afp ra english 2013 upload

8/18/2019 Afp Ra English 2013 Upload

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ITALY – 09.09.2013The Costa Concordia righted PHILIPPINES – 18.11.2013Supertyphoon Haiyan in Tolosa VENEZUELA – 09.04.2013Presidential election rally

SOUTH AFRICA – 10.12.2013Memorial for Nelson Mandela

RUSSIA – 11.08.2013Usain Bolt wins 100m

BRAZIL – 27.07.2013Pope Francis at the World Youth Day

KENYA – 23.11.2013

Attack on Westgate shopping mall

FRANCE – 02.11.2013

Demonstrations by “Red Bonnets” movement

AFP 2013

The whole world. The whole story.

U.A.E. – 20.12.2012

A child plays with an aeroplane


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Missions accomplished!

As you read our annual report (online version available onafp.com), you will discover what 2013 was like for us day today – how our committed, well-organised teams handledthe most critical, most intense news stories.In the context of a worldwide print media crisis and a realor imagined overabundance of news, AFP accomplished allof its missions. But these achievements are not enough -we must continue to invent and to innovate.

Our strategic orientations have been established: to accelerate image productionand step up the internationalisation of our sales. Live video, which we will continueto develop in the coming months, is a requirement from now on. In sport, whereAFP excels, a new offering has been launched under its own brand -- AFP Sports --comprising applications and a stand-alone sports wire. These products aredestined to grow in 2014, to meet the many and varied needs of the market.The development of our English language product – an indispensable conditionfor increasing international sales – will open new horizons, just as our Arabic andPortuguese language products have done.AFP teams are deployed on every continent to ensure ever better coverage of thenews, enhance the agency’s reputation and take advantage of new opportunities.We have adopted an offensive position, we are playing an offensive game and weare implementing an offensive strategy.Thanks to major efforts by all concerned, the accounts are balanced and theinvestments indispensable to AFP’s future are provided for. All of our text andmultimedia teams around the world now work from our multimedia productionsystem, Iris.2014 will see the deployment of AFP-Forum, a multimedia content delivery platformfor our clients. And we have never had so many clients. AFP is gaining ground andbuilding new relationships.AFP Dialog – a tool enabling permanent dialogue between our clients’ editorialdepartments and our own – is one example of this. We are launching newpartnerships, penetrating the editorial web animation territory thanks to oursubsidiary AFP-Services. Above all you will discover, through a few emblematic

(or in some cases anecdotal) editorial coverages, how all of the agency’s teams– the editorial network of course, but also the technical, legal, marketing andcommercial, communication, financial and human resources services -- aredeployed. You will discover their capacity to adapt and respond, to apply theiroutstanding skills to delivering accurate, authenticated and independent news.In 2013, AFP’s teams demonstrated their unparalleled strength and commitment,confirming our place in the top world ranks.Missions accomplished!You are in for some fascinating discoveries and some very enjoyable reading.

Emmanuel HOOG,

President and CEO of Agence France-Presse

EDITORIAL


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 | Editorial

6 | “AFP has a responsibility to educate, to provide depth and explanation” Interview with Philippe Massonnet, Global News Director

8 | “We have built up our products, our offer and our strategy” Interview with Rémi Tomaszewski, Managing Director

France and Europe12 | The 100th Tour de France: a first for AFP photo13 | A unique insight

14 | AFP book commemorates 100 Tours16 | “Strengthening relationships with the French media” Interview with Bernard Pellegrin, Regional Director France

18 | International TV newscasts hit their stride20 | Social Affairs: specialists in crises and reforms22 | AFP-TV’s live video offer becomes established24 | “We have reached a milestone” Interview with Marie-Noëlle Vallès, Head of AFP-TV

Africa and the Middle East28 | War in Mali: restricted access and logistical challenges30 | Syria: ever-present danger32 | Hostile environment training a top priority for AFP34 | Egypt: reporting on political chaos in a dangerous environment36 | Nairobi – a hostage taking covered from all angles38 | Mandela: an exceptional coverage for a global icon

Asia-Pacific42 | AFP teams bring the horror of typhoon Haiyan to the world44 | Baby Roona Begum: a shock AFP image triggers outpouring of support46 | Bangladesh factory disaster: AFP Dacca bureau leads the coverage

Latin America50 | Brazil: Latin America’s biggest market a priority target for AFP52 | The death of Hugo Chavez marks the end of an era for the Caracas bureau

North America56 | Armstrong: the confession heard round the world58 | NSA scandal: on the trail of Edward Snowden60 | AFP further consolidates its partnership with Getty

Innovations64 | “Meeting the technical challenges facing the media”:

Interview with Caroline Raveton, Director of Information Systems66 | Medialab AFP: a dedicated Research and Development unit68 | AFP Sports launches a new offer70 | Interview with Olivier Lombardie, Commercial and Marketing Director

and Vincent Amalvy, Head of Sport

72 | Videographics: fast news in rich 3D74 | Legal risks: awareness and prevention76 | Introducing AFP Forum, our new multimedia platform78 | Correspondent – AFP journalists tell the stories behind the news80 | “An extraordinary diversity”

Interview with Grégoire Lemarchand, Head of social networks

Award Winning Journalists 84 | 2013 Awards

AFP Foundation and Subsidiaries98 | AFP Foundation: promoting media training and press freedom100 | AFP-Services widens its range

AFP on display102 | Exhibitions

Contributorsp.104


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What is your assessment of AFP’s coverage in 2013?

2013 began with Mali and ended with Mandela. While thepreceding years had been more about the Middle East, withthe wave of Arab springs and the war in Syria – which is stillkeeping us busy – 2013 was an African year, marked by very bigstories in Cameroon, Niger and Kenya and then by the conflicts inthe Central African Republic and South Sudan.

Despite the tight budgets that are affecting all of the news media, we sent large

numbers of journalists to cover the stories on the ground, including twenty-onespecials for the death of Nelson Mandela. Africa will continue to be one of ourpriorities in the coming years. Besides the conflicts that are going on across Africa,it is a dynamic continent where rapid economic and social change is taking place.In terms of both news and development, Africa is a growth area where there’s realdemand from the media, specifically for content delivered via mobile phones.In 2014, we hope to further improve our Africa coverage, especially that targetedat African media. We need to use our long experience in Africa to consolidate theeditorial and commercial advantage we have there, both in the French speaking andEnglish speaking regions.

Editorially, there was also a trend towards developing lifestyle coverage in2013. What were the reasons for this choice?

The public has an appetite for information and explanation extending far beyondthe top breaking news stories of the day. We are devoting more and more timeand resources to different lifestyle themes, for example with the global monthlymultimedia lifestyle package via all of our available media -- text, photo, video andinfographics -- in formats geared to online, smartphone and tablet consumption.

These packages on so-called “cold” topics like education or health have to bevisual, they have to tell a stor y, they have to be global as well as regional. Becauseof AFP’s extensive presence, our multilingual network, the scope of our capabilitiesand our multi-media platforms, we truly have a winning hand in terms of providingoriginal, accurate, lively coverage of these topics.In 2014 we will be accentuating this trend in the areas of sport and culture. AFPhas a responsibility to educate, to provide depth and explanation. And there isa demand for this. The more they are flooded with information, on Twitter for

Philippe MASSONNETGlobal News Director

AFP has a responsibility to educate, to providedepth and explanation”

example, the greater our clients’ needs in terms of organising this information.The news agency’s role can no longer be limited to delivering news and deliveringit fast. We supply content, but we increasingly supply services as well. This is whatmakes us indispensable.

On what types of news does AFP p lan to focus its development in 2014?

In 2013 we saw enormous growth in video, in terms of the number and variety ofproductions and live broadcasts. AFP-TV is now present on all of the major breakingstories throughout the world, from the Philippines to Brazil. We increased our focuson live video in 2013. Over the year, our various live video coverages were donein a range of very different journalistic and technical contexts, adding up to somevery rich experiences – in Saint Peter’s Square for the Pope, in Qunu for Mandelaand in Caracas for Chavez. We must continue to move forward with live video notonly for breaking news, but also for sport and lifestyle stories. A news agency mustoperate in a context of immediacy, on all of its platforms and in all of its formats.This is what we have set out to do and what we must continue to build on in 2014,including in areas considered in the past to be “cold” news.

2013

in images


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AFP launched a number of major projects in 2013.How are they progressing?

We have spent the past year working on projects that will bedecisive for AFP’s future. In 2013, we not only built up our products,our offer and our development strategy, we focused on acquiringnew clients and strengthening our relationship with the Frenchgovernment.

Although the seeds we have sown will not come to fruition right away, everything isin place to ensure the implementation of the 2014-2018 contract of objectives andmeans.

What are the underlying orientations of the agency’s development strategy?

Our strategy is underpinned by a set of development orientations that havebeen identified based on the markets we want to conquer both in France andinternationally. Asia and South America were targeted at a very early stage.The broadcast sector is another priorit y: whereas before it was small Internet clients,now it’s time to seek out opportunities with television channels. Our developmentstrategy is largely based on building up our video production, our sports offer andour Arabic and Portuguese language services.

Does AFP see video as a priority area for driving growth?

Video has boosted our revenues, and our 2014 budget allocates 20% moreresources to video. While text journalism is still our core business, it is losingground to photo and above all to video. Unlike the other big news agencies, weare developing video within our editorial structure, with our own video teams andwith the contribution of our writers and photographers on the ground, who mayalso record video material.

Is the new sports offer part of this development policy?

Our ambition is to become the go-to agency for sport. In a year whose highlightsinclude the Sochi Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, we want togive clients a clearly identified sports environment where they will find the newsand related data they need, for different platforms. With a dedicated sports wire

Rémi TOMASZEWSKIManaging Director

We have built up our products,our offer and our strategy”

and second screen applications, we aim to respond to demand from both editorialclients and non-media clients. In parallel, we are pursuing our internationaldevelopment with our sports wires in German and Arabic.

What about the agency’s contractual relationship with the French government?

A new relationship is taking shape. Starting in 2014, it will have two components.Under the missions of general interest, we will have a financial relationship withthe government that will determine the net cost of this activity. A commercialrelationship will also be established, and will lead to an overall contract. We havecompleted our discussions with the French government and our discussionswith Brussels regarding European laws on competition. Everything is in place fora decision to be handed down in 2014. We are ready for it.

In a context of long-term crisis, did AFP continue to invest in 2013?

We pursued our investments and at the same time made progress in identif ying ourneeds. The agency has also been investing in client relations, to give our clientsa better understanding of how we work and the service we deliver. The buildingrenovation project is almost completed. The renovation strengthens the companystructurally, besides saving us nearly two million euros over a full year.

AFP has also launched a major overhaul of its staff policy. Why?

It came to our attention that there are 119 different agreements governing AFP’srelationship with employees. This creates a great deal of legal uncertainty for boththe employees and the company. The negotiations under way aim to re-establisha greater degree of transparency and equity, so that each individual can be sure ofwhere he or she stands in the agency and plan for the future. This discussion is alsoan economic necessity, as we must ensure that our staff costs do not rise fasterthan our revenues.


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FRANCEAND EUROPE

10 July 2013 – Mont-Saint-Mich France – British cyclist Chris Froowon the 100th edition of the To succeeding his compatriot BradWiggins who won the 2012 race.

AFP / JOËL SAGET


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first ever race start in Corsica, a spectacularage finish at Mont-Saint-Michel, and a finalehich began at the Château de Versaillesnd ended as the sun set over the Champs-ysées: the organisers gave a special lustre toe 100th running of the Tour de France whichas won by Britain’s Chris Froome, a distantccessor of the first victor, Frenchmanaurice Garin, in 1903.FP marked the event with a technical first,quipping its motorcycles following the Tourth satellite dishes to allow photographerstransmit images of the riders in record

me.

has now become inconceivable that printnd online media have to wait until the end ofstage to receive images while each moment

broadcast live on television. Thanks tois new technology, clients now receive

mages at the start and at mid-race as well highlights of each stage. This innovation

nables us to provide even richer contentour live multimedia feeds for online and

obile platforms.is satellite equipment, similar to the

ansmission devices installed on off–shore

racing boats, makes it possible to sendimages at any given moment. It is a particularadvantage when the Tour passes throughareas where ground-based telephonereception is too weak to provide sufficientbandwidth.Even if the steepest mountain climbs canmake satellite connections difficult, thetechnology is very promising and can onlyimprove. With this breakthrough, an 8 Mbimage can be sent by the photographer to thephoto editors in a little more than a minute,without having to stop.

The 100th Tour de France: a first for AFP photo

France and Europe

The 100th Tour de France saw AFP experiment with a new satellite transmission system on board motorbikes following the race. AFP / JOËL SAGET

22 March 2013 - Bonifacio, France - Interview with Bernard Hinault after the 25 km stage which marked the 100day countdown to the start of the Tour in Porto-Vecchio. AFP / PASCAL POCHARD CASABIANCA

AFP’s cycling correspondent Jean Montoishas covered almost one third of all the Tours–– a total of 30 –– which has given himunequalled access to the evolution of cyclingfrom the heady days of the 1980s through thedoping scandals of the following decades.This year he wrote a “Correspondent” blogfor AFP.com where he recalled his most vividmemories – pursuing the riders for inter views,and even questioning them as they tooka shower, the doping scandals and ItalianFabio Casartelli’s fatal crash on a descentin the Pyrenees. Thirty years in which he hasseen the profession of the agency journalist

shift gears many times. He also rememberedthe things that went wrong – like the 1990Tour when he went to check out somedemonstrators who had threatened to disruptthe race, and he missed the withdrawal ofLaurent Fignon.“That year we were at the start of real timecoverage by France Info radio, but there stillwas a high risk of an important miss likethe Fignon story.Today the danger is much less because oflive television and Twitter, but paradoxically

that has made the pressure worse. The Tourde France has become less of a physicalchallenge for a journalist but the nerve-wracking pressure has never been greater.”The 100th Tour was also the first since LanceArmstrong confessed to being a drug cheat.“Like many journalists I knew deep down thatArmstrong doped. The French press, whichhad lived through the traumatic Festina teamdoping scandal, was much more alert thanthat of other countries. But how could wewrite about it?”Montois said they were reduced to trying toget the message out “between the lines”.

He recalled feeling “sick” when he sawArmstrong stretching himself during theCourchevel climb in the 2005 Tour de France,an episode which represented “a peak ofblood doping’.He also remembered the Italian ClaudioChiapucci’s attack on the 13th stage of the1992 Tour, an achievement which he called“probably the most tainted in the history ofthe race”.

France and Europe

A unique insight


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Sports animated graphics: from Playmobilsto computer generated images

More than a decade has passed since AFP’ssports service first offered animated graphicsfor the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.They evolved into the 3D products andcomputer generated images that describedand explained the 15 disciplines of the WinterGames in Sochi.“The very first version, in 2002, were‘Playmobils’ with simple graphics and no sound,but the International Olympic Committee usedthem for its site and continued to do so until2010”, said Alain Giraud, head of the sportsonline and mobile service.

The product was overhauled by a graphicsteam whose task was to modernise the modulegraphics and add sound.It was the end of the ‘Playmobil’ style silentimages with text at the foot of the page. In 3Dand with computer generated images, the newanimated graphics are strikingly realistic andcan be used in multiple languages.“It is the first time we have experimentedwith computer generated images. They aremore user friendly and suitable for a generalaudience”, he said.

FP bookommemorates 100ours

mark the 100th Tour de France, AFP haslished Le Tour: 100 images, 100 histoires

collaboration with Denoël. The 240 pagek looks back on the highs and lows ofTour with 100 emblematic photographs.m the heroes to the forgotten riders, theat rivalries and the dramatic moments thate marked the Tour, the book is a chanceook back at the race’s great eras, itsmpions and landscapes, and to understandthe Tour has become such a pinnacle of

rt.

images come with commentary from fourat witnesses of the tour -- Éric Fottorino,mer director of Le Monde and a cyclinghusiast; Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tourctor from 1989 to 2006; Jean-Paul Ollivier,nce 2’s unrivalled cycling expert; andnard Thévenet, who won the Tour in 19751977. Their texts are both in-depth and

cative, combining their memories of thempetitors, whom they all knew closely, and

spectators, who are so much a part of theual event.

On-demand sports applications

The multimedia, interactive sports applicationslaunched by AFP in 2013 have opened newhorizons in instantaneous news coverage.Clients can now add content to their sites byselecting material from the agency’s rangeof text, photo, video and infographics feeds,as well as statistics produced by our specialistpartners such as Amisco and infoplum.Clients can also offer their users livesequence-by-sequence commentary on theevent, real time photos, related data (teamline-ups, statements, biographies, etc.),videos (interviews, press conferences) anddetailed infographics (competition diagrams,

stage routes and circuit maps).This offer, complementing our traditionalsports production, is enriched with astatistics component providing accessto every type of data related to the event,from evolving performance figures to liveresults and rankings. “AFP was already offeringmultimedia products for major sporting eventssuch as World Cup football, European footballand the Olympics”, said Pierre Galy, sportseditor-in-chief.

“While these products are still offered, forexample for the Sochi Winter Olympics, ouridea was to no longer limit ourselves to majorcompetitive events but to be able to provideinstantaneous, multimedia sports coveragethroughout the year”. The French languageversion of this product has been tested forLigue 1 football, Top 14 rugby, the tennisGrand Slam tournaments, the major cyclingevents and all of the Formula 1 Grand Prixmotor races. English, Spanish, Portugueseand German language versions are now to bedeveloped in online, tablet and smartphoneformats. All live coverages will feature

embedded photos, an innovation not offeredby competitor applications.Pierre Galy remarked: “The creation ofthis product was made possible thanks tothe efforts of the France and Internationalphoto services and the team of technicaldevelopers”.


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wice a day, AFP’s Web and Mobile serviceurnalists put together a 75 second newsdeo from AFP-TV material, with French andnglish subtitles. In 2013, these internationalV newscasts hit their stride and were takenp by a broader client base.e first prototypes, delivered in 2012, were

esigned for large public screens set up inusy pedestrian areas like that in La Défense,ear Paris. It very quickly became clear thatese short TV newscasts were also relevantr viewing on other media, that is to say

nline and on mobile devices. The deliveryrmat and subtitling were therefore adaptedviewing on a computer or smartphone

reen.ach broadcast comprises four subjects:ree leading world news stories and“lighter” story (sport, culture, lifestyle,

c.), with commentary and subtitles inwo languages (French and English). “Everyorning, the web teams in Paris and Londonlect the subjects. Paris puts together the

nline edition from AFP-TV material, editswrites the French subtitles and then

nds it to London where the subtitles areanslated. Lastly, the Paris team integratese three components – the images, theench subtitles and the English subtitles –

nd sends it out to clients”, said Florenceanoussian, head of the Online and Mobilervice. On average it takes around two hours

do one edition. It’s a system that worksell, although sometimes the team has toork to extremely tight deadlines and chooseom an overabundance of footage, as wase case with the deaths of Hugo Chavez andelson Mandela.We now have two editions, one at middaynd another around 6:00 pm Paris time.ur plan is to develop a morning edition,th Asian news, to go out before 8:00 am if

ossible”, she continued.

“The international TV newscasts have becomean integral part of our editorial routines andare included in AFP’s daily output, alongwith our other multimedia productions”, saidFlorence Panoussian.These international products join the existingproduct aimed at French audiences: two dailyeditions with French commentary, one ofwhich is also available with subtitles.

nternational TV newscasts hit their stride

France and Europe

International TV newscast on giant screen at the La Défense pedestrian precinct.

France and Europe

INDIAAt least 115 die after a stampede near a temple


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ocial protection, employment, companiesthe three sectors covered by AFP’s socialfairs service regularly made headlines inance. The year was marked by retirementforms, the establishment of a government

mployment policy and a string of redundancyans. The expertise of a specialisedepartment was essential for covering all ofese subjects.a profession where social affairs are often

erged with economic coverage, AFP’s4-strong service is unique.

We’re very proud of it”, said Dominique Joly-ulé who heads the department, saying heram comprises journalists “who are capableunderstanding complex issues”.

Our work sheds light on local situations,ut our stories are used everywhere inoth the general and specialised media”,e said. The reasons for this success? “A lotexplanatory content, question and answer

eces, references to explain the issues”.ocial affairs often assists other servicesnd bureaux such as during the protests by

the “Red Bonnets” which was covered by theRennes bureau.Social affairs and the political service sharedcoverage of pension reform.“Our job was covering the negotiationsbetween the government and unions,because we know the unions well and wecannot expect the political service to knoweverything.”2013 was a black year on the jobs front: theannouncement of the closure of Goodyear’sAmiens-Nord factory, bankruptcies of Mory

Ducros and FagorBrandt, the liquidations ofVirgin and LFoundry, the definitive shutdownof the Florange blast furnaces, and the lastcar to roll off the production line at the PSAPeugeot Citroën factory at Aulnay-sous-Boisbefore its closure in 2014.“The PSA story has preoccupied us since July2012 and even before with the announcementof the closure plan by the CGT union.We followed the negotiations, the strikes andthe employees’ protest demonstrations”,she said.

ocial Affairs: specialists in crises and reforms

France and Europe

2 November 2013 - Quimper, France – Demonstration by the “Red Bonnets” against the ecotax and foremployment in Brittany (video grab). AFP / FRED TANNEAU

The battle between Jean-François Copé andFrançois Fillon for the leadership of the right-wing opposition UMP party electrified Frenchnews between November 2012 and January2013. The key moments were reported in realtime on AFP’s wire.On November 19, the day after the party votein which both candidates claimed victory,Jean-François Copé was proclaimed presidentwith 98 more votes than François Fillon.The same day, former prime minister AlainJuppé told AFP that the new UMP boss hadthe “ardent obligation to bring together all ofthe movement’s sensibilities.” Two days laterthere was a dramatic turn of events: the Fillonclan again claimed to have won, arguing thatthe votes of three overseas federations hadnot been counted and that Fillon should havewon by 26 votes. However, Patrice Gélard,chairman of the electoral control commission,

told AFP that the commission “could no longergo back on its decision”. Fillon supporterscalled upon Alain Juppé to mediate.On November 22, Jean-François Copéinformed AFP that he had telephoned his rivaland proposed that the two meet “one on one”.François Fillon accepted on condition thatAlain Juppé be present. This was confirmedby sources close to the former prime minister.The meeting between the three took placeat the Assemblée, the French parliament,on November 25, but failed to resolve anything.

Alain Juppé announced to AFP that he hadgiven up:“The conditions for my mediation are notpresent”. Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier informedAFP, through intermediaries, that he wasin favour of any initiative to bring an end tothe situation.On November 27, following a meeting aroundFrançois Fillon, several of those in attendancetold AFP about the creation of a breakawayparliamentary group, the Rally for the UMP,which was to dissolve “as soon as a newvote has been held”. After the fifth Copé-Fillon encounter, on December 11, there wasstill no resolution in sight. Bernard Accoyerannounced that UMP members of parliamentwould vote to decide whether or not a freshvote should be called. On December 17,the day before the vote was to take place,Jean-François Copé and François Fillon issued

a joint statement to AFP, announcing the “endof the crisis”. The armistice was officialised thenext day.On January 14, twenty-four hours before theAssembly was to open, MP Jérôme Chartier,a Fillon loyalist, told AFP that the dissidentgroup had been dissolved and its membershad rejoined the ranks of the UMP.From start to finish, AFP had led the way onthis intriguing political story.

Coverage of this significant closure wasa collaboration between the social affairs andeconomic departments and the general Parisnews reporting service under the supervisionof the editor-in-chief for France.“In addition to the breaking news, we producedpieces on the human consequences, thehistory of the factory, the precedent of theBoulogne-Billancourt plant, and we workedclosely with photo, video and graphics”,she explained.

The battle for leadership of the UMP: the story as it happened on AFP’s newswire


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nline edition of Diario de Centro América in Guatemala running AFP’s live video broadcast of the electionnew Pope

ouTube channel dedicated to the agency’s live video coverage.

AFP has made video one of its strategic priorities.What are the reasons for this?

AFP’s video activity has been posting double-digit growth,making it a driver of the agency’s business. This allows us to setambitious objectives for the next four year period. Our goal is totake video from its cur rent 5% of the agency ’s overall sales to 10%by 2018. We have the know-how to achieve this, as well as the

most virtuous possible skill set model. Our video journalists are triply qualified –

one person, working with lightweight equipment, writes, films and edits.

In 2013 AFP-TV produced an average of one live video a month. What are itsobjectives for 2014?

We moved very quickly from a magazine type production to hard news. Now weneed to have a live presence on all the dominant world news stories and increaseour volume, delivering two live videos a month wherever this is merited. This isthe very essence of a news agency: we sell editorial guarantees and a worldwidenetwork. For any given story, our clients must be assured that we will be there andthat they will have all the news that interests them.

With this enriched offer, has the video department become more competitive?

We have reached a milestone. At this time we have the means to commit to regularlive production and to position ourselves on the television market, where we nowhave a creditable offer that is being closely watched by our competitors. If we canmake this promise to our clients and keep it, live production will become an integral

part of our offer and help us to market our video products, both live and recorded.However, this implies a major effort by the agency. Much more is required than justsetting up a video service – there will have to be shifts in all the departments --editorial, technical, commercial, marketing and legal. A lot of people will also haveto learn to do a new type of job, and this will necessarily take time.

“We have reached a milestone”

Marie-Noëlle VALLÈSHead of AFP-TV

France and Europe


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AFRICAAND THE

MIDDLE EAST

24 September 2013Photo by Carl de Souza on the fr page of the International HerTribune.


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Covering the conflict in Mali, where Francentervened against the Jihadists controllingthe north of the country, was a journalisticand logistical challenge for AFP’s teams.Reporting on this “imageless” war, wagedfar from the media by French special forces,was not simple. Moving around within thismmensely hostile environment was justas complicated. “The biggest challengewas transport, getting around safely inthis enormous country, where danger waseverywhere”, said global editor-in-chief Phil

Chetwynd who oversaw the coverage of theServal military operation launched in early2013. “It wasn’t easy to work with the Frencharmy, and even less easy to work with theMalian armed forces. We had to organisendependent travel, with everything thatmplies. We had to find decent vehicles anddependable drivers, we had to figure out thebest routes, which often meant improvisation,ike when one of our teams went up the Nigerriver in a canoe.”Between the capital Bamako where AFPestablished its base camp and the cities ofGao and Timbuktu hundreds of kilometresfurther north, ambushes were frequent,as were roadblocks by the Malian army.Mechanical troubles were another problem:“It took days to cross Mali and our journalistssometimes broke down in the middle of thedesert, a dangerous situation in a country at

war.” He continued: “In these circumstances,working in teams of three, which is notalways easy editorially, turned out to bea very positive thing from a safety and logisticspoint of view.” It must also be rememberedthat in an asymmetric warfare situation likethat in Mali, journalists can become targets –a tragic example being the two Radio Francenternational journalists murdered near Kidal.Although AFP had up to a dozen journalistsoperating on the ground at any given moment

-- many more than the competition had --the great difficulty was getting near the front.“We could easily get pictures of Frenchsoldiers patrolling, but not of fighting,which was very frustrating. In a way wewere prisoners of the official sources”,said the editor-in-chief. When the hostilitiesreached the extreme north of the country,several AFP journalists were embedded withthe French army, who were stalking an unseenenemy in the Adrar des Ifoghas. Informationabout the fighting nevertheless remained

tightly controlled, so that, as Phil Chetwyndsummarised, “this was really a complicatedwar to cover”.

War in Mali: restricted access and logisticalchallenges

Africa and the Middle East Africa and the Middle East

Discover first-hand accounts of the work of AFP journalists on afp.com

Read

the blog


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AFP’s coverage of the conflict in Syria can bedivided into two periods: “before July 2013”and “after July 2013” – when it becamepractically impossible to report on thesituation in the north of the country, a warzone dominated by rebel groups and Jihadists.“This conflict was always a dangerous one forournalists, with the a ir raids carried out by

the Damascus regime, threats of kidnappingby criminal factions, Islamist attacks and theweakness of the rebel structures. It was adifficult combination from the beginning”,said AFP global editor-in-chief Phil Chetwynd.“But today things are even worse.”

n early 2012 AFP set up a logistics base inAntakya across the border in Turkey so itcould continue to cover the north of Syria.“We worked from there for nearly a year,using multimedia teams who came and went.We created a network of drivers, fixers andcontacts among the rebel groups. Then,n November, James Foley, one of our videoournalists, disappeared. To this day we have

had no news of him.” With kidnapping anever-increasing threat and the rise in attacks

on personnel, AFP closed its temporarybureau in July 2013.“We stopped sending teams. We havecontinued to work with recognisedprofessionals who are well-established onthe ground, enforcing very strict rules toavoid unnecessary risks to them”, said PhilChetwynd.With Syria plunged into chaos, AFP continuesto provide coverage thanks to its Syriancorrespondents around Aleppo. Unlike itscompetitors, AFP still maintains a bureau inDamascus. “Our journalists there have verylittle room for manoeuvre but their work

brings a great deal of value to our copy”,he said. “We were also able to go to Homswith some close contacts of the Assadregime we had access to from Beirut.”

“These contacts helped us get an interviewwith Assad in January – a world exclusive”,he added. More than 50 AFP journalistshave been sent to northern Syria sincethe beginning of the conflict in March2011 -- “more than any other media group

Syria: ever-present danger

Correspondent Quentin Leboucher in Syria.AFP

Africa and the Middle East

in the world”, said Phil Chetwynd. ThreeAFP journalists were recognised for theirwork in Syria at the 20 th Bayeux-CalvedosWar Correspondents Awards in October:AFP staff correspondent Djilali Belaïd andstringer photographers Javier Manzano andFabio Bucciarelli. Bucciarelli also received aRobert Capa award and a World Press 2013award for a series of 12 photographs taken inAleppo.Reporting this war with little physical accessis the mission facing AFP today. It does thisby interviewing refugees who have fled thenorth of the country and by monitoring blogsand social networks from Beirut. Accordingto the latest classification by Reporters

Without Borders, Syria is now the mostdangerous country in the world for journalists.Phil Chetwynd concluded: “We feel it’s ourduty to try to get into Syria or at least describewhat’s happening”.


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With conditions for journalists in the fieldbecoming increasingly dangerous, AFP hasplaced safety at the top of its list of prioritiesand invests in equipment and staff training.Ensuring optimum safety for staff on theground involves every one of the agency’sdepartments.“Our team works with everyone in thecompany”, emphasised Emmanuel Sérot,a senior journalist at AFP’s Paris headquartersspecifically responsible for safety. “Safety iseveryone’s concern, from the journalist on

the ground to the editor-in-chief who sendshim out.”Every year, around a hundred journalistsattend custom-designed training courses.Courses on safety in sensitive areas are taughtby the French army at Collioure in southernFrance. A larger number of more specificallytargeted training courses are provided bythe Gendarmerie Nationale’s interventionunit (GIGN). “With the GIGN, journalists areplaced in the kinds of situations that couldactually happen: being arrested, passingcheckpoints or, the worst possible scenario,being kidnapped – any situation wheretheir physical or psychological integrity is indanger”, explained Emmanuel Sérot, addingthat these training courses are aimed at allournalists working on the ground, regardless

of their nationality, working language or typeof working relationship with AFP. In addition

to practical activities there are lectureson managing stress, developing the rightreflexes and understanding the psychologyof attackers. “The goal is for every journalistikely to be working in a dangerous situationto have undergone this kind of training.”AFP also works with the GendarmerieNationale in training journalists to stay safen potentially violent situations such asdemonstrations – whether in Cairo’s TahrirSquare, in Athens, in Kiev or in Notre-Damedes Landes.

Some 20 participants attend each session,conducted at the Saint-Astier Training Centrein France’s Dordogne region. “Journalistslearn to work in the midst of a potentiallyviolent crowd, how to deal with the presenceof tear gas, how to make sure they alwayshave an escape route.”The agency also provides training in securetransmissions, first aid courses for all staffand even courses in self-defence.Different regions conduct their ownspecific programmes, with Asia using one

very experienced security expert to train journalists from around the region.Journalists in Latin America attend courses

focusing on the risks inherent to this region,related to drug trafficking and armed crime.Specific training is also provided for local staf fin the Middle East. In order to ensure that staffare as well protected as possible, AFP hascompletely overhauled the basic equipment,replacing the traditional bulletproof vest witha new type of vest designed specifically forthe needs of journalists. Journalists on theground also have lightweight anti-riot gear.This investment in equipment goes hand-in-hand with logistical procedures ensuring thatneeds are anticipated and stocks distributedthroughout the world in readiness for a crisis.A new tool for exchanging information betweensenior editors should make it possible to“better capitalise on our experience in the

area of safety”, said Emmanuel Sérot.

Hostile environment training a top priorityfor AFP


AFP journalists undergo hostile environment training. AFP / THOMAS COEX



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2013 saw the removal of Mohamed Morsi,the military takeover of the country andthe brutal crackdown against the MuslimBrotherhood. These events took place ina climate of violence and hostility towardsthe western press, witnessed every day bystaff at AFP’s Cairo bureau.“The height of the repression was August 14”,remembered bureau chief Emmanuel Giroud,who took up his post a few days before the

bloody dispersal of thousands of pro-Morsidemonstrators who had occupied Cairo’sRabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda Squares forsix weeks. “On August 12, as the interimgovernment was threatening to intervene, wedecided to have our journalist Samer al-Atrushspend the night at the main encampmentn Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.“It turned out to be a good move, as the attackcame at dawn on the 14th. Samer was the onlyournalist from a western media organization

there at the start of the attack on Rabaa Square,

which very quickly became almostinaccessible under the incessant crossfirewith police and soldiers.”AFP was thus able to follow the interventionfrom inside the square, witnessing theviolence of the operation, gatheringexclusive witness statements and countingthe tens, then hundreds of deaths. “Unlikethe rest of the western press, from the firsthours of the attack we had an eye witness,

we were the only ones able to providea verified account hours before other journalists finally managed to penetrate thesquare”, said Emmanuel Giroud. He praisedthe courage of the journalist who soon afterwas named as his deputy.The army had decreed a 7:00 pm curfew.“No one was able to go home, so our

journalists and the reinforcements sent bythe Nicosia regional headquarters stayed ata hotel near the office for almost a monthuntil the measure was relaxed.” The situation

Egypt: reporting on political chaosin a dangerous environment

25 January 2013 – Alexandria, Egypt – Protestors throw stones at security forces during demonstrationsmarking the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. AFP

Africa and the Middle East Africa and the Middle East

offered some advantages: “It enabled me toorganise coverage more quickly, to rotatestaff and avoid our people being exposedto gunfire at army checkpoints. Westernmedia became widely perceived by theauthorities, the police and a large portionof the population as ‘working for the MuslimBrotherhood’ simply because we werereporting on the extremely bloody repressionof which they were victims”.

“We very soon had to ban our western journalists from going to the scene and makesure our Egyptian reporters removed the AFPlogos from their cameras.”These precautions were consideredindispensable after a team of text and video

journalists were chased by a group of armedindividuals working for the regime.Coverage also entailed a major logisticseffort. “Our drivers always accompaniedour multimedia teams to carry their safetyequipment and to cover their backs in case

they had to withdraw”, explained the bureauchief. “We also needed our technician andthree writers – French, English and Arabiclanguage – as back-up, with another Arabicspeaking journalist monitoring the media andsocial networks.”AFP provided exceptional coverage of theevents in Cairo and several other major citiesin Egypt, setting a record for the number ofvideo productions used by clients: 110 AFP

videos were broadcast by over 40 televisionstations around the world. “This is whereAFP’s strength lies”, said Emmanuel Giroud.“When we can no longer send our journalists,we can count on a network of local stringersworking under our editorial authority andwho are able to blend in with the crowd.”

7 October 2013 - Cairo, Egypt – The Eg yptian army has played a dominant role in the country’s politics sincethe forced abdication of King Farouk in 1952 (Videographic, extract). AFP / S. KOGUC / O. DEVOS


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ASIA-PACIFIC

18 November 2013 – Tolosa, Philippine

Survivors of ty phoon Haiyan during

religious procession in Tolosa on

Philippine island of Leyte.

AFP / PHILIPPE LOPEZ


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“My mission to Tacloban lasted only six days,but in terms of life lessons I feel like I got15 years’ worth.” This was how Agnès Bun,AFP video journalist based in Hong Kong,summed up her experience of covering theaftermath of the deadliest typhoon everrecorded in the Philippines. On November 9,

the day after Haiyan hit, an AFP team arrivedn the devastated city of Tacloban aftermanaging to board one of the first Philippinemilitary flights to the stricken region.Twenty-four hours ahead of the competition,AFP’s journalists landed in an apocalypticscene.“The destruction was so great that there wereno more infrastructures, no communication,no roads, no air or sea access”, remembersAsia-Pacific editor Marc Lavine. “Ourournalists found themselves in a kind of hell:

no electricity for their computers, no mobilephone coverage, not to mention any wateror food – amidst people left battered andtotally helpless.” A generator housed ina ruined shanty near the airport, turned intoa makeshift command post by the Philippinearmy, provided the reporters with electricity

to transmit the photos and videos that wouldgive the world some idea of the scale of thedisaster and the fate of the victims of the mostviolent typhoon in history.“Everyday production was an enormous joband living conditions were very difficult.Our first team to arrive faced the sameconditions as the local people, sleeping onthe muddy ground”, added Marc Lavine.Over the course of these intense days,“technical problems had to be dealt withbefore any stories could be written”.

11 November 2013 - Tacloban, Philippines – Survi vors living next to a ship washed up on the shore afterthe passage of typhoon Haiyan. AFP / NOEL CELIS

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific

While overseeing reporting on the ground,Marc Lavine organised staff rotations,arranged shipments of equipment and foodand did everything possible to ensure the

journalists’ safety. “Logistically it was themost challenging experience of my career”,he admitted. “As soon as we learned howgreat the damage was, we sent the journalistswho had already been pre-positioned inManila to Cebu. They arrived in Tacloban bymilitary aircraft, which was the only way toget there.” Other AFP reporters arrived lateron a ferry carrying generators and food. Thecoverage of this story was rich from a humanand professional perspective, as well asvisually. “Our content got used a lot, thanks to

the exceptional production of all of themembers of our teams”, explained MarcLavine. “We had video journalists on site,and the writers and photographers also didweb clips. That way we were able to providematerial for websites before the edited videoswere ready for transmission.”The success of this coverage, achieved inextreme conditions, owes much to advancepreparation. “It’s the result of being wellestablished locally. Our Manila bureau had

succeeded in making very high qualitycontacts, in particular with the army, andbecause of this we were able to get our

journalists there very quickly”, said PhilChetwynd, AFP’s global editor-in-chief.“The relationships we developed locally werea help to us”, he continued. “For example oneof our photographers in Manila was from theTacloban region and knew the chief of police,and this made certain things considerablyeasier for us.”“Those six days in Tacloban taught me a lotabout my profession, about the pragmatismyou need when covering this kind of tragedy,and I also learned a lot about human nature”,said Agnès Bun in a post on AFP’s

Correspondent blog.A picture taken by Philippe Lopez of a religiousprocession of women against the backdropof a devastated landscape was selected byTime Magazine as one of the 10 emblematicphotographs of 2013.

28/11/2013Photo by Noël Celis on thefront page of Time

AFP teams bring the horror of typhoon Haiyanto the world

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The story of two-year-old Roona Begum,whose head had been swollen byhydrocephalus to nearly twice its normalsize, aroused worldwide sympathy and ledto a vast fundraising campaign to financesurgery for her. What many people do notknow is that the campaign to help Roona,who lives in the remote northeastern stateof Tripura, was inspired by the publicationof photographs taken of the little girl in earlyApril by AFP photographer Arindam Dey. “Thephotos taken by our stringer were publishedall over the world, and their emotional impactwas such that we were immediately floodedwith requests from people wanting to knowwhere to send donations”, said Marc Lavine,Asia-Pacific editor. “Our multimedia coverage

of this story started from the day we receivedthe pictures – and so did the movement ofsolidarity.”Roona underwent two operations in May andune to drain the accumulated cerebrospinal

fluid. In November surgery was againperformed in a hospital near New Delhi,this time to remove part of the bone fromher skull and then rebuild it. The series ofoperations reduced the circumference of herskull by half – from 94 cm to 58 cm.

“The pictures were taken with her family’sconsent”, added Marc Lavine. “This story wasso exceptional from a human perspective thatwe knew we had to publish the photos andwrite a story about this little girl’s ordeal.”The coverage generated a huge emotionalresponse from those who read it in the pressor online and inspired a fundraising campaignto pay for the surgery.“It made it possible for her to have thesurgery, which her very poor parents wouldnot have been able to afford”, said the Hong-Kong based Asia editor.

Baby Roona Begum: a shock AFP imagetriggers outpouring of support

2 August 2013 - Jirania, India – Two images taken three months apart of Roona Begum, who suffers f romhydrocephalus and was treated at a hospital in the New Delhi suburbs. AFP / ARINDAM DEY

Asia-Pacific

Discover first-hand accounts of the work of AFP journalists on afp.com

Asia-Pacific

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The death of 1,135 people in the 24 Aprilcollapse of Rana Plaza, a complex in Dacca’sSavar district housing five garment factories,turned the world spotlight on Bangladesh.Reporting the tragedy posed numerouschallenges to international media, and thevalue of AFP’s worldwide network was againclear. AFP’s Dacca bureau is manned bytwo writers and one photographer. When anevent like this happens, the usual reactions to immediately send reinforcements toback up the local team. This time, however,

t proved impossible to obtain visas forspecials and the bureau had to rely on itsown resources to produce multimediareports on the events.“It was a small team, but with a high degreeof expertise on the ground and very goodcontacts”, said Marc Lavine, Asia-Pacificeditor. “They knew the story and the peopleso well that it gave us a major advantageover some of our competitors who eitherweren’t there or were not able to do this kindof in- depth coverage.” From the collapse ofthe building to the political and economicconsequences, to the rescue operations andthe workers’ demonstrations, AFP’s smallteam provided round the clock coverage ofthis multidimensional story, including whatMarc Lavine qualified as “exemplary” videoproduction.“It was a considerable job for a team like

that, especially as the sequence of eventsasted weeks. But all of our content was useda great deal”, he said. Many internationalmedia used AFP copy, including the NewYork Times, the Guardian, the Wall Streetournal, the Times, the BBC and the Daily

Telegraph.This performance justifies AFP’s policyof maintaining bureaux throughout Asia.“The Dacca bureau is not always a majornews centre, but an event like this shows

why it’s important for the agency to keeproots in Bangladesh, especially given thatit was impossible to bring reinforcementsin”, he said. This view was shared byanother Asia expert, AFP’s global editor-in-

Bangladesh factory disaster: AFP Dacca bureauleads the coverage

Asia-Pacific

25 April 2013 – Dacca – Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a garment factory complex whosecollapse left 1,135 dead.AFP / MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

Asia-Pacific

chief Phil Chetwynd who was Marc Lavine’spredecessor in Hong Kong: “Maintaining localstaff is a key to our good coverage.”


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LATINAMERICA

9 April 2013 – Catia La Mar, VenezueVenezuelan interim president Nico Maduro holds up a portrait of l president Hugo Chavez at an electo rally in the run- up to the presidenelections.

AFP / LUIS ACOSTA


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The world’s eyes are on Brazil -- a countrythat generates a lot of news and is the host ofthe 2014 FIFA World Cup. As Latin America’sargest media market, Brazil has beendesignated a commercial priority by AFP, withvery promising results.“Our ‘Brazil plan’ is aimed at developing our

sales on this market with our text, video andnfographics services in Portuguese, as well asphotos and on-demand services”, explaineduliette Hollier-Larousse, AFP’s regional

director for Latin America. “In 2013 wecontinued to enjoy growth on the major visualplatforms as well as on text. We also begantranslating the Relaxnews wire – the world’sfirst leisure news wire launched by AFP withRelaxnews in 2010 – into Portuguese. Weexpect to see the first results of this in 2014.

“Brazil accounts for 31% of our LatinAmerican sales, with video representingnearly 10% of this overall figure – the strategiclevel defined by the agency”, she continued.Seven contracts were signed with Braziliantelevision stations, out of a total of 17 withbroadcasters across Latin America as a

whole.”As video’s rise continues in the land ofsamba, multimedia production is alreadysolidly established. “Of our 51 web clientsacross Latin America, 10 are in Brazil. Theseare also our biggest contracts, and includeTerra, Globo, Yahoo, UOL and MSN.” Several other contracts help to promoteAFP’s visual content. “We are now visible ona large number of public screens in Brazil:

Brazil: Latin America’s biggest market a prioritytarget for AFP

AFP production is now shown in Rio buses and beach bars.

Latin America Latin America

in the Sao Paulo metro, in the major airportsof the country, which is excellent with theWorld Cup coming up, in some buses andeven in bars on Rio’s Copacabana Beach”,said Juliette Hollier- Larousse.Another innovative operation is AFP’spartnership with the Brazilian publishingcompany Gol to provide educational content toa digital university library for use by students.“It’s a project that could be reproducedelsewhere, in other languages”, she remarked.In 2014, Brazil remains a territory to beconquered for AFP. In addition to covering thefootball World Cup, the biggest event of theyear to which the agency is sending no fewerthan 140 journalists, AFP has set itself the

objective of entering the video archives market-- while at the same time pursuing its of fensiveto expand its base of website clients andincreasing its individual photo sales businesswith the help of a new, ultra-rapid distributionsystem. On-demand services are anothergrowth sector. “We are approaching Braziliancompanies and offering them the productsof AFP-Services, a subsidiary providing‘on-demand’ production services. For us thisis a specific business in a rapidly growingmarket”, said Juliette Hollier-Larousse.


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The death of Hugo Chavez, after a two-yearbattle with cancer and 14 years of autocraticrule, plunged Venezuela into a new periodof uncertainty. For AFP’s Caracas bureau,Chavez’s death also marked the end ofa period characterised by the omnipresenceof the Bolivarian leader.“Our job was Chavez,” summed up BeatrizLecumberri , bureau chief from 2007 to 2011,

the height of the Chavez era. “It was the onlytopic that interested the international or theVenezuelan press. AFP was heavily used bythe Venezuelan newspapers, which had veryimited access to the president.“He was a president who talked all the time:six or seven hours a day, ten when he wasnspired.” And, she pointed out, “Ten hourss a long time, the length of a flight fromCaracas to Paris listening to him, unableto guess what he was going to say. At onepoint we were working crazy hours to keep

up with him. Chavez might start talking asthe bureau was shutting down. He also dida television programme every Sunday called‘Aló Presidente’ which was like his privateplatform. We were stuck all day, it wasexhausting”, said the Spanish journalist.In addition to covering the president’sspeeches, one of the main jobs of the four

journalists and the bureau chief was to

establish contacts. “This meant spendinghours at pointless press conferences orat the presidential palace where we mightbump into councillors or ministers”, she said.It was necessary to “build this anonymousnetwork, indispensable for predicting theChavez news”. In order to provide someescape from this routine, Beatriz Lecumberriestablished an informal rule: “Once a week,we would do a story in which the word Chavezwas not used once. It was a challenge.”

The death of Hugo Chavez marks the end of anera for the Caracas bureau

Front pages featuring AFP content on Hugo Chavez, who died i n Caracas, Venezuela on 5 March 2013.

Latin America Latin America

Even though it was expected, theComandante’s death left Venezuela indisbelief. “The country wasn’t ready, nor werethe journalists. There was a news vacuum, wedidn’t know what to talk about”, observed theformer bureau chief who was sent back toCaracas as a reinforcement for the funeral.AFP provided multimedia coverage of theVenezuelan leader’s funeral, attended by

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad andBelarus president Alexander Lukashenko.This coverage included three hours of livevideo broadcast and live multimedia webfeed. Beatriz Lecumberri was the first foreign

journalist to be granted an interview byinterim president and presidential candidateNicolas Maduro. “This interview was a rewardfor our work and our independence”, shecommented. “Even though I knew Maduro,when I left Paris I wasn’t at all sure I’d be ableto talk to him. But it happened.”

Extract from AFP slide presentation published by the New York Times, retracing Hugo Chavez’s career.

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NORTHAMERICA

23 May 2013 - Moore, Oklahoma, USA A bolt of lightning flashes above a suburbOklahoma city as residents search for thbelongings after a tornado which killed people and destroyed 2,400 homes.

AFP / JEWEL SAMAD


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Lance Armstrong is not just a sports story,but a complex affair that also embodiesa legal aspect, a business aspect anda celebrity aspect. The story came back into

sharp media focus in early 2013, when theallen winner of seven Tour de France racesmade his televised confession. The mosteagerly awaited interview of the year wascovered by AFP’s Washington headquartersand Los Angeles bureau, with support fromhe agency’s worldwide network.

“It was an important moment for the worldof sport and therefore for AFP”, said DavidMillikin, the agency’s North America regionaldirector. “Cycling is one of our strongestareas, in particular thanks to our coverage of

the Tour de France, so we were naturally ver ymuch on top of this story.”Armstrong’s sports icon status, togetherwith the doping aspect and the fact that

the interview was conducted by TV megapersonality Oprah Winfrey, meant thatthe story had as much impact locally asworldwide. “There was everything to makethis a story of great interest for Americans”,said David Millikin.“We had the strength of our sports coverageand our network, and at the same time it was

just the kind of story the United States medialoves. So it was a good subject for us”, he said.The setting for the interview was an unadornedhotel room in Austin, where Armstrong lives.

Armstrong: the confession heard roundthe world

8 June 2003 – Villars-de- Lans, France – American cyclist Lance Armstrong talks to journalists before thestart of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. AFP / FRANCK FIFE

North America

Armstrong acknowledged having usedperformance-enhancing substances -- EPO,testosterone and blood transfusions --throughout his career. When asked why, he said,

in front of the Oprah Winfrey Network cameras,that it was his “ruthless desire to win”.“Armstrong’s confession kept us busy for twonights, as the programme was broadcast in twoparts”, recalled Chris Lefkow, North Americaeditor. “We sent out lots of alerts on doping, lotsof fact pieces. The multimedia service even dida live report, which is very rare for an interview,but this was worthy of a live report.”“Then there was the flood of reactions fromthe cycling world. Many of these reactionswere from Europe, so many of AFP’s bureaux

were involved in the coverage, as were oursports correspondents”, he added. “There werea great many backgrounders and fact boxesabout doping methods, the products used, and

the legal and financial consequences of hisadmission.”AFP’s text and video coverage of Armstrong’sconfession again demonstrated the agency’sresponsiveness and its priority focus on sport,in all its forms and in all its dimensions.

Source: USADA/WADA/FIFA

Lance Armstrong and the doping conspiracyThe US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published damning allegations against Armstrong last weekthat outline “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sporthas ever seen”, according to chief executive Travis T.Tygart

EPO Erythropoietin,hormone stimulatesproduction of red bloodcells to increase oxygencarried to muscles

Linked to allegations against Armstrong and the US PostalService Pro Cycling Team

Cover-up

Drugs

Of a doping culture

Enforcement

PressureOn teammates to followthe doping plan

SupplyOf testosteronepatches toteammates

Distribution

Of EPO syringes

ThreatsTo a rider who spokeout: “I have a lotof time and money andI can destroy you”spoken to 2004 Tourrider Filippo Simeoni

TestosteronePromotes protein synthesis,muscle growth

Human growth hormoneActs on cellular metabolism,skeletal growth, enhancespower of steroids

CortisoneAffects metabolism,lessens pain,reduces tiredness

Blood transfusionIncreases redblood cells

Lance ArmstrongSeven times

winner ofTour de France

1999-2005

Saline dripsBefore drug teststo lower red bloodcell ratios False

prescriptionCortisonecream to treata saddle sore

AvoidanceOf tests and testers“We hid”: TylerHamilton, USPSteam member

SurveillanceOf testing teams

Make-upCovered injectionbruises on arm

LimitingEPO useto tiny traces,boosted byaltitude tents

A sophisticated system to evadedetection

North America

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f the people who dominated the news2013, Edward Snowden occupies

distinctive place. In addition to theews created by his revelations of thenited States government’s surveillanceogramme, the computer technician’s flightrned into a soap opera that kept a numberAFP bureaux busy.verything started with Snowden’svelations to Glenn Greenwald, an Americanurnalist working for the Guardian who isill the person who knows the most about

is large scale surveillance scandal”,id Chris Lefkow, AFP’s editor-in-chief fororth America.nowden, a former CIA employee andational Security Agency sub-contractor,ld the Guardian that Washington had

ccess to data of the Verizon telephoneetwork and users of Internet servicesovided by Microsoft, Google, Facebook

nd Yahoo. These leaks gave the worldn idea of the NSA’s surveillance operationsnd those of its counterparts in the UK,ance, Sweden, the Netherlands andermany.We started by working with the informationublished by the Guardian and theashington Post. Then the story moved toong Kong when Snowden sought refugeere in May. That’s where he was firstterviewed by Greenwald. Our local bureau

ed to approach Snowden but he wouldnly communicate through Greenwald,o we got an interview with Greenwald”,id Chris Lefkow.e interview with Greenwald took place inazil, where the American journalist lives.the July meeting, Greenwald told Javier

ovar of AFP’s Rio de Janeiro bureau thatnowden had no regrets, adding that “manyore articles” on the NSA’s activities woulde published.

“Our Moscow bureau took over afterSnowden sought asylum in Russia”,he continued. “But we also had to coverthe reactions from the leaders of U.S.allies like Germany and France, whosecommunications were spied on by the NSA”.“It became a world story involving all ofour major bureaux”, he said, adding that

journalists in the Washington headquarters“managed to contact some of the authorities

NSA scandal: on the trail of Edward Snowden

North America

24 June 2013 – Moscow – Edward Snowden’s empty seat on the Moscow/Havana flight that took off

without him after he sought asylum in Russia. AFP / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

North America

at NSA, who usually aren’t very talkative,and examined the story from various anglesincluding the consequences on people’sprivate lives and the scandal’s political costfor President Barack Obama”.More than 10 journalists in the Washingtonbureau alone followed the story as itunfolded from day to day: correspondentsassigned to the White House, the Pentagon,the State Department and Congress, as well

as writers specialised in technology andeconomics. “The story is far from over”,said Chris Lefkow. “We’re still on the alert,as Greenwald promised there would bemany more revelations.”


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n 2013 AFP signed a strategic agreementwith Getty for the agency’s text andmultimedia products in the United States.This agreement reinforces a 10-year-oldcontract with Getty for the distribution ofAFP photos, which since 2009 has alsoncluded video.“This new extension of the agreement willenable us to market our photos more widely

n the United States, along with the textservice. Now Getty can sell the two together,as well as our English language Online Newsand the lifestyle content of AFP-Relaxnews”,said David Millikin, AFP’s regional directoror North America.

This makes AFP’s text service the firsto be distributed by Getty in America.

The agreement, which went into effect inNovember 2013, is non-exclusive, so AFPcan continue to distribute its text content tots U.S. clients.

“It’s an important agreement becauseGetty represents such strong potentialsales given its access to corporationsand its relationships with major brands”,said David Millikin. “Now all ourAmerican clients who already subscribeto our photo service can get our dispatchestoo”.By pooling its expertise with Getty’s

multi-platform distribution capabilities,AFP consolidates its relationship with thispreeminent photo agency while at the sametime strengthening its position on the NorthAmerican market.

North America North America

AFP further consolidates its partnershipwith Getty


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INNOVATIONS

2 February 2012 - Bruyeres-Le Cha France – Partial view of the room housthe Tera-100 supercomputer, the m powerful in Europe.

AFP / ERIC PIERMONT


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From the 4W prototype, an application tocreate web pages on the fly, to the creationof a tool for transcribing speech extractedfrom videos, AFP’s Medialab is in a constantquest for technological innovation. Its activeparticipation in the latest “Hackathon” inBerlin last October confirms this.“It’s the first time AFP took part in thistechnological forum organised by WAN-FRA (World Association of Newspapers and

News Publishers) and the experience wasconclusive”, said Daniel Oudet, Medialab’stechnical manager. “We set some 50

developers to work on our issues, whichproduced a project for an application forcreating one’s own Web magazine from theagency’s multimedia archives”.Before embarking on this experiment, theMedialab team, co-directed by Daniel Oudetand editorial director Denis Teyssou, spentthree years working within the EU-fundedproject Glocal on Event-Based Retrieval ofNetwork Media. For this project, Medialabdeveloped 4W (Who, What, When, Where),an application for creating multimedia

web pages on the fly based on simplesearches around four criteria: the personor organisation, the event, the time and theplace. The prototype sources multimediadocuments, both recent and archived,produced by AFP. The webpage thus createdis dynamic, i.e. it is refreshed as soon as anew document is released. The applicationmakes it possible to view content in the formof cartographic mashups in which documentsare placed on a map in accordance withtheir content, or in the form of dynamictimelines (ChronoLines, a project funded by

the French research agency ANR).“We indexed all our multimedia documentsand created an API, which is to say an accesspoint to our data so that the applicationcan prompt the user to search and browseevents”, explained Daniel Oudet. For ourmultimedia developers, the most obvioustargets for this application are “websites andcontent aggregators who want a productthat can draw traffic and that they can thenmonetize with advertising”.

Medialab AFP: a dedicated Research andDevelopment unit

Innovations Innovations

The AFP4W prototype (along with EarthNews,which enables users to geolocate AFPmultimedia news in real time on a NASA 3Dglobe) were unveiled to the public in June 2013during the four day Futur en Seine innovationexhibition in Paris.Another prototype developed by Medialab in2013, in collaboration with PME Vocapia forthe EDyLex project funded by ANR: a toolfor transcribing and synchronising speechthat “can extract the sound from a videoand transcribe it almost perfectly into textand know exactly where it’s synchronised”,continued the technical director ofthe Research and Development unit.“With a search engine, you can look for a

word and the system goes to the place wherethis word is spoken, which can be a great helpfor journalists”.

“This technology is not so simple becauseit has to analyse voice pitches, take outbackground noise and be able to recognisewords that are accented differently, that aredifferent depending on what other words arearound them”, he continued, summarisingthe way Medialab works in one sentence-- “shaking up ideas and offering solutions” --to journalists and then to clients.

26-27 October 2013 - Berlin - Daniel Oudet, technica l director of Medialab with the developers awardedprizes at Hackathon. AFP

Interface of the 4W (Who, What, When, Where) prototype Learn

more

aboutMedialab


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The launch of AFP’s new sports offer,a strategic asset in an area where the agencyexcels, was one of the big events of 2013.Sports production now has its own structurethat is independent both editorially andfinancially. It comprises a dedicated sportswire and interactive applications combiningeditorial products, databases and in-depthstatistics, all adaptable to digital platforms.Marketed under the brand AFP Sports,this offer is aimed at AFP’s media clients aswell as companies and organisations involvedn sport on various levels – federations, clubs,sponsors, brands and event organisers.

“We wanted to depart from the traditionalpattern in order to access new clients, whoalso need accurate, reliable sports newsthat’s different from everything you can findonline”, said Vincent Amalvy, head of AFP’ssports service.AFP Sports consists of a French languagesports news wire enriched with coverage ofvarious thematic subjects (society, business,adventure). The service sends out 230dispatches a day on average, covering all majorsports and with a special focus on football,cycling, rugby, tennis and motor sports.This service, which also includes a range

of interactive applications, will soon beavailable in five languages (French, English,Spanish, Portuguese and German).The standard application, developed inpartnership with infoplum (AFP’s partnerfor the development of HTML applications)provides live commentary on events,analyses, photos and a full range of dataon the main sports: fact sheets, statistics,calendars, infographics and rankings.The “premium” application, for which AFPworked with Amisco, is able to provide moreprecise, more in-depth data, in particular forfootball.

“For us the aim is clearly to become thenumber one data provider for secondscreens”, said commercial and marketingdirector Olivier Lombardie. “Everyone needssports news, even the television channel thathas the broadcast rights and needs coverageof the build-up and then the post-eventreactions.”.

AFP Sports launches a new offer

Innovations

S PO R T S

Germany: the sports agency SID driven byvideo, corporate

SID, a wholly owned subsidiary of AFP, is themarket leader for German language sportsnews. It is internationally recognised for its textand video production as well as for its corporateactivities. A key player on the sector, its clientsinclude the main German media companies,the German Football Federation (DFB) and suchmajor industrial groups as Deutsche Telekom,Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. “In the pastyear we were able to successfully pursue thedevelopment of the video business, whosesales figure almost trebled in four years”,said Yacine Le Forestier, director of SID. “In spiteof the difficulties the sector is experiencing,

and one episode of fierce competition, wegained the loyalty of the main audiovisualmedia who have ordered even more content”.“In one form or another, all of the televisionchannels and all of the main Internet sitesare SID clients for video now”, he continued,recalling that “editorially, 2013 was a big yearfor us, marked by the German domination of theEuropean Champions League. With its editorialheadquarters in Cologne and four bureauxin Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich,plus a vast network of stringers, the agencyhandles the full range of sports news. At theSochi Olympics and above all at the World Cupwhich Germany is a favourite to win, “we willagain prove the excellence of our productionso that existing and potential clients can judgefor themselves how relevant it is to subscribeto us”, he said.On the corporate side, SID’s clients include

the DFB website and the German OlympicCommittee, and it distributes video from thefootball club Borussia MönchengladbachHe added that 2013 had been an important yearin further strengthening relations between SIDand AFP, with the merging of the administrativeand commercial departments in Berlin andSID’s migration to Iris, the new multimediaproduction platform.

21/11/2013,rubrique Créations


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What is AFP’s objective for this new sportsoffer?

Olivier Lombardie - We wanted to revisit oursports offer, make it more complete, morecohesive, and more modulable for our clients.Our aim was an exhaustive view of what sportis in the world, every day of the year. The offerneeds to be consistent so that AFP Spor ts’ salesremain stable, regardless of whether majorevents are taking place. But that’s only one partof it: our goal is to become the leading sportsnews agency in the world in terms of makingsense of sport, of explaining sport, and for livesports coverage.

What is the added value of this new offer?

Vincent Amalvy - Today we have an offer combining content and technology, acohesive set of ‘bricks’, or components where you find – in addition to rawinformation – analysis, related stories, statistics, data and social networks.Clients can choose one brick or another depending on their needs.

OL - It’s very rare for one company to have people who are capable of talking justas competently about cricket in India as they are about baseball in Japan, basketballin the United States, the Olympics in London or the football World Cup in Brazil.As the only truly European news agency, we can really play the sports card, andsports are so much a part of European culture. We are able to offer content for allplatforms in increasingly varied digital environments.

Who are your main targets?

OL - We have two main targets. First, media clients who need a second screen,starting with the television networks, who may or may not have broadcast rights.We are also targeting non-media players—federations, sponsors, brands, organisers,everyone in the sports economy. They all need the kind of verified, certified contentthat AFP can provide. Our idea is to create an AFP Sports environment where userswill be able to find what they need without having to leave this environment.

nterview with:

Olivier LOMBARDIECommercial and marketing director

Innovations

Vincent AMALVYHead of Sport

Innovations

What is the role of statistical data compared to the agency’s traditionalcontent?

OL - Our partners provide us with an enormous amount of data. But data likestatistics is first of all material for our journalists and it needs to be analysed byprofessionals. Sport is an area that’s crawling with information, where there are somany kinds of content. Our editorial contribution can help clients to find their waythrough this deluge of data.

VA - Pure data is not enough, there has to be editorial content. In addition to thetraditional wire, the editorial department will have the job of taking apart andanalysing data from our partners. We will identify the meaningful data, the data

that can enrich our content.

Have social networks become an additional resource for the sportsdepartment?

VA - It’s a fact. Moreover, in 2014 we’ll be launching a Twitter application aimed atthe world football community.

What will the next stages of development be?

VA - We need to open up to sports other than the traditional disciplines.We need to take an interest in mass sports, which represent an important economicsector. We also want to distribute editorialised video images completed with data.There are territories to be conquered.

What major contracts were signed in 2013?

OL - We formed a partnership with Presse Sports, the photography agency of theL’Equipe group, for distributing their photos outside of France. This makes AFP thelargest supplier internationally of French sports photos. We will also be launchinga Chinese language sports news service in the most populated country in theworld, in partnership with Hupu Sports Media. And in addition to our partnershipswith Amisco (the leader in performance analysis and enriched statistical content)and infoplum (for HTML applications development), we have signed contracts tosupply content to 17 Latin American television channels.


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From the destruction of chemical weaponsn Syria to municipal elections in France,from deep-water fishing to chocolatemanufacturing – videographics are synthetic3D images that make it possible to visualisethe unseen and to quickly gain a thoroughunderstanding of complex information.By reconstituting, decoding and informing,videographics enrich the coverage of newstopics. They take the form of animated visuals

about a minute in length, accompanied byaudio commentary and a separate script.But creating these videos takes time andthe news happens fast. “In general weconcentrate on subjects that are not red hotbreaking news. But we also have the abilityto follow what’s happening right now”, saidSophie Huet, head of AFP’s infographics-videographics department.“For example, within twenty-fours of thetrain accident in Spain, we produced ananimation.”

On Wednesday, 24 July, at 8:42 pm localtime, a high speed train from Madrid toEl Ferrol travelling at 179 kilometres per hourderailed on a curve four kilometres fromSantiago de Compostela. The human cost ofthe accident was shocking, with 79 peopledead and 180 injured. It very quickly becamethe top international news story. “The newsbroke in the evening. We started workingon the videographic early the next day, with

the facts that we had, and we finished itby the end of the day”, said Sophie Huet,praising the collective effort of her team andthe other AFP departments involved.A very different example of this department’swork is provided by their production on therighting of the Costa Concordia – “one ofour big successes of 2013”. This time it waspossible to do much of the work in advance.“We had prepared it a year in advance,but the factual videos were produced on theactual day.”

Videographics: fast news in rich 3D

26 July 2013 – Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Videographic (extract) explaining the accident.AFP / STÉPHANE KOGUC / FRED GARET / OLIVIER DEVOS

Innovations Innovations

Since its launch two years ago, AFPvideographics has become a very popularproduct. They are delivered in video formatthat enables them to work on all types ofscreens. “We’re starting to acquire a loyalcustomer base, and we don’t really have anycompetitors who regularly produce news-related videographics”, said Sophie Huet.

12 September 2013 – Isola del Giglio, Italy - Videographic (extract) on the righting of the C osta Concordia.AFP / FRED GARET / OLIVIER DEVOS

Watch

the video


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Until recently, AFP’s legal resources weredivided between the general managementoffice and the commercial department. Toensure a more cohesive, more effectiveservice, the two teams were joined togethern 2013 to form a single department that nowhandles all of AFP’s legal matters.“The agency was aware that it needed anntegrated legal department in order tomprove the efficiency and consistency ofrights management concerning the agency’sournalists, its partners and clients,”

explained AFP’s legal director Christophe

Walter-Petit. “In this way we are developingsynergies and are better able to make thevarious operational departments moreconscious of the need for risk prevention.“AFP is exposed to growing legal risksbecause of the increased legal complexityof the business, the enactment of moreand more new laws and regulations and thedevelopment of digital networks which impliesdistribution of the agency’s text, photo andvideo production in an environment wherethere is no limit in time and where nationalborders are non-existent.“In a company like AFP, which has aworldwide network and whose main businesss managing the rights related to its content,t is essential to act as far in advance aspossible and to be involved in in the decisionmaking process.“We are an international company present

n 150 countries – this kind of number isnever seen, even for the largest groups”, saidChristophe Walter-Petit.The new legal department’s tasks rangefrom managing copyrights to contracts withclients and service providers – in addition tomanaging AFP’s relationship with the Frenchgovernment and the banks, handling disputes,tax matters, and making the satellite networkand information systems legally secure.nternationally, it is responsible for handling

legal, fiscal and employment matters for theagency’s bureaux.“I’ve rarely seen such a large spectrum”, saidChristophe Walter-Petit, who has been incharge of the legal departments of several largecompanies. “It’s a fascinating job because it’sso varied and crosses so many different areas”,he added. “At the time of the terrorist attacks atthe Boston Marathon, AFP got hold of a photo ofsuspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. We had to cross-check with Moscow and Nicosia and within

Legal risks: awareness and prevention

Innovations

AFP’s headquartersAFP / THOMAS COEX

Innovations

an hour I gave the green light to send it out.We couldn’t afford to make a mistake becausetwo minutes later it was on the major sites”.The new legal department also deals withoften complex contracts with suppliers, suchas the one recently signed with Globecastfor satellite data transmission. “This was oneof the biggest contracts of the year and itrequired a great deal of time and expertisefrom us.”The major preoccupation of 2013 concerned

the growing use of content published on socialnetworks, which has led to new, sometimesserious risks. “Even though rigorousprocedures already exist, we are going tointensify legal training of our jou

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