AFP privatisée ? Non merci ! - A Privatised AFP? No Thanks!

AFP: A Worldwide Presence with Strong Guarantees of Independence

Agence France-Presse is one of the small number of truly worldwide news agencies; others include Associated Press, which is American, and Reuters, which has British roots but has been part of the Canadian group Thompson since 2007.

AFP is the descendant of the Havas agency, born in France in 1835. It became Agence France-Presse after World War II, when it was refounded by journalists who had worked, and in many cases fought, with the anti-Nazi resistance during the conflict. The founders included Jean Marin, who helped draw up the 1957 statutes and served as chief executive from that year until 1975.

AFP's statutes are unusual in that they are laid down by an act of the French parliament. They define the company as a commercial entity which is neither public nor private, has no capital and is governed by a board composed mainly of its principal clients, including the French government, which subscribes to the agency's services. Contrary to a widespread misapprehension, the bulk of the funds provided by the government to AFP (see "Facts & Figures" below) can in no way be considered a subsidy; they are fees paid for the agency's services.

Statutes which have never prevented AFP from growing in the past

Even the present CEO, Pierre Louette, who is seeking to change the statutes, has admitted that they have not prevented AFP from expanding and developing in the past. In July 2006, Mr. Louette told a French newspaper that "AFP’s statutes have not prevented it from selling its products around the world, and from becoming probably the number-one general news agency in Asia and the Middle East. Furthermore, the statutes contain very stringent provisions on journalistic ethics and principles; values which are more indispensable than ever in today’s mass media environment."

Indeed, Article 2 of the company's statutes notable states that "Agence France-Presse may under no circumstances take account of influences or considerations liable to compromise the exactitude or the objectivity of the information it provides; it may under no circumstances fall under the control, either de facto or de jure, of any ideological, political or economic grouping."

An independent watchdog body comprising senior civil servants and media and trade union representatives exists to hear complaints arising from Article 2, and an increasingly vocal media criticism movement, often operating over the Internet, tends to keep tabs on AFP's objectivity.

Under its present statutes, which M. Louette now wants to change, AFP has grown over the years to become a worldwide media presence, employing 2,900 people in 165 countries, working in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Arabic and producing photos, video and graphics in addition to its wire services. It did not need to sabotage its statutes or become a joint stock company in order to face the computerisation revolution of the 1970s, or the arrival of Internet and the complete digitalisation of its photo service in the '90s.

Political Interference Leads to Calls for Change to Statutes

Attempts to change the agency's statutes have been made in the past, but they reached a new height of intensity in the spring of 2008, when members of France's ruling UMP party started to criticise the agency, accusing it on the one hand of not being prompt enough to publish their press statements, and calling on the other hand for it to be privatised.

In the autumn of 2008 President Sarkozy convened a wide-ranging conference of executives, journalists and other representatives of the French print media. Although the "States-General" conference did not directly deal with the agency, one of the official reports produced at the time recommended "the transformation of AFP into a joint-stock company (société anonyme), to allow it to own both capital and equity."

In October the government went further, announcing officially through one of its representatives on the AFP board, that Mr. Louette was "mandated" to propose changes to the statutes which would notably "provide the agency with a stable shareholder base" and "boost its stature on the international and European levels".

Similar language was included in the agency's latest Aims and Means Contract (COM) with the government, which lays down AFP's responsibilities towards its biggest single client - the French state - and defines the subscription fees that the latter pays.

The COM, signed after many delays in early 2009, lays strong emphasis on technological change, which is in fact presented as the main justification for changing AFP's statutes. A highly debatable position, as will be argued in these pages!

AFP Facts and Figures

• Payroll: 2,900, of whom over 2,000 journalists
• Bureaus and Correspondents in: 165 countries
• Regional centres: Paris (HQ), Washington, Hong Kong, Nicosia, Montevideo
• Working languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic
• Main services: Text, Photo, Graphics (still and animated), Video, Online
• Daily output : 5 000 wire stories, between 2,000 and 3 000 photos, 80 graphics and an average of 16 video reports.
• Total Annual Sales (2007): 262.7 million euros, of which:
• • 41% from contracts with French government services
  • 71% from services to French clients (including government)
  • 29% from sales to non-French clients
• Sales Growth (2007 - factoring out effects of '06 divestments): 3.6%, comprising:
• • 3.2% growth in sales to French clients
  • 6.3% growth in sales outside France
• Net earnings (2007): 6.1 million euros

Sources: AFP management, APEX Consultancy