Toward Hybridity? Nationality, Ownership, and Governance of News Agencies in Europe

Abstract

This article explores the nationality, ownership, and governance of news agencies in Europe, and suggests that we need to rethink and problematize the categories previously used when studying these. Drawing on recent data from a pan-European study, the article suggests that the concept of hybridity could be applied to analyzing news agencies’ nationality, ownership, and governance. It reviews the concept through different fields: (a) cultural studies, (b) organizational studies, and (c) political-regime and media-system studies, each of these contributing to a complementary understanding of the concept of hybridity. It concludes that (a) the previously fixed categories of national and international news agencies have become more integrated, (b) the different ownership forms of national news agencies have been partly amalgamated in terms of both owners and clients, and (c) ownership category alone cannot determine whether governance is democratic or nondemocratic, so we also need to look at governance. The article suggests that, by using the concept of hybridity when analyzing news agencies, we are able to see crossing boundaries of earlier ideal types and even developing possible alternative approaches to studying news agencies in future.

Kent Cooper, Barriers Down and The Right to Know

“…Asia still 'belonged' to Reuters, which was reluctant to let the AP into its territory. After many years of difficult negotiations between the AP and Reuters, the cartel agreement was finally broken in 1934 through the efforts of Cooper, aligned with the UP, which refused to replace the AP in the cartel (the so-called Ritz-Carlton agreement; Silberstein-Loeb 2014, p.217), the Rengo agency in Japan (Iwanaga 1980) and the TASS agency in the Soviet Union (Rantanen 1994). The breaking of the European news agency cartel was thus far from purely a personal victory but was achieved in collaboration with other agencies and individuals.…”

“…Cooper also claimed that the UP, in the same way as Reuters, was intimate with the government. 47 In doing this he conveniently forgot that when the government-owned TASS in the Soviet Union failed to sign an agreement with the European news cartel in 1934 this helped to bring down the cartel (Rantanen 1994). Cooper remained worried about government influence abroad, and the AP again gave him its support by issuing a statement:…”

International news flows through the lens of platformization

“…This scholarship requires updating for the digital age, since journalism and media have been transformed by platforms. Long a focus of news flow research, news agencies serve as 'news intermediary organizations'' (Rantanen andKelly, 2020: 1897) and play a decisive role in the communication of world affairs (Rantanen, 2021;Surm, 2020). As gatekeepers, they influence and set the global news agenda (Thussu, 2000: 130;Jukes, 2022: 5), and provide information from distant events that media organizations cannot cover themselves, given the cost of international reporting ( Jukes, 2022: 2;López del Castillo Wilderbeek, 2023: 919).…”

Plateformisation de la circulation de l'information internationale

“…Cependant, ces études nécessitent d'être actualisées pour prendre en compte le contexte numérique, dans la mesure où le journalisme et les médias ont été transformés avec l'avènement de plateformes oligopolistiques. Longtemps au centre des recherches sur les flux d'actualité, les agences de presse servent de « news intermediary organizations » (Rantanen et Kelly, 2020: 1897 et jouent un rôle décisif dans la communication et les affaires du monde (Rantanen, 2021 ;Surm, 2020). En tant que gatekeepers, elles influencent et déterminent l'agenda médiatique international (Thussu, 2000 : 130 ;Jukes, 2022 : 5) et fournissent des informations sur les événements distants que les entreprises de médias ne peuvent pas traiter elles-mêmes, compte tenu des coûts élevés de la couverture de l'actualité internationale ( Jukes, 2022 : 2 ;Lopez del Castillo Wilderbeek, 2023 : 919).…”