AFP - Rapport d'activité 2018

Kabul bureau struck by terrorism:

Shah Marai, AFP's chief photographer in Kabul, was killed on April 30 by a double suicide attack targeting the media. Three months later, Mohammad Akhtar, driver in the same bureau, lost his life in another suicide attack targeting General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord and vice-president returning from exile.

Multi-stream AFPTV Live system goes on sale:

AFP launched AFPTV Live Select, a new multi-stream live video product delivered by internet, on top of its Live product delivered by satellite. AFPTV Live Select offers TV channels and digital media complete and original live video coverage with, at any time, a choice of four live video streams. Via afptvlive.com, users can organise the delivery of the streams, which are broadcast via a top-of-the-range secure IP network.

Media groups adopt an independent method to count crowds:

Around 20 French media groups, including AFP, teamed up with Occurrence, a research and consulting institute, to create an independent system of counting for protests. A system of sensors placed up high traces a virtual line on the road and counts every demonstrator.

AFP partners with the Mediastart programme:

The Mediastart programme helps project promoters and start-ups aiming to develop new media. The programme is run by Paris&Co alongside partners including AFP, the BnF, CELSA graduate school and INA, the French national audiovisual institute

AFP partners with the "Journalism Trust Initiative":

This initiative aims to combat disinformation online by self-regulation and creating a set of trust and transparency standards. Partner media can obtain a certificate of reliability. This initiative from Reporters without Borders has received the backing of AFP, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Global Editors Network (GEN).

AFP innovates with its AFPData project:

The AFPData project was selected by Google as part of its Digital News Initiative (DNI). The project brings together AFP, automated text specialist start-up Syllabs, data optimisation platform OpenDataSoft and Laptop user experience designers. The project aims to develop the use of data in the newsrooms of AFP and its clients.

AFP hackathon on internet issues in the digital age:

AFP's Medialab co-organised a hackathon on internet issues in the digital age as part of the Global Forum on Internet Governance that took place at UNESCO in Paris between November 12-14. Bringing together developers, researchers and journalists, the Forum tackled issues such as hate speech on the internet, the fight against fake news and digital and media education.

AFP's photo studio continues to expand:

For a few years, AFP has produced top quality portraits in its Paris studio and in some international bureaux. New this year was a "mobile" version of the studio for the Fespaco (in Ougadougou), Paris book fair and the cartoon festival in Angouleme.

AFP educates young people about media:

AFP threw open its doors to high-school students for the Press and Media Week in School, with the support of the "Entre les lignes" association. The students visited different departments including the photo service, graphics and the general news service, as well as taking part in the international news conference and meeting a war reporter.

AFP a major partner for education in France:

Since 2017, AFP has been providing teachers and pupils with new content on its Edutheque platform. Documentary packages in English and French on apartheid, the 9/11 attacks and the Berlin Wall were put online this year. Also in 2018, AFP was the primary partner for Media Week in Schools.

Investing in training:

In 2018, more than 1,500 interns (51 percent of them journalists) took part in professional training organised by the training department in Paris or elsewhere in France.

First edition of the Breach/Valdez prize awarded to Mexican journalist Daniela Rea:

Awarded on World Press Freedom Day, the Breach/Valdez prize was created in memory of two reporters murdered in 2017 in Mexico, Miroslava Breach and Javier Valdez, who had worked for AFP for more than a decade. The first edition of the prize was organised by AFP, the UN, UNESCO, the French Embassy in Mexico and the Ibero-American University.

"Visa pour l'image" honours the work of African photojournalists:

In September, AFP photojournalists John Wessels, Luis Tato and Mohamed Abdiwahab exhibited their work during the 30th edition of "Visa pour l'image", a photojournalism festival in Perpignan. During the festival, AFP was again partner for the "Live Photography Magazine" with a story from Olivier Marin, France's chief photo editor.

AFP takes part in the first edition of the International Journalism Convention in Tunis:

From 15 to 17 November, Tunis welcomed 500 journalists from 30 different countries to debate topics around information and democracy. Several AFP journalists took part in debates and roundtable discussions, notably on the issue of factchecking. To mark the event, the Institute Francais in Tunisia hosted an AFP exhibition telling the story of 2018 in images.

Instantes, an AFP exhibition with the Alliance francaise in Maracaibo:

For the Foto Maracaibo festival, AFP's exhibition Instantes will be shown in the streets of the city from November 17 to the end of February. Caracas will host this exhibition of photos taken from all around the world in 2019.

Handicap charity "Papillons Blancs" holds exhibition at AFP HQ:

From June to September, members of the photo-video workshop at the Papillons Blancs Paris took photos of our Paris teams from all departments. The result of this work was an exhibition during European Disability Employment Week at the end of November.

Fragments from America : podcast from AFP correspondents based in the United States:

Since October, AFP's blog has offered an audio trip inside today's America. AFP reporters in the US, under the guidance of Antoine Boyer and Lucie Aubourg, both AFP correspondents in Washington, offer fragments of news via a podcast, exploring Trump's deeply divided America.

Life on the US-Mexico border, an AFP photo exhibition:

This exhibition launched on May 4 in the city of Ciudad Juarez brings together 44 pictures taken by US photographer Jim Watson, Mexican Guillermo Arias and Yuri Cortez from El Salvador. These AFP photojournalists spent 10 days travelling along a part of the 3,200 kilometers border separating the two countries.

Moscow seen through the eyes of AFP reporters:

The journalists' centre in Moscow presented "Moscow seen through the eyes of AFP reporters", an exhibition of 46 photos illustrating AFP's coverage of the capital by AFP photographers based in Moscow: Mladen Antonov, Yuri Kadobnov, Natalia Kolesnikova, Kirill Kudryavtsev and Alexander Nemenov.

AFP partners with the National Cancer Institute:

At the end of November, AFP joined the list of 41 companies who have signed the charter "Cancer and work", with 11 commitments to enable staff affected by the illness to stay at work or return to work.