The health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the news agencies all over Europe a great deal, in respect to the working procedures, according to the CEOs of some of these institutions, interviewed by the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). The interviews were published on June 23 on EANA's website.

The CEO of the German news agency dpa, Peter Kropsch, believes that free media that provide fact-based information are one cornerstone of a liberal democratic society. "So dpa's work contributes directly to the democratic society that we intend to hand over to our children someday. This is the core statement of the dpa-group's mission," he underscored. In Kropsch's opinion, the coronavirus generated crisis speeds up the process of digital transformation of the mass media.

Martijn Bennis / Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau

Photo: (c) newsalliance.org

Martijn Bennis, CEO of the Dutch news agency ANP (Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau), said the news agencies are becoming increasingly relevant during such times of crisis but, on the other hand, the crisis is also a threat to them, when their clients face problems, and inevitably the agencies will also have to face the consequences. While evoking the COVID-19 pandemic, Bennis noticed that "Facts and expertise have gained in importance because there are so many uncertainties surrounding the virus. (...) The core value for ANP is the concept of fact. Facts are the building blocks for finding the truth and for a shared basis for social debate. For this reason, journalism should be completely independent of forces that may have an interest in hiding facts, such as the government or commercial organisations," underscored Bennis.

Gabriela Canas / EFE

Photo: (c) Emilio Naranjo / EPA

In her turn, the President of the Spanish news agency EFE, Gabriela Canas, said that the pandemic also multiplied another virus, "the virus of the fake news." "In a crisis like this, News Agencies have to go the extra mile. It is our responsibility to do an extraordinary effort to keep people well informed, particularly in times of pain, confusion, and fake news." Also, she said that "to me, it is crystal clear that we have to adapt our companies, very rapidly, to the challenges of the new technologies. We all have learned a lesson: to renew or to die. That's it. The good news for us is that EFE has shown during this pandemic its capacity of adaptation and we have plans to continue on that way." AGERPRES (RO - editor: Mariana Ionescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)

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Coronavirus: How the health crisis has influenced the activity of European news agencies

Coronavirus: How the health crisis has influenced the activity of European news agencies