News agencies
Germany is among the countries with the highest amount of press agencies in its own language, which is one reason for the high competition in this segment. The main and internationally-active agency is the Deutsche Presseagentur (DPA). As most newspapers are subscribers of the DPA, it can be regarded as the primary source of news, whereas the other news agencies are complementary sources. The shareholders of the DPA are solely media companies and broadcasting stations, for which it has been criticised as not being independent enough. The DPA has also come into focus content-wise. One example is criticism about the DPA’s journalism during the crisis of the financial market in 2008, where it was accused of having published biased and sloppy reporting. As a result, big newspapers like the regional WAZ cancelled their DPA subscription.
The US American Associated Press (AP) merged in 2009 with the German Cable Service (DDP) into DAPD, which had a market share of 18 percent in 2011. Sports-Information-Service (SID) reached an 8 percent market share and the KNA, the Catholic news agency, a 7 percent share in 2011. Agence France Presse (AFP) and the German Reuters, which is a complete subsidiary company of the British Reuters and the Protestant News Agency (EPD) are also important in the German market.