agency journalism -- the production and distribution
of fast and reliable news, which continues to be in great demand.

They also said it was important to adapt agency news to the needs of
younger audiences who do not read newspapers like their parents or grandparents,
but are interested in news offered on the Internet and other media.

Representatives of two non-European news agencies -- the U.S. Associated
Press and the Australian AAP -- as well as one of Dow-Jones' directors, were
also in attendance.

Struggling U.S. newspapers look for "online" ways

BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. publishers are mulling survival tactics
at a time when readers increasingly favor web based news.

Given the fact that readers now trust the information they get online than
news from old-line newspapers, publishers are playing with the idea of charging
readers for news on the Web. Some newspapers are even looking for chances to
extract money from powerful aggregators such as Google News, which link to their
articles.

According to a survey conducted by the London-based TNS marketing group
recently, readers prefer online news because it is more up-to-date than print.
More sources of news are available at the click of a mouse. And almost always
there are deeper dives that can be done into subject areas that are briefed
online.

Online advertising is seen as a potential savior in some newsrooms although
it currently accounts for less than 15 percent of revenue at most U.S. dailies.

Another proposal gaining currency is selling digital subscriptions through
electronic readers similar to Amazon's popular Kindle -- which is designed for
electronic books.

(Agencies)