A study on IRNA’s situation in media markets in comparison with AP, AFP, Reuters and PTI

Abdollahinejad, Alireza; Afkhami, Hossein

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Abstract

Abstract At the age of increasing competition among media, offering high-quality services and presence in media markets is considered as a crucial factor for news agencies in doing their job properly and professionally. Looking at the 180-year-old history of news agencies, from its beginning fromHavas (1835) to Associated Press (1846) and Reuters (1851) the owners and managers of the news agencies had an eye on valuable markets of information exchange and hoping for ample incomes of this market. Since few decades ago, at the zenith of the establishment and work of national news agencies, especially after the Second World War,by patterning on the production, supplying and sale methods of successful news agencies,many national agencies have entered the national and international media markets. while, in Iran, more than 80 years after the establishment of official and national news agency (originally called Pars and now Islamic Republic News Agency), at the age of new agencies’ rivalryin producing and selling news and information, IRNA’s source of income isgovernment budget and its incomefrom its presence in media markets is insignificant. This article performed a comparative study on IRNA (as Iran’s sole official news agency) and three international news agencies, Associated Press, France Press and Reuters and India’s national news agency, PTI and then asked the opinions of media experts in order to recognise the challenges that IRNA is facing, and also draw an ideal situation. The research has used a qualitative method, including a combination of comparative research and in-depth interviews. The results suggest that IRNA should not publish all stories on its website for free and it should use specific ways to earn an income from selling various news productions. The solutions offered by the experts include publishing advertisements on IRNA’s website, creating an agency and investment holding in the field of multimedia productions, selling high-quality and archive news photographs, producing marketable high-quality news-films.

Keywords

References

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