For ACP, today’s crisis is not just about the media themselves but rather about their content. How can we differentiate today between the angle or the content of an article published in print or online ? How much time has been spent preparing an in-depth feature ? What is the attitude of the main publications with regard to photo-reportages ? Not only online but also in quality publications, in-depth features – which take time and cost money – are more and more frequently being replaced by “instant” information : newswire bulletins or basic commentaries on what happened – or is likely to happen – yesterday, today or tomorrow. This means that 80% of all information found on the internet only in fact covers 20% of the actual facts. This “instant journalism” strategy gives priority to the latest scoop rather than to in-depth analysis. Which, in time, leads to a lack of quality editorial content - the only truly differentiating factor between paid media and free content.
Only by providing quality content, information analysed and written up in a comprehensible manner, at a reasonable price will the media be able to confront the challenges created by the current crisis and the latest technology. This can be illustrated by certain success stories where media are managing to increase their readership by offering added value : the exclusive nature of the news they provide.
This is why ACP intends to propose – via its internet platform – a new business model for the high value-added end of journalism. Providing the media – at a controlled cost - with access to an extensive content data base, the ACP platform enables a network of freelance journalists to circulate – and sell - their work in a revolutionary new way. Moreover, the media themselves can increase their revenues by selling some of their own editorial material to other media.
If we want to ensure the survival of journalism as a profession, we are going to have to completely change our habits and the ways in which we work. We will have to re-define the relationship between those that produce information – writers, photographers and illustrators – and those that circulate it : the media.
Many journalists today are having to limit their freedom of expression in exchange for the security of being part of an in-house editorial team. More and more of them are creating their own blogs, not only to express their opinions but simply to regain the satisfaction of covering subjects which they particularly care about. This is possibly because they are no longer stimulated by the editorial environment in which they work on a day-to-day basis. Thanks to the ACP platform, they will not only be able to express themselves freely but also potentially increase their revenues by building up a portfolio of clients from all over the world.
Unlike traditional news agencies where everybody remains anonymous, the success of the ACP platform will be built by the journalists who contribute towards it, by the quality of their names, their articles, their photos or their features. They will create an editorial community based on the added value and the excellence of its journalist members.
Agence Centrale de Presse will continue to cultivate this difference.
