AFP 03/09/09 - Launch of ACP, "the first news agency in the digital age"

PARIS | A new news agency, presented on Thursday by its founders as being  “the first in the digital age” and named  Agence Centrale de Presse (ACP), will go live in January 2010 and enable the media to purchase articles supplied by professional journalists.

ACP will belong to the Imacom media group whose main shareholder is Christian Ciganer-Albeniz, Chairman of Compagnie financière de Constance and brother of Cécilia Ciganer-Albeniz, Nicolas Sarkozy’s ex-wife.
Launched during the "Visa pour l'image" photojournalism festival in Perpignan, the future ACP – whose only link with another agency which closed down in 1990 is its name, which has been acquired by Imacom – intends to "reinvent the relationship between journalists and the media when the written press is in the midst of the worst crisis ever known and undergoing profound change.”
The agency denies wanting to compete with traditional agencies such as Agence France-Presse, Reuters or Associated Press.
"We won’t offer wires, only in-depth articles. We don’t have the same time constraints, our articles will have a longer lifespan", ACP, chief editor Judikael Hirel.told AFP.
Using a secured website, ACP will provide media companies from around the world with “ready to use” content (texts of 3,000 characters minimum, photos and illustrations) supplied by a network of - solely professional – journalists “because this is not citizen journalism", according to the chief editor.
The number of contributors is limited to1,500 - "for technical and editorial reasons". It should especially attract freelancers who "need to supplement their income,” he pointed out.
ACP will also have its own editorial team, mainly in order to ensure that "the code of conduct is respected” and to translate articles submitted “initially” in French and English.
Membership will be free for journalists. Any media companies interested (written press, online media, mobile phone operators...) will take out a fixed-rate annual subscription of 5,000 euros then pay for each article.
The agency will then charge a commission on articles.
Initially, the number of clients will be limited to 1,000. The French regional press as well as magazines, including some “major groups” have already expressed interest, according to Mr. Hirel.
The Imacom group comprises several photo and illustration agencies (DPPI, Sunset, Visual and Alamo) with an annual turnover in excess of 8 million euros.
The new ACP will represent an investment of 5 million euros over three years.