Editing News agency (section)

{{Short description|News gathering organization}}
{{redirect|Wire service|the television series|Wire Service{{!}}''Wire Service''}}
{{Distinguish|Newsagent's shop}}
{{Journalism sidebar}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079071-0007, Bonn, Nachrichtenagentur Reuters.jpg|thumbnail|Reuters, Bonn 1988]]

A '''news agency''' is an organization that gathers [[news]] reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as [[newspaper]]s, [[magazine]]s and [[All-news radio|radio]] and [[News broadcasting|television]] [[Broadcasting|broadcasters]]. A news agency may also be referred to as a '''wire service''', '''newswire''', or '''news service'''.

Although there are many news agencies around the world, three global news agencies, [[Agence France-Presse]] (AFP), the [[Associated Press]] (AP), and [[Reuters]] have offices in most countries of the world, cover all areas of media, and provide the majority of international news printed by the world's newspapers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rafeeq |first1=Ali |last2=Jiang |first2=Shujun |date=2018-01-02 |title=From the Big Three to elite news sources: a shift in international news flow in three online newspapers TheNational.ae, Nst.com.my, and Nzherald.co.nz |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13216597.2018.1444663 |journal=The Journal of International Communication |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=96–114 |doi=10.1080/13216597.2018.1444663 |s2cid=169613987 |issn=1321-6597 |access-date=2022-04-26 |archive-date=2022-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426220709/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13216597.2018.1444663 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> All three began with and continue to operate on a basic philosophy of providing a single objective news feed to all subscribers. [[Jonathan Fenby]] explains the philosophy:

<blockquote>To achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality. Demonstrably correct information is their stock in trade. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.<ref name=":1">Jonathan Fenby, ''The International News Services'' (1986), p. 25.</ref></blockquote>

[[Newspaper syndicate]]s generally sell their material to one client in each territory only, while news agencies distribute news articles to all interested parties.

News agencies can show [[media bias]].<ref name="l338">{{cite journal | last=Adegbola | first=Oluseyi | last2=Gearhart | first2=Sherice | last3=Cho | first3=Janice | title=Reporting Bias in Coverage of Iran Protests by Global News Agencies | journal=The International Journal of Press/Politics | volume=27 | issue=1 | date=2022 | issn=1940-1612 | doi=10.1177/1940161220966948 | doi-access=free | pages=138–157 | url=https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/bitstreams/d14d1fe4-f87f-4643-af87-83f006effd7d/download | access-date=25 May 2025}}</ref>