News agencies seek new forms of added value

AFP hosted the twice-a-year meeting of Minds International Association in Paris from October 8-9.Minds International is a network of research and development centres for 17 European and North American news agencies (including the Associated Press) which promotes the sharing of best practices, business models, new technology, platforms, products and services.

The media crisis has yielded a consensus among news agencies that one of their priorities should be to provide new forms of added value in both old and new media. This includes enriching the way news is covered at local, national and global levels, and enriching the technological offer such as through meta-data and new platforms. Many mainstream media clients have expressed a need for guidance in the new media landscape; news agencies can provide this by defining clear strategies for search engines, social media and cellphones. Minds members are also actively researching new ways of monetizing content and "tracking" content on the web without penalizing clients.

Finally, news agencies can also provide value-added to clients by reducing the complexity of mobile applications, notably for the Iphone and ebook readers. This meeting also included a visit to the Orange Media Lab at Issy-Les-Moulineaux to explore the latest technology in video search.

Minds International is based in Austria. AFP has been a member since 2008.