Pharos University In Alexandria Faculty of Mass communication International Communication Week :5 Lecture :5 B y: Dr: Zenat Abou Shawish 2013

Assessment Agency France AFP

1835 Agence Havas founded Charles Havas creates Agence Havas as Agence des Feuilles Politiques. As the world’s first international news agency, it uses a network of correspondents and translators. Trains and homing pigeons bring in the news to Paris from all over France and other European countries.

1835 — 1875 The first offices From 1835 to 1875, the Agence Havas offices are located on rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris, opposite the General Post Office.

1845 Telegraph first used The Agency starts to use electrical telegraphs, an invention which enables it to expand. Soon it is better and faster informed of what is going on in the world. In response to the Crimean war ( ) it extends its European network all the way to Saint Petersburg and the Bosphorus.

1853 Succession Charles-Guillaume and Auguste Havas take over the Agency’s management from their father.

1859 Reuter-Wolff-Havas agreement An agreement between the three major agencies - Reuter, based in London, Wolff in Berlin, and Havas – divides the world between them for the collection and dissemination of information.

Global agencies 1880 New means of communication The telephone, teletype and the long-wave radio come into use and revolutionize the way in which journalists work. The amount of news increases dramatically thanks to these new means of transmission and the development of the press in France.

1896 The Agency moves to Place de la Bourse, Paris

1930 Technological advances Shortwave wireless transmission profoundly changes the way in which international news can be passed on and brings the alliance of agencies to an end.

November 25, 1940 Havas/O.F.I. The News section of Havas is nationalised and becomes a government agency. Two laws establish the separation between the Advertising branch – which retains the name Havas - and the News branch – which becomes state property under the name French Information Office (OFI).

December 1940 Agence Française Indépendante (AFI) founded in London by Paul-Louis Bret Paul-Louis Bret considers that AFI can represent what remains of free French public opinion, with the capacity to criticise the Vichy regime. The AFI reaches an agreement with the British Ministry of Information and Reuters to broadcast a daily French language service of around 10,000 words across free Europe.

August 20, 1944 The birth of AFP Liberated France’s first dispatch is issued on August 20, OFI is renamed Agence France-Presse.

1950 Change at AFP headquarters

March 5, 1953 Stalin's death: the first scoop The death of Joseph Stalin, on March 5, 1953, brings AFP a global scoop that will leave its mark on the fledgling Agency’s history. At the time, foreign journalists in Moscow are unable to instantly transmit news in real time because of the regime’s censorship. AFP, however, was constantly monitoring Radio Moscow’s domestic broadcasts from Paris.

1954 — 1975 Jean Marin Jean Marin is appointed CEO. After the vote of the Agence France-Presse Statute in January 1957, he is re-elected every three years and remained president and CEO until 1975.

1957 An international news agency AFP has 25 bureaus across France, 46 overseas, and 13 in French overseas territories. It has correspondents in 116 countries and provides news in 73 countries.

January 10, 1957 The AFP Statute The French Parliament adopts the AFP Statute, guaranteeing its editorial independence, global presence and financial autonomy. The CEO is now elected by a Board of Directors.

1969 Launch of the Arabic service