Heloise Goy with Laura Laplaud
The French press agency (AFP), which employs 2,400 people worldwide, including 1,700 journalists in 151 countries, recorded a net result of 10.6 million euros for the year 2021. In a context where the fight against misinformation is becoming essential for the media, AFP has become the world leader in fact-checking.
The French press agency (AFP) has a record net result for the year 2021: 10.6 million euros. Commercial revenue increased by 4.1% compared to 2020, according to the press release published by the agency on Wednesday. This is the third consecutive year that the group has posted a positive net result. But the amount is this historic year for this group which employs 2,400 people worldwide, including 1,700 journalists in 151 countries.
How to explain this growth?
This record profit for AFP comes in particular from the signing this fall of an agreement with Google on neighboring rights. This agreement obliges digital platforms to remunerate press publishers for the publication and sharing of their content. Recently, the AFP has also new strategies to diversify its income. The agency notably offers new content for companies and institutions.
In a context where the fight against disinformation is becoming essential for the media, the “AFP Fact Check” branch offers, for example, editorial staff access, via subscriptions, to illustrated surveys or digital investigations carried out by the 120 factcheckers of AFP established in 30 different countries. The press agency is optimistic for the future since in its press release, the group assures that for 2022 “the costs are expected to increase significantly due to the intensity of the editorial news and the inflationary context”.