Camille Boissou from the French news agency AFP, has stated that the challenges to media freedom are increasing more and more but news agencies should try to be immune until the polarizations calm down.
In the first panel with the topic ” What are the challenges for the News Agencies in the recent period?”, she showed how they work and take care of their loyal customers.
Boissou said that in order to get money and make people pay, it is necessary to check the facts, to go out on the ground and be irreplaceable.
“No one will pay for our products if we are not great at our job and this is the first to get the money, to never give up on the ground, whether it is the ground in Ukraine, Gaza or even the virtual ground where there are misinformation. We have to adapt and not run away from the way older generations get news because if we stay stuck in newspapers and depend on high profile clients, we will miss this trend and I think we should not let this trend and run away and therefore a few years ago that we have new ideas on how to broadcast our news and our new customers, young people have access to our news because we want to be there and show our customers that we are thinking about it and we’re thinking about how to be there and help our customers, so they trust us and stay loyal”, she said.
According to her, what is special about their agency is their work with the major platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok and Microsoft, now they are a client like any other client and they cooperate with them and checking the facts is something that they have started since 2017, and now they have over 140 fact checkers.
As for the freedom of speech, Boissou emphasized that they enjoy the freedom of journalists, but the challenges are increasing more and more with the privatization of the media.
“I think that the most difficult thing is to remain central, if not neutral, to try to be immune to these because these media are our clients that are becoming more polarized, not to be influenced, maybe it’s too much, but it’s simple to say that we should keep our cool and try not to be influenced by this, I think that’s what will save us until the time when the polarization calms down”, she said.
She emphasized that she hopes to stay updated and what she has learned at AFP is that when they make mistakes, they correct this and customers read this.
This panel was moderated by Branka Gabriela Vojvodic from the Croatian News Agency HINA and consists of: Alan Marshall from the United Kingdom’s PA Media Group, Camille Bouissou from the French News Agency AFP, Natalia Kostina from the Ukrainian News Agency UKRINFORM, Aimilios Perdiakris from the Greek News Agency ANA-MPA.
Whereas, in the second panel, the speakers will be the president of the Prishtina MALL Board, Fatmir Zymberi, the leader of the UBT College Edmond Hajrizi, university professor Besa Luzha, Kushtrim Krasniqi from the Kosovo Olympic Committee, and Tualant Hodaj from the Kosovo Football Federation, who will present views about the possibility of creating synergies to support innovative initiatives that advance social prosperity.
