News Agencies in the Turbulent Era of the Internet

A mong media users, news agencies are perhaps the greatest unknown entities. Even though new technologies, and the Internet in particular, have begun to have a gradual impact on this reality in recent years, news agencies carry on doing what they have always done, far from the gaze of the public and often without the public realising it. This contrasts sharply with the enormous structural importance that these organisations have as high-quality sources of information and points of reference.

The structural, advertising and economic crisis that many media organisations have experienced has placed even greater emphasis on the valuable support that news agencies give to the sector. Producing high-quality information requires the media to make a considerable investment and, at a time when these have seen their revenues fall, often forcing them to try and make cutbacks, the services that news agencies provide contribute decisively to improvements in information quality and plurality. However, the contribution that news agencies make is not limited to information products. They also provide human capital: news agencies often become trainers of new journalists and, from this point of view, they make a significant contribution to the viability and dynamics of the sector.