TIRANA, May 12 /ATA/ – For the first time in its history, the Albanian Telegraphic Agency hosts in Albania the Spring Conference of the CEOs of the European Alliance News Agencies (EANA), in which ATA is a full member. The conference will be held on May 14-16 on the topic "Threats to Journalism & News Agencies & Tools to Fight Back".
EANA was founded on August 21, 1956. In 1970, agencies behind the so called “iron curtain” were invited to join.
EANA´s predecessor Agences Alliées was founded in 1924 and was active until the World War II when the activities were discontinued. EANA serves as a forum for cooperation and exchange of information and experiences among European news agencies.
32 leading European news agencies are currently pooling their resources to create a common platform on key issues such as copyright, AI, journalism and general development of the news agency field.
The organisation is powered by each of the member agencies representing 32 European countries with around 750 million inhabitants.
The main objectives for EANA are to provide a business environment where news agencies can fulfill their duty of independent and impartial news reporting, to promote cooperation and information exchange between member agencies, and to provide member agencies with a pan-European professional forum for discussion and exchange of experiences and knowledge by organizing workshops and conferences.
EANA Spring Conference will take place at the Plaza Hotel, followed by a tour of downtown Tirana and visits to various museums.
This conference, presented and sponsored by ATA, will separately address the topics "European Newsroom and other collaborative projects between news agencies", "Financial Independence: Diversification of income", "Copyright Issues", "Legislative Improvements for Public and State News Agencies", in addition to problems such as cybersecurity, protection of journalists, interference by politicians, lawsuits, subsidies and government alternatives or disinformation and fact-checking.
Keynote speakers will be Director General of ATA Valbona Zhupa, Associated Press Europe and Africa News Director James Jordan, who has extensive experience at AP, ITN and Sky News covering stories on the Ukraine war; the terrorist attacks in Paris and Tunisia, the advance of ISIS in Iraq and the Manchester concert bombing.
Other speakers include Tina Mari Flem (NTB), Aimilios Perdikaris (ANA-MPA), Nataliya Kostina (Ukrinform), Hanspeter Kellermueler (Keystone-SDA), Jaroslav Kabele (CTK) and Peter Kropsch (dpa).
Opening remarks will be delivered by ATA’s General Director Valbona Zhupa and President of EANA, CEO of AFP Fabrice Fries.
DPA CEO Peter Kropsch, also chairman of the EANA Copyright Committee, will deliver a presentation on the topic "Structure of AI contracts and the latest rules at EU level - Recommendations from the EANA Copyright Committee"./ a.jor./p.s./
