French Press Agency Under Pressure: Threats, Losses, and Existential Challenges

SadaNews – The French Press Agency (AFP), one of the world's largest news agencies, is facing escalating challenges amid the rise of authoritarian regimes and unprecedented disruption in the media sector due to digital transformations and artificial intelligence, according to an analysis published by the French newspaper "Le Monde" by Brice Limeley.

The agency, which was founded in 1944, has been going through a critical phase for several months, with its news director, Phil Schitwind, describing the current situation as "perhaps one of the toughest moments our profession has faced in half a century, possibly since World War II".

In the first half of 2025, the agency recorded 25 serious incidents targeting its journalists, surpassing the number of incidents recorded throughout 2024. Limeley emphasizes that violence against journalists is escalating globally, and the agency has not been spared, as its correspondents in the Sahel region were forced to leave Burkina Faso and Mali due to the deteriorating security situation.

In Gaza, the agency's offices were destroyed as a result of Israeli bombardment, and all its workers there lost their homes. Reports from "Reporters Without Borders" and the United Nations indicate that between 210 and 247 journalists have been killed since the attack on October 7, 2023.

The analysis also pointed out that Hungary has become a model for governments imposing control over the media, while Slovakia, led by Robert Fico, has seen an increase in online harassment campaigns against journalists, including employees of the French agency, as well as death threats in Serbia and Germany.

In Latin America, two journalists from the agency fled Nicaragua after being pursued by the police, while the election of the right-wing president Javier Milei in Argentina led to the closure of the official news agency "Telam", resulting in losses for the French agency amounting to about 275,000 euros.

Donald Trump's return to the White House also had a direct impact, as "Voice of America", one of the agency's main clients, was dismantled, contracts with the U.S. administration were suspended, and the news verification program that it participated in with "Meta" (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) in the United States was terminated.

All these factors signal a decline in the agency's revenues in 2025 for the first time since 2018, even within France, where it has not escaped political criticism. Philippe Ballar, a deputy from the National Rally party, suggested reducing the agency's budget by 4% in 2024, in protest against its refusal to describe Hamas as a "terrorist organization" without placing the term in quotation marks, adhering to its editorial policy similar to that of the "BBC".

Despite the rejection of this amendment, it raised internal concerns within the agency, which relies on the state to cover more than a third of its revenues. Its management sees increased government support as not the optimal solution, due to the potential impact on its editorial independence.

Fries, one of the agency's officials, stated that "the agency can be a source of national pride because it competes effectively with its global counterparts, but it does not see itself as a tool of soft power in the service of political authority".

In the absence of expectations for increased support, the agency is seeking to achieve revenues ranging between 12 and 14 million euros by the end of 2026, through a plan that includes an early retirement program for 70 employees, some of whom will not be replaced, along with a review of the number of languages, foreign offices, and secondment policies, pending the issuance of final recommendations in December.

These measures have raised widespread concern among employees who fear a decline in global news coverage, with union representatives stating: "Things have reached a bad point everywhere".

As for the administration, it views artificial intelligence as a means to enhance efficiency and focus on high-value content, although it simultaneously represents the greatest threat to the survival of the media itself.