Paris (AFP)
Agence France-Presse (AFP) will launch at the beginning of June a new subsidiary, MediaConnect, which will allow companies and institutions to distribute their press releases to journalists and other media professionals, via a platform guaranteeing their authenticity, she said. announced Wednesday.
It is a platform for the distribution of press releases and associated content (image banks, archives, etc.), which initially targets the French market, in particular large institutions and CAC 40 companies. .
She wants to offer "a service that does not yet exist in France", as such, explained the CEO of AFP, Fabrice Fries, during a videoconference.
Currently, press releases are mainly distributed to French journalists in the form of emails, without always reaching the right target and without the recipient being necessarily assured of their authenticity.
MediaConnect will offer journalists, bloggers, influencers, etc., access to press releases based on personalized criteria.
In addition, it intends to assure users (issuers and journalists) of the authenticity of the press releases disseminated, in particular by relying on blockchain (virtual register technology).
To create this platform, which is inspired by other experiences abroad (such as the DPA news aktuell service, developed by the German press agency DPA), AFP has joined forces with a specialized French company, epresspack , which holds 5% of the capital of MediaConnect.
"This tool will help companies fight against fake news that undermines their stock market price", and connect journalists and brands in a "chosen and no longer suffered" way, argued Antoun Sfeir, founder and leader of epresspack.
This subsidiary, headed by Anne Boussarie, who came from the Getty Images photography agency, will operate "with total impermeability" from the AFP editorial staff, has also assured the management of the Agency.
"For AFP, it is a diversification of its income, it is in our roadmap", underlined Fabrice Fries, recalling that the previous activity launched by the agency, FactStory (ex-AFP Services, subsidiary of creation content for brand communication) dates back to 2010.
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