News agencies

News agencies provide syndicated content that journalists use as primary source material. The main national UK news agency is the Press Association (PA). PA is owned by a private company, the PA Group, which has 26 shareholders, most of whom are the UK’s major national and regional newspaper publishers. PA was established in London in 1868 as a news gatherer for local and regional newspapers. Today it has expanded its services to provide multimedia content and claims “We are trusted because we are fast, fair and accurate.” The Press Association’s central offices are in London with satellite offices situated across the UK in Nottingham, Howden, Bristol, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Reuters supplies national and international news. Its European headquarters are based in London and many other international agencies have offices in London. These include: Agence France-Presse (AFP); Agencia EFE; AP; Bloomberg; Dow Jones; DPA; IRNA; ITAR-Tass, and Xinhua. Many other news and picture agencies operate in the UK. A number of regional and local freelance agencies provide story and picture services through the National Association of Press Agencies (NAPA).

As a result of the increasing role of social media in sourcing stories agencies specialising in providing verification services to news organizations have been established. The international social media verification agency Storyful has a bureau in London supplying services to contextualize and verify the authenticity of social media data.