Afp Ra English 2013 Upload

The whole world. The whole story.
2013
KENYA 23.11.2013
FRance 02.11.2013
Attack on Westgate shopping mall
Demonstrations by Red Bonnets movement A child plays with an aeroplane
U.A.E. 20.12.2012
ITALY 09.09.2013
PHILIPPINES 18.11.2013
VENEZUELA 09.04.2013
The Costa Concordia righted
Supertyphoon Haiyan in Tolosa
Presidential election rally
BRAZIL 27.07.2013
RUSSIA 11.08.2013
SOUTH AFRICA 10.12.2013
Pope Francis at the World Youth Day
Usain Bolt wins 100m
Memorial for Nelson Mandela
AFP 2013
13, place de la Bourse - CS 40212 - 75086 Cedex 02 - Tel: +33 (0)1 40 41 46 46
afp.com
EDITORIAL
Missions accomplished!
As you read our annual report (online version available on
afp.com), you will discover what 2013 was like for us day to
day how our committed, well-organised teams handled
the most critical, most intense news stories.
In the context of a worldwide print media crisis and a real
or imagined overabundance of news, AFP accomplished all
of its missions. But these achievements are not enough we must continue to invent and to innovate.
Our strategic orientations have been established: to accelerate image production
and step up the internationalisation of our sales. Live video, which we will continue
to develop in the coming months, is a requirement from now on. In sport, where
AFP excels, a new offering has been launched under its own brand -- AFP Sports -comprising applications and a stand-alone sports wire. These products are
destined to grow in 2014, to meet the many and varied needs of the market.
The development of our English language product an indispensable condition
for increasing international sales will open new horizons, just as our Arabic and
Portuguese language products have done.
AFP teams are deployed on every continent to ensure ever better coverage of the
news, enhance the agencys reputation and take advantage of new opportunities.
We have adopted an offensive position, we are playing an offensive game and we
are implementing an offensive strategy.
Thanks to major efforts by all concerned, the accounts are balanced and the
investments indispensable to AFPs future are provided for. All of our text and
multimedia teams around the world now work from our multimedia production
system, Iris.
2014 will see the deployment of AFP-Forum, a multimedia content delivery platform
for our clients. And we have never had so many clients. AFP is gaining ground and
building new relationships.
AFP Dialog a tool enabling permanent dialogue between our clients editorial
departments and our own is one example of this. We are launching new
partnerships, penetrating the editorial web animation territory thanks to our
subsidiary AFP-Services. Above all you will discover, through a few emblematic
(or in some cases anecdotal) editorial coverages, how all of the agencys teams
the editorial network of course, but also the technical, legal, marketing and
commercial, communication, financial and human resources services -- are
deployed. You will discover their capacity to adapt and respond, to apply their
outstanding skills to delivering accurate, authenticated and independent news.
In 2013, AFPs teams demonstrated their unparalleled strength and commitment,
confirming our place in the top world ranks.
Missions accomplished!
You are in for some fascinating discoveries and some very enjoyable reading.
Emmanuel Hoog,
President and CEO of Agence France-Presse
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 | Editorial
6 | AFP has a responsibility to educate, to provide depth and explanation
Interview with Philippe Massonnet, Global News Director
8 | We have built up our products, our offer and our strategy
Interview with Rmi Tomaszewski, Managing Director
France and Europe

12 | The 100 Tour de France: a first for AFP photo
13 | A unique insight
14 | AFP book commemorates 100 Tours
16 | Strengthening relationships with the French media
th
Interview with Bernard Pellegrin, Regional Director France

18 | International TV newscasts hit their stride
20 | Social Affairs: specialists in crises and reforms
22 | AFP-TVs live video offer becomes established
24 | We have reached a milestone

Interview with Marie-Nolle Valls, Head of AFP-TV
Africa and the Middle East

28 | War in Mali: restricted access and logistical challenges
30 | Syria: ever-present danger
32 | Hostile environment training a top priority for AFP
34 | Egypt: reporting on political chaos in a dangerous environment
36 | Nairobi a hostage taking covered from all angles
38 | Mandela: an exceptional coverage for a global icon
Asia-Pacific
42 | AFP teams bring the horror of typhoon Haiyan to the world
44 | Baby Roona Begum: a shock AFP image triggers outpouring of support
46 | Bangladesh factory disaster: AFP Dacca bureau leads the coverage
Latin America
4
50 | Brazil: Latin Americas biggest market a priority target for AFP

52 | The death of Hugo Chavez marks the end of an era for the Caracas bureau
North America
56 | Armstrong: the confession heard round the world
58 | NSA scandal: on the trail of Edward Snowden
60 | AFP further consolidates its partnership with Getty
Innovations
64 | Meeting the technical challenges facing the media:
Interview with Caroline Raveton, Director of Information Systems

66 | Medialab AFP: a dedicated Research and Development unit
68 | AFP Sports launches a new offer
70 | Interview with Olivier Lombardie, Commercial and Marketing Director

and Vincent Amalvy, Head of Sport
72 | Videographics: fast news in rich 3D
74 | Legal risks: awareness and prevention
76 | Introducing AFP Forum, our new multimedia platform
78 | Correspondent AFP journalists tell the stories behind the news
80 | An extraordinary diversity

Interview with Grgoire Lemarchand, Head of social networks
Award Winning Journalists

84 | 2013 Awards
AFP Foundation and Subsidiaries

98 | AFP Foundation: promoting media training and press freedom
100 | AFP-Services widens its range
AFP on display
102 | Exhibitions
Contributors
p.104
AFP has a responsibility to educate, to provide

depth and explanation
Philippe Massonnet
Global News Director
What is your assessment of AFPs coverage in 2013?

2013 began with Mali and ended with Mandela. While the
preceding years had been more about the Middle East, with
the wave of Arab springs and the war in Syria which is still
keeping us busy 2013 was an African year, marked by very big
stories in Cameroon, Niger and Kenya and then by the conflicts in
the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
Despite the tight budgets that are affecting all of the news media, we sent large
numbers of journalists to cover the stories on the ground, including twenty-one
specials for the death of Nelson Mandela. Africa will continue to be one of our
priorities in the coming years. Besides the conflicts that are going on across Africa,
it is a dynamic continent where rapid economic and social change is taking place.
In terms of both news and development, Africa is a growth area where theres real
demand from the media, specifically for content delivered via mobile phones.
In 2014, we hope to further improve our Africa coverage, especially that targeted
at African media. We need to use our long experience in Africa to consolidate the
editorial and commercial advantage we have there, both in the French speaking and
English speaking regions.
example, the greater our clients needs in terms of organising this information.
The news agencys role can no longer be limited to delivering news and delivering
it fast. We supply content, but we increasingly supply services as well. This is what
makes us indispensable.
On what types of news does AFP plan to focus its development in 2014?
In 2013 we saw enormous growth in video, in terms of the number and variety of
productions and live broadcasts. AFP-TV is now present on all of the major breaking
stories throughout the world, from the Philippines to Brazil. We increased our focus
on live video in 2013. Over the year, our various live video coverages were done
in a range of very different journalistic and technical contexts, adding up to some
very rich experiences in Saint Peters Square for the Pope, in Qunu for Mandela
and in Caracas for Chavez. We must continue to move forward with live video not
only for breaking news, but also for sport and lifestyle stories. A news agency must
operate in a context of immediacy, on all of its platforms and in all of its formats.
This is what we have set out to do and what we must continue to build on in 2014,
including in areas considered in the past to be cold news.
Editorially, there was also a trend towards developing lifestyle coverage in

2013. What were the reasons for this choice?
The public has an appetite for information and explanation extending far beyond
the top breaking news stories of the day. We are devoting more and more time
and resources to different lifestyle themes, for example with the global monthly
multimedia lifestyle package via all of our available media -- text, photo, video and
infographics -- in formats geared to online, smartphone and tablet consumption.
These packages on so-called cold topics like education or health have to be
visual, they have to tell a story, they have to be global as well as regional. Because
of AFPs extensive presence, our multilingual network, the scope of our capabilities
and our multi-media platforms, we truly have a winning hand in terms of providing
original, accurate, lively coverage of these topics.
In 2014 we will be accentuating this trend in the areas of sport and culture. AFP
has a responsibility to educate, to provide depth and explanation. And there is
a demand for this. The more they are flooded with information, on Twitter for
2013
in images
We have built up our products,

our offer and our strategy
Rmi Tomaszewski
Managing Director
AFP launched a number of major projects in 2013.

How are they progressing?
We have spent the past year working on projects that will be
decisive for AFPs future. In 2013, we not only built up our products,
our offer and our development strategy, we focused on acquiring
new clients and strengthening our relationship with the French
government.
Although the seeds we have sown will not come to fruition right away, everything is
in place to ensure the implementation of the 2014-2018 contract of objectives and
means.
What are the underlying orientations of the agencys development strategy?
Our strategy is underpinned by a set of development orientations that have
been identified based on the markets we want to conquer both in France and
internationally. Asia and South America were targeted at a very early stage.
The broadcast sector is another priority: whereas before it was small Internet clients,
now its time to seek out opportunities with television channels. Our development
strategy is largely based on building up our video production, our sports offer and
our Arabic and Portuguese language services.
Does AFP see video as a priority area for driving growth?
Video has boosted our revenues, and our 2014 budget allocates 20% more
resources to video. While text journalism is still our core business, it is losing
ground to photo and above all to video. Unlike the other big news agencies, we
are developing video within our editorial structure, with our own video teams and
with the contribution of our writers and photographers on the ground, who may
also record video material.
Is the new sports offer part of this development policy?
Our ambition is to become the go-to agency for sport. In a year whose highlights
include the Sochi Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, we want to
give clients a clearly identified sports environment where they will find the news
and related data they need, for different platforms. With a dedicated sports wire
8
and second screen applications, we aim to respond to demand from both editorial
clients and non-media clients. In parallel, we are pursuing our international
development with our sports wires in German and Arabic.
What about the agencys contractual relationship with the French government?
A new relationship is taking shape. Starting in 2014, it will have two components.
Under the missions of general interest, we will have a financial relationship with
the government that will determine the net cost of this activity. A commercial
relationship will also be established, and will lead to an overall contract. We have
completed our discussions with the French government and our discussions
with Brussels regarding European laws on competition. Everything is in place for
a decision to be handed down in 2014. We are ready for it.
In a context of long-term crisis, did AFP continue to invest in 2013?
We pursued our investments and at the same time made progress in identifying our
needs. The agency has also been investing in client relations, to give our clients
a better understanding of how we work and the service we deliver. The building
renovation project is almost completed. The renovation strengthens the company
structurally, besides saving us nearly two million euros over a full year.
AFP has also launched a major overhaul of its staff policy. Why?
It came to our attention that there are 119 different agreements governing AFPs
relationship with employees. This creates a great deal of legal uncertainty for both
the employees and the company. The negotiations under way aim to re-establish
a greater degree of transparency and equity, so that each individual can be sure of
where he or she stands in the agency and plan for the future. This discussion is also
an economic necessity, as we must ensure that our staff costs do not rise faster
than our revenues.
France
AND Europe
10 July 2013 Mont-Saint-Michel,

France British cyclist Chris Froome
won the 100th edition of the Tour,
succeeding his compatriot Bradley
Wiggins who won the 2012 race.
AFP / Jol Saget
10
11
The 100th Tour de France saw AFP experiment with a new satellite transmission system on board motor
bikes following the race. AFP / JOL SAGET
12
22 March 2013 - Bonifacio, France - Interview with Bernard Hinault after the 25 km stage which marked the 100
day countdown to the start of the Tour in Porto-Vecchio. AFP / PASCAL POCHARD CASABIANCA
The 100th Tour de France: a first for AFP photo
A unique insight
A first ever race start in Corsica, a spectacular

stage finish at Mont-Saint-Michel, and a finale
which began at the Chteau de Versailles
and ended as the sun set over the ChampsElyses: the organisers gave a special lustre to
the 100th running of the Tour de France which
was won by Britains Chris Froome, a distant
successor of the first victor, Frenchman
Maurice Garin, in 1903.
AFP marked the event with a technical first,
equipping its motorcycles following the Tour
with satellite dishes to allow photographers
to transmit images of the riders in record
time.
It has now become inconceivable that print
and online media have to wait until the end of
a stage to receive images while each moment
is broadcast live on television. Thanks to
this new technology, clients now receive
images at the start and at mid-race as well
as highlights of each stage. This innovation
enables us to provide even richer content
in our live multimedia feeds for online and
mobile platforms.
This satellite equipment, similar to the
transmission devices installed on offshore
AFPs cycling correspondent Jean Montois

has covered almost one third of all the Tours
a total of 30 which has given him
unequalled access to the evolution of cycling
from the heady days of the 1980s through the
doping scandals of the following decades.
This year he wrote a Correspondent blog
for AFP.com where he recalled his most vivid
memories pursuing the riders for interviews,
and even questioning them as they took
a shower, the doping scandals and Italian
Fabio Casartellis fatal crash on a descent
in the Pyrenees. Thirty years in which he has
seen the profession of the agency journalist
shift gears many times. He also remembered
the things that went wrong like the 1990
Tour when he went to check out some
demonstrators who had threatened to disrupt
the race, and he missed the withdrawal of
Laurent Fignon.
That year we were at the start of real time
coverage by France Info radio, but there still
was a high risk of an important miss like
the Fignon story.
Today the danger is much less because of
live television and Twitter, but paradoxically
racing boats, makes it possible to send

images at any given moment. It is a particular
advantage when the Tour passes through
areas where ground-based telephone
reception is too weak to provide sufficient
bandwidth.
Even if the steepest mountain climbs can
make satellite connections difficult, the
technology is very promising and can only
improve. With this breakthrough, an 8 Mb
image can be sent by the photographer to the
photo editors in a little more than a minute,
without having to stop.
France and Europe
that has made the pressure worse. The Tour

de France has become less of a physical
challenge for a journalist but the nervewracking pressure has never been greater.
The 100th Tour was also the first since Lance
Armstrong confessed to being a drug cheat.
Like many journalists I knew deep down that
Armstrong doped. The French press, which
had lived through the traumatic Festina team
doping scandal, was much more alert than
that of other countries. But how could we
write about it?
Montois said they were reduced to trying to
get the message out between the lines.
He recalled feeling sick when he saw
Armstrong stretching himself during the
Courchevel climb in the 2005 Tour de France,
an episode which represented a peak of
blood doping.
He also remembered the Italian Claudio
Chiapuccis attack on the 13th stage of the
1992 Tour, an achievement which he called
probably the most tainted in the history of
the race.
France and Europe
13
AFP book
commemorates 100
Tours
To mark the 100th Tour de France, AFP has
published Le Tour: 100 images, 100 histoires
in collaboration with Denol. The 240 page
book looks back on the highs and lows of
the Tour with 100 emblematic photographs.
From the heroes to the forgotten riders, the
great rivalries and the dramatic moments that
have marked the Tour, the book is a chance
to look back at the races great eras, its
champions and landscapes, and to understand
why the Tour has become such a pinnacle of
sport.
The images come with commentary from four
great witnesses of the tour -- ric Fottorino,
former director of Le Monde and a cycling
enthusiast; Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tour
director from 1989 to 2006; Jean-Paul Ollivier,
France 2s unrivalled cycling expert; and
Bernard Thvenet, who won the Tour in 1975
and 1977. Their texts are both in-depth and
evocative, combining their memories of the
competitors, whom they all knew closely, and
the spectators, who are so much a part of the
annual event.
14
Sports animated graphics: from Playmobils

to computer generated images
More than a decade has passed since AFPs
sports service first offered animated graphics
for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
They evolved into the 3D products and
computer generated images that described
and explained the 15 disciplines of the Winter
Games in Sochi.
The very first version, in 2002, were
Playmobils with simple graphics and no sound,
but the International Olympic Committee used
them for its site and continued to do so until
2010, said Alain Giraud, head of the sports
online and mobile service.
The product was overhauled by a graphics
team whose task was to modernise the module
graphics and add sound.
It was the end of the Playmobil style silent
images with text at the foot of the page. In 3D
and with computer generated images, the new
animated graphics are strikingly realistic and
can be used in multiple languages.
It is the first time we have experimented
with computer generated images. They are
more user friendly and suitable for a general
audience, he said.
On-demand sports applications

The multimedia, interactive sports applications
launched by AFP in 2013 have opened new
horizons in instantaneous news coverage.
Clients can now add content to their sites by
selecting material from the agencys range
of text, photo, video and infographics feeds,
as well as statistics produced by our specialist
partners such as Amisco and infoplum.
Clients can also offer their users live
sequence-by-sequence commentary on the
event, real time photos, related data (team
line-ups, statements, biographies, etc.),
videos (interviews, press conferences) and
detailed infographics (competition diagrams,
stage routes and circuit maps).
This offer, complementing our traditional
sports production, is enriched with a
statistics component providing access
to every type of data related to the event,
from evolving performance figures to live
results and rankings. AFP was already offering
multimedia products for major sporting events
such as World Cup football, European football
and the Olympics, said Pierre Galy, sports
editor-in-chief.
While these products are still offered, for

example for the Sochi Winter Olympics, our
idea was to no longer limit ourselves to major
competitive events but to be able to provide
instantaneous, multimedia sports coverage
throughout the year. The French language
version of this product has been tested for
Ligue 1 football, Top 14 rugby, the tennis
Grand Slam tournaments, the major cycling
events and all of the Formula 1 Grand Prix
motor races. English, Spanish, Portuguese
and German language versions are now to be
developed in online, tablet and smartphone
formats. All live coverages will feature
embedded photos, an innovation not offered
by competitor applications.
Pierre Galy remarked: The creation of
this product was made possible thanks to
the efforts of the France and International
photo services and the team of technical
developers.
15
Strengthening relationships with the French

media
Bernard Pellegrin
Regional Director France
Can you tell us about the new editorial offer launched by AFP
in spring 2013?
As were operating in a competitive environment, we wanted to
strengthen our relationships with the French media. We therefore
decided to offer some new types of editorial content, specifically
on a segment where we had not been as present as we would
have liked: week-end features. Now, every week-end, our clients
receive quite a long investigative piece on a recent event, a looking back on story
there is a very high demand for this among regional dailies -- plus a celebrity
piece and a category on trends. Weve also added a the day at a glance item which
offers a somewhat different way of reading the news, with the announcement of the
day, the man or woman of the day, the quote of the day and the figure of the day.
This is doing quite well.
all these departments closer together, by shortening the channels of

communication, by standardising content, we give ourselves the means
to invent things that did not exist before and to better meet the needs of
our clients.
Date : 29/11/2012
Pays : FRANCE
Page(s) : 24
Rubrique : High-Tech et Mdias
Diffusion : (121630)
Priodicit : Quotidien
29/11/2012, High-Tech and Media
Has this boosted interactivity with AFPs media clients?

In the autumn we set up AFP Dialog, a dedicated mail system available on Android
and iOS that is now becoming established.
Its a tool enabling totally secure, continuous dialogue between AFPs editor-in-chief
for France and our newspaper clients. In practice, three or four people are talking
to three or four people, no more. For example, clients can ask the agency if we are
going to be doing more on this or that story or if we will be going back to this or
that other story. They can also answer our questions or provide us with information.
Its a way to get feedback about their needs, on what they use or dont use, which
is often difficult for a news agency to determine.
How was this new offer set up?
In order to provide this new service, we first had to make some organisational
changes. A France region was created, so that what had for a long time been
a territory by default now has a structure comparable to that of the five other
regions of AFPs worldwide network. The idea was to bring together in one entity
the different services, desks and bureaux that contribute to covering France so
there is a synergy between the editorial, administrative, commercial and technical
sides. This reorganisation is in line with a development objective. By bringing
16
France and Europe
France and Europe
17
International TV newscasts hit their stride

Twice a day, AFPs Web and Mobile service
journalists put together a 75 second news
video from AFP-TV material, with French and
English subtitles. In 2013, these international
TV newscasts hit their stride and were taken
up by a broader client base.
The first prototypes, delivered in 2012, were
designed for large public screens set up in
busy pedestrian areas like that in La Dfense,
near Paris. It very quickly became clear that
these short TV newscasts were also relevant
for viewing on other media, that is to say
online and on mobile devices. The delivery
format and subtitling were therefore adapted
to viewing on a computer or smartphone
screen.
Each broadcast comprises four subjects:
three leading world news stories and
a lighter story (sport, culture, lifestyle,
etc.), with commentary and subtitles in
two languages (French and English). Every
morning, the web teams in Paris and London
select the subjects. Paris puts together the
online edition from AFP-TV material, edits
it, writes the French subtitles and then
sends it to London where the subtitles are
translated. Lastly, the Paris team integrates
the three components the images, the
French subtitles and the English subtitles
and sends it out to clients, said Florence
Panoussian, head of the Online and Mobile
service. On average it takes around two hours
to do one edition. Its a system that works
well, although sometimes the team has to
work to extremely tight deadlines and choose
from an overabundance of footage, as was
the case with the deaths of Hugo Chavez and
Nelson Mandela.
We now have two editions, one at midday
and another around 6:00 pm Paris time.
Our plan is to develop a morning edition,
with Asian news, to go out before 8:00 am if
possible, she continued.
18
The international TV newscasts have become

an integral part of our editorial routines and
are included in AFPs daily output, along
with our other multimedia productions, said
Florence Panoussian.
These international products join the existing
product aimed at French audiences: two daily
editions with French commentary, one of
which is also available with subtitles.
France and Europe
India
At least 115 die after a stampede near a temple
International TV newscast on giant screen at the La Dfense pedestrian precinct.
France and Europe
19
Coverage of this significant closure was

a collaboration between the social affairs and
economic departments and the general Paris
news reporting service under the supervision
of the editor-in-chief for France.
In addition to the breaking news, we produced
pieces on the human consequences, the
history of the factory, the precedent of the
Boulogne-Billancourt plant, and we worked
closely with photo, video and graphics,
she explained.
The battle for leadership of the UMP: the story as it happened on AFPs newswire
2 November 2013 - Quimper, France Demonstration by the Red Bonnets against the ecotax and for
employment in Brittany (video grab). AFP / FRED TANNEAU
Social Affairs: specialists in crises and reforms

Social protection, employment, companies
-- the three sectors covered by AFPs social
affairs service regularly made headlines in
France. The year was marked by retirement
reforms, the establishment of a government
employment policy and a string of redundancy
plans. The expertise of a specialised
department was essential for covering all of
these subjects.
In a profession where social affairs are often
merged with economic coverage, AFPs
14-strong service is unique.
Were very proud of it, said Dominique JolyBrul who heads the department, saying her
team comprises journalists who are capable
of understanding complex issues.
Our work sheds light on local situations,
but our stories are used everywhere in
both the general and specialised media,
she said. The reasons for this success? A lot
of explanatory content, question and answer
pieces, references to explain the issues.
Social affairs often assists other services
and bureaux such as during the protests by
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the Red Bonnets which was covered by the

Rennes bureau.
Social affairs and the political service shared
coverage of pension reform.
Our job was covering the negotiations
between the government and unions,
because we know the unions well and we
cannot expect the political service to know
everything.
2013 was a black year on the jobs front: the
announcement of the closure of Goodyears
Amiens-Nord factory, bankruptcies of Mory
Ducros and FagorBrandt, the liquidations of
Virgin and LFoundry, the definitive shutdown
of the Florange blast furnaces, and the last
car to roll off the production line at the PSA
Peugeot Citron factory at Aulnay-sous-Bois
before its closure in 2014.
The PSA story has preoccupied us since July
2012 and even before with the announcement
of the closure plan by the CGT union.
We followed the negotiations, the strikes and
the employees protest demonstrations,
she said.
France and Europe
The battle between Jean-Franois Cop and

Franois Fillon for the leadership of the rightwing opposition UMP party electrified French
news between November 2012 and January
2013. The key moments were reported in real
time on AFPs wire.
On November 19, the day after the party vote
in which both candidates claimed victory,
Jean-Franois Cop was proclaimed president
with 98 more votes than Franois Fillon.
The same day, former prime minister Alain
Jupp told AFP that the new UMP boss had
the ardent obligation to bring together all of
the movements sensibilities. Two days later
there was a dramatic turn of events: the Fillon
clan again claimed to have won, arguing that
the votes of three overseas federations had
not been counted and that Fillon should have
won by 26 votes. However, Patrice Glard,
chairman of the electoral control commission,
told AFP that the commission could no longer
go back on its decision. Fillon supporters
called upon Alain Jupp to mediate.
On November 22, Jean-Franois Cop
informed AFP that he had telephoned his rival
and proposed that the two meet one on one.
Franois Fillon accepted on condition that
Alain Jupp be present. This was confirmed
by sources close to the former prime minister.
The meeting between the three took place
at the Assemble, the French parliament,
on November 25, but failed to resolve anything.
Alain Jupp announced to AFP that he had

given up:
The conditions for my mediation are not
present. Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier informed
AFP, through intermediaries, that he was
in favour of any initiative to bring an end to
the situation.
On November 27, following a meeting around
Franois Fillon, several of those in attendance
told AFP about the creation of a breakaway
parliamentary group, the Rally for the UMP,
which was to dissolve as soon as a new
vote has been held. After the fifth CopFillon encounter, on December 11, there was
still no resolution in sight. Bernard Accoyer
announced that UMP members of parliament
would vote to decide whether or not a fresh
vote should be called. On December 17,
the day before the vote was to take place,
Jean-Franois Cop and Franois Fillon issued
a joint statement to AFP, announcing the end
of the crisis. The armistice was officialised the
next day.
On January 14, twenty-four hours before the
Assembly was to open, MP Jrme Chartier,
a Fillon loyalist, told AFP that the dissident
group had been dissolved and its members
had rejoined the ranks of the UMP.
From start to finish, AFP had led the way on
this intriguing political story.
21
27 July 2013 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pope Francis greets the faithful near Copacabana beach before a mass
prayer vigil for World Youth Day. AFP / Christophe Simon
AFP-TVs live video offer becomes established

In 2013 AFP-TV focused its efforts on
stepping up its production of live video.
Over the year, live video broadcasts included
David Beckhams press conference at Paris
St-Germain football club, the election of Pope
Francis, the funeral of Hugo Chavez, the final
tributes to Nelson Mandela, the birth of royal
baby Prince George and the first gay wedding
in France.
After a trial phase, in 2013 we produced one
live coverage a month on average, and we
will be pursuing this development in 2014,
said Marie-Nolle Valls, head of AFP-TV.
All of these video productions were very
different in nature and in terms of filming
conditions. The one on Beckham was our first
unplanned live video and it all happened in
less than two hours. For Chavez, our video
reporter filmed for three and a half hours
straight a real feat of endurance. For the
two-part operation at the Vatican, we had to
22
work within the extremely tight restrictions

imposed on us, she said.
Then there were the 20 hours of live video
from South Africa when Nelson Mandela died,
the filming from above of Margaret Thatchers
funeral at Saint Pauls Cathedral, and the live
coverage, in very difficult conditions, of the
demonstrations in Tunisia.
The first homosexual marriage in France,
celebrated last May, is another interesting
example: The event got a very strong reaction
internationally because of the opposition
to the new legislation. When we found out
where the wedding was taking place, we
went straight from filming the live coverage of
the Cannes Film Festival to Montpellier and
deployed the most complete set up possible.
When youre playing at home youve got to
take full advantage of the opportunities.
AFP-TVs OB van was dispatched to
Montpellier so that images filmed by cameras
France and Europe
inside and outside the City Hall could be

handled simultaneously.
The result: An hour and a half of live
coverage during which we were the only ones
to provide four different feeds, said MarieNolle Valls. With its SNG (Satellite News
Gathering) system, the van can be used as a
mobile AFP bureau accommodating writers,
photographers and video journalists as was
the case in 2012 when Franois Hollande led
his final campaign rally in Toulouse, and again
in South Africa in late 2013.
AFP produces more than 200 videos a day
on average, from breaking news to timeless
magazine pieces, all in high definition
format and in seven languages (French,
English, Spanish, Geman, Arabic, Portuguese
and Polish). We are very proud of this
production, which is the work not only of
the video journalists the text and photo
journalists contribute as well. The spread of
video culture in AFP has been spectacular,

she said. Other reasons for satisfaction:
AFP-TV has signed a partnership agreement
with the French audiovisual institute (Institut
National de lAudiovisuel) for the distribution
of its archives; the Qatar-based news channel
Al Jazeera has recently joined the list of AFPTV subscribers; and AFP video has made a
robust entry into Latin American television
and online markets.
France and Europe
Watch
live
videos
23
We have reached a milestone

Marie-Nolle Valls
Head of AFP-TV
AFP has made video one of its strategic priorities.

What are the reasons for this?
AFPs video activity has been posting double-digit growth,
making it a driver of the agencys business. This allows us to set
ambitious objectives for the next four year period. Our goal is to
take video from its current 5% of the agencys overall sales to 10%
by 2018. We have the know-how to achieve this, as well as the
most virtuous possible skill set model. Our video journalists are triply qualified
one person, working with lightweight equipment, writes, films and edits.
In 2013 AFP-TV produced an average of one live video a month. What are its
objectives for 2014?
The online edition of Diario de Centro Amrica in Guatemala running AFPs live video broadcast of the election
of the new Pope
We moved very quickly from a magazine type production to hard news. Now we
need to have a live presence on all the dominant world news stories and increase
our volume, delivering two live videos a month wherever this is merited. This is
the very essence of a news agency: we sell editorial guarantees and a worldwide
network. For any given story, our clients must be assured that we will be there and
that they will have all the news that interests them.
With this enriched offer, has the video department become more competitive?
We have reached a milestone. At this time we have the means to commit to regular
live production and to position ourselves on the television market, where we now
have a creditable offer that is being closely watched by our competitors. If we can
make this promise to our clients and keep it, live production will become an integral
part of our offer and help us to market our video products, both live and recorded.
However, this implies a major effort by the agency. Much more is required than just
setting up a video service there will have to be shifts in all the departments -editorial, technical, commercial, marketing and legal. A lot of people will also have
to learn to do a new type of job, and this will necessarily take time.
24
The YouTube channel dedicated to the agencys live video coverage.
France and Europe
25
AFRICA
AND THE
MIDDLE EAST
24 September 2013
Photo by Carl de Souza on the front
page of the International Herald
Tribune.
26
27
War in Mali: restricted access and logistical

challenges
Covering the conflict in Mali, where France
intervened against the Jihadists controlling
the north of the country, was a journalistic
and logistical challenge for AFPs teams.
Reporting on this imageless war, waged
far from the media by French special forces,
was not simple. Moving around within this
immensely hostile environment was just
as complicated. The biggest challenge
was transport, getting around safely in
this enormous country, where danger was
everywhere, said global editor-in-chief Phil
Chetwynd who oversaw the coverage of the
Serval military operation launched in early
2013. It wasnt easy to work with the French
army, and even less easy to work with the
Malian armed forces. We had to organise
independent travel, with everything that
implies. We had to find decent vehicles and
dependable drivers, we had to figure out the
best routes, which often meant improvisation,
like when one of our teams went up the Niger
river in a canoe.
Between the capital Bamako where AFP
established its base camp and the cities of
Gao and Timbuktu hundreds of kilometres
further north, ambushes were frequent,
as were roadblocks by the Malian army.
Mechanical troubles were another problem:
It took days to cross Mali and our journalists
sometimes broke down in the middle of the
desert, a dangerous situation in a country at
war. He continued: In these circumstances,
working in teams of three, which is not
always easy editorially, turned out to be
a very positive thing from a safety and logistics
point of view. It must also be remembered
that in an asymmetric warfare situation like
that in Mali, journalists can become targets
a tragic example being the two Radio France
International journalists murdered near Kidal.
Although AFP had up to a dozen journalists
operating on the ground at any given moment
28
-- many more than the competition had -the great difficulty was getting near the front.
We could easily get pictures of French
soldiers patrolling, but not of fighting,
which was very frustrating. In a way we
were prisoners of the official sources,
said the editor-in-chief. When the hostilities
reached the extreme north of the country,
several AFP journalists were embedded with
the French army, who were stalking an unseen
enemy in the Adrar des Ifoghas. Information
about the fighting nevertheless remained
tightly controlled, so that, as Phil Chetwynd
summarised, this was really a complicated
war to cover.
Read
the blog
Discover first-hand accounts of the work of AFP journalists on afp.com
29
Correspondent Quentin Leboucher in Syria.

AFP
Syria: ever-present danger

AFPs coverage of the conflict in Syria can be
divided into two periods: before July 2013
and after July 2013 when it became
practically impossible to report on the
situation in the north of the country, a war
zone dominated by rebel groups and Jihadists.
This conflict was always a dangerous one for
journalists, with the air raids carried out by
the Damascus regime, threats of kidnapping
by criminal factions, Islamist attacks and the
weakness of the rebel structures. It was a
difficult combination from the beginning,
said AFP global editor-in-chief Phil Chetwynd.
But today things are even worse.
In early 2012 AFP set up a logistics base in
Antakya across the border in Turkey so it
could continue to cover the north of Syria.
We worked from there for nearly a year,
using multimedia teams who came and went.
We created a network of drivers, fixers and
contacts among the rebel groups. Then,
in November, James Foley, one of our video
journalists, disappeared. To this day we have
had no news of him. With kidnapping an
ever-increasing threat and the rise in attacks
30
in the world, said Phil Chetwynd. Three

AFP journalists were recognised for their
work in Syria at the 20th Bayeux-Calvedos
War Correspondents Awards in October:
AFP staff correspondent Djilali Belad and
stringer photographers Javier Manzano and
Fabio Bucciarelli. Bucciarelli also received a
Robert Capa award and a World Press 2013
award for a series of 12 photographs taken in
Aleppo.
Reporting this war with little physical access
is the mission facing AFP today. It does this
by interviewing refugees who have fled the
north of the country and by monitoring blogs
and social networks from Beirut. According
to the latest classification by Reporters
Without Borders, Syria is now the most
dangerous country in the world for journalists.
Phil Chetwynd concluded: We feel its our
duty to try to get into Syria or at least describe
whats happening.
on personnel, AFP closed its temporary

bureau in July 2013.
We stopped sending teams. We have
continued to work with recognised
professionals who are well-established on
the ground, enforcing very strict rules to
avoid unnecessary risks to them, said Phil
Chetwynd.
With Syria plunged into chaos, AFP continues
to provide coverage thanks to its Syrian
correspondents around Aleppo. Unlike its
competitors, AFP still maintains a bureau in
Damascus. Our journalists there have very
little room for manoeuvre but their work
brings a great deal of value to our copy,
he said. We were also able to go to Homs
with some close contacts of the Assad
regime we had access to from Beirut.
These contacts helped us get an interview
with Assad in January a world exclusive,
he added. More than 50 AFP journalists
have been sent to northern Syria since
the beginning of the conflict in March
2011 -- more than any other media group
Read
the blog
31
Hostile environment training a top priority

for AFP
With conditions for journalists in the field
becoming increasingly dangerous, AFP has
placed safety at the top of its list of priorities
and invests in equipment and staff training.
Ensuring optimum safety for staff on the
ground involves every one of the agencys
departments.
Our team works with everyone in the
company, emphasised Emmanuel Srot,
a senior journalist at AFPs Paris headquarters
specifically responsible for safety. Safety is
everyones concern, from the journalist on
the ground to the editor-in-chief who sends
him out.
Every year, around a hundred journalists
attend custom-designed training courses.
Courses on safety in sensitive areas are taught
by the French army at Collioure in southern
France. A larger number of more specifically
targeted training courses are provided by
the Gendarmerie Nationales intervention
unit (GIGN). With the GIGN, journalists are
placed in the kinds of situations that could
actually happen: being arrested, passing
checkpoints or, the worst possible scenario,
being kidnapped any situation where
their physical or psychological integrity is in
danger, explained Emmanuel Srot, adding
that these training courses are aimed at all
journalists working on the ground, regardless
of their nationality, working language or type
of working relationship with AFP. In addition
to practical activities there are lectures
on managing stress, developing the right
reflexes and understanding the psychology
of attackers. The goal is for every journalist
likely to be working in a dangerous situation
to have undergone this kind of training.
AFP also works with the Gendarmerie
Nationale in training journalists to stay safe
in potentially violent situations such as
demonstrations whether in Cairos Tahrir
Square, in Athens, in Kiev or in Notre-Dame
des Landes.
32
Some 20 participants attend each session,

conducted at the Saint-Astier Training Centre
in Frances Dordogne region. Journalists
learn to work in the midst of a potentially
violent crowd, how to deal with the presence
of tear gas, how to make sure they always
have an escape route.
The agency also provides training in secure
transmissions, first aid courses for all staff
and even courses in self-defence.
Different regions conduct their own
specific programmes, with Asia using one
very experienced security expert to train
journalists from around the region.
Journalists in Latin America attend courses
focusing on the risks inherent to this region,
related to drug trafficking and armed crime.
Specific training is also provided for local staff
in the Middle East. In order to ensure that staff
are as well protected as possible, AFP has
completely overhauled the basic equipment,
replacing the traditional bulletproof vest with
a new type of vest designed specifically for
the needs of journalists. Journalists on the
ground also have lightweight anti-riot gear.
This investment in equipment goes hand-inhand with logistical procedures ensuring that
needs are anticipated and stocks distributed
throughout the world in readiness for a crisis.
A new tool for exchanging information between
senior editors should make it possible to
better capitalise on our experience in the
area of safety, said Emmanuel Srot.
AFP journalists undergo hostile environment training.

AFP / thomas coex
33
25 January 2013 Alexandria, Egypt Protestors throw stones at security forces during demonstrations
marking the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. AFP
7 October 2013 - Cairo, Egypt The Egyptian army has played a dominant role in the countrys politics since
the forced abdication of King Farouk in 1952 (Videographic, extract). AFP / S. Koguc / O. Devos
Egypt: reporting on political chaos

in a dangerous environment
2013 saw the removal of Mohamed Morsi,
the military takeover of the country and
the brutal crackdown against the Muslim
Brotherhood. These events took place in
a climate of violence and hostility towards
the western press, witnessed every day by
staff at AFPs Cairo bureau.
The height of the repression was August 14,
remembered bureau chief Emmanuel Giroud,
who took up his post a few days before the
bloody dispersal of thousands of pro-Morsi
demonstrators who had occupied Cairos
Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda Squares for
six weeks. On August 12, as the interim
government was threatening to intervene, we
decided to have our journalist Samer al-Atrush
spend the night at the main encampment
in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.
It turned out to be a good move, as the attack
came at dawn on the 14th. Samer was the only
journalist from a western media organization
there at the start of the attack on Rabaa Square,
34
which very quickly became almost

inaccessible under the incessant crossfire
with police and soldiers.
AFP was thus able to follow the intervention
from inside the square, witnessing the
violence of the operation, gathering
exclusive witness statements and counting
the tens, then hundreds of deaths. Unlike
the rest of the western press, from the first
hours of the attack we had an eye witness,
we were the only ones able to provide
a verified account hours before other
journalists finally managed to penetrate the
square, said Emmanuel Giroud. He praised
the courage of the journalist who soon after
was named as his deputy.
The army had decreed a 7:00 pm curfew.
No one was able to go home, so our
journalists and the reinforcements sent by
the Nicosia regional headquarters stayed at
a hotel near the office for almost a month
until the measure was relaxed. The situation
offered some advantages: It enabled me to

organise coverage more quickly, to rotate
staff and avoid our people being exposed
to gunfire at army checkpoints. Western
media became widely perceived by the
authorities, the police and a large portion
of the population as working for the Muslim
Brotherhood simply because we were
reporting on the extremely bloody repression
of which they were victims.
We very soon had to ban our western
journalists from going to the scene and make
sure our Egyptian reporters removed the AFP
logos from their cameras.
These precautions were considered
indispensable after a team of text and video
journalists were chased by a group of armed
individuals working for the regime.
Coverage also entailed a major logistics
effort. Our drivers always accompanied
our multimedia teams to carry their safety
equipment and to cover their backs in case
they had to withdraw, explained the bureau

chief. We also needed our technician and
three writers French, English and Arabic
language as back-up, with another Arabic
speaking journalist monitoring the media and
social networks.
AFP provided exceptional coverage of the
events in Cairo and several other major cities
in Egypt, setting a record for the number of
video productions used by clients: 110 AFP
videos were broadcast by over 40 television
stations around the world. This is where
AFPs strength lies, said Emmanuel Giroud.
When we can no longer send our journalists,
we can count on a network of local stringers
working under our editorial authority and
who are able to blend in with the crowd.
35
23 September 2013 - Nairobi AFP journalist Nichole Sobecki (right) with a Kenyan police officer at
Westgate Mall (photo : Tyler Hicks).
Nairobi a hostage taking covered from all

angles
Saturday, 21 September, 2013 will be
remembered as the day one of the worst
terrorist attacks in Africas history began.
From the time the story broke, around noon
in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, AFP provided
comprehensive video, text, photo and
social network coverage of events as they
unfolded.
Around 12:00 noon, a commando of Somali
Shebab Islamists entered the Westgate Mall
in downtown Nairobi. The attackers threw
grenades and fired on shop employees
and crowds of Kenyans and expatriates
doing their weekend shopping. After killing
and wounding several dozen people,
they penetrated further into the building.
There followed a long series of assaults by
police intent on dislodging them.
It was a very quiet day, recalled Nairobi
bureau chief Stefan Smith. Suddenly we
had to call everyone back, to make sure
36
the photographers were where they should

be, that we had a writer in front of the mall
round the clock.
Within a few hours, all our resources were
mobilised because we had no way of knowing
when it would end, explained Smith,who as
a reporter in South Asia had covered the
2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. You have to
check everything, you cant let yourself get
carried away by rumours, he emphasised,
recalling that initial reports were of a holdup gone wrong.
By chance, AFP-TV journalist Nichole
Sobecki was near the Westgate Mall when
the attackers started to take hostages.
For the next four days, the world held its
breath.
Hearing that something serious was going on,
she phoned her bureau chief and immediately
went to the scene with her equipment,
a bullet-proof vest and a Kevlar helmet.
Nichole Sobecki is one of the few journalists

who managed to get into the complex when
the crisis began. The images she captured
quickly went round the world. When I got
there the place was in panic, she said.
Dozens of people were fleeing desperately,
holding on to each others hands, in tears.
Those who were untouched helped carry the
wounded.
With her husband, New York Times
photographer Tyler Hicks, who had also
entered Westgate Mall in the midst of the
chaos, Nichole Sobecki made her way to
the third floor before the labyrinth of shops
and restaurants was closed off by the police.
What she saw from her third floor vantage
point resembled a war scene.
The floor was strewn with dead bodies.
On the first floor a woman was cowering
behind the counter of a caf. She was
waiting for someone to come and rescue
her, clutching her two young children,
said the AFP video journalist. She described
the atmosphere as unreal, with the crackle
of automatic weapons audible over the pop
songs playing on the sound system.
The police manned the paths to the
emergency exits and evacuated the terrified
survivors. In a sushi restaurant, a young waiter
and two other men escaped the massacre
by hiding in an air vent, recalled Nichole
Sobecki, who remained in the besieged
shopping mall for about three hours.
As she neared the area where the attackers
and their hostages were, she saw a pile
of corpses close to the main entrance.
The killers had put them there to try to block
the access to the complex, she said, adding
that she had had to force herself to keep a
clear head.
I was in contact with her and I knew I could
trust her. She has experience of hostile
situations and she knows how to weigh the
risks, said Stefan Smith. He added that
journalists safety is paramount, even if we
also need to get the story out.
Outside the mall, conflicting statements from
various sources created much confusion.
Each time the authorities issued a

communiqu, the Shebab Islamists responded
on Twitter. We had to be very careful about
what to believe, said Stefan Smith. Besides
the verified accounts from the Red Cross, the
interior ministry, the police and the Shebab
spokesman, there was a lot of nonsense.
In response to the Somali Islamists Twitter
campaign, the Kenyan security forces also
used social networks to disseminate or relay
information further complicating the task of
the AFP teams in charge of monitoring and
processing online information.
There remains the lasting record of AFPs nonstop coverage of the 80-hour hostage crisis:
Nichole Sobeckis dramatic video footage,
images of terrified survivors and the Kenyan
security forces, as well as the dispatches and
graphics that chronicled the unfolding horror.
Watch
the
interview
37
Mandela: an exceptional coverage for

a global icon
24 June 1996 Mzinga, South Africa South African President and African National Congress (ANC)
leader Nelson Mandela explains to his supporters at a rally for the local elections on 26 June that the
cap he is wearing says AFP (Agence France-Presse) and not IFP (Inkhata Freedom Party) the ANCs
bitter political rival. AFP/ Philip Littleton
38
When Nelson Mandela passed away in

Johannesburg on 5 December, 2013, the news
had been long expected. As soon as the
announcement came, AFP set in motion
a meticulously prepared coverage plan drawn
up to meet the huge global interest generated
by the passing of the hero of the anti-apartheid
movement.
The 10 days from Madibas death to the
funeral in the village where he was born were
a succession of tributes and ceremonies,
as the late presidents body lay in state and
was then taken to its final resting place.
AFP dispatched 22 special envoys from
12 countries to reinforce the Johannesburg
bureaus 10 staff journalists. The story was
a year in the waiting, explained Phil Chetwynd,
global editor-in-chief. Everything was ready,
we were fully mobilised to cover the story,
from the tribute in Soweto to the funeral.
The night Mandela died, we sent 10,000 words
out on the wire and transmitted 150 photos
and 50 videos.
This was the furthest the video departments
new satellite transmission system had ever
been dispatched. For this event our plan was
to use our most advanced resources, which
meant our SNG (Satellite News Gathering)
equipment, said Marie-Nolle Valls, head
of AFP-TV. The night of Mandelas death we
set this plan in motion, and four days later
the equipment was there and operational.
The equipment in AFPs Paris-based mobile
unit was dismantled, shipped to South Africa
and then reassembled in a vehicle we rented
there. She qualified the video coverage
that followed as a piece of bravura
the longest sequence of 2013, with 10 live
transmissions totalling 20 hours between 10
December and 15 December, in addition to
the pre-recorded videos produced by AFP-TV.
The live sequence we did on the day of the
funeral in addition to the ceremony itself was
very tricky. Our video reporter, working in the
midst of a crowd, had to decide where to go,

what to shoot, determine at what point to
approach people, which people to zoom in on
-- he was constantly having to make decisions.
Roberto Schmidt, one of the photographers
covering the official tribute at Sowetos Soccer
City Stadium where hundreds of heads of state
and government were among those gathered,
got the right shot at the right time when he
captured Barack Obama, David Cameron and
Helle Thorning Schmidt in the grandstands
taking a selfie. The Danish prime minister,
with the British prime minister and the U.S.
president on either side of her, held the mobile
phone with Obamas assistance. Michelle
Obama remained at a distance, concentrating
on the ceremony. The speed with which
this AFP exclusive picture went round the
world and the impact it made astonished
everyone, including the man who took it.
My colleagues and I had come from all over the
world to cover the farewell to Nelson Mandela.
We moved about 500 photos that day ()
and this seemingly trivial image seems to
have eclipsed much of this collective work,
said
Roberto
Schmidt
on
AFPs
Correspondent blog.
10 December 2013 - Soweto, South Africa

Nelson Mandela memorial service.
AFP / Roberto Schmidt
39
ASIA-PACIFIC
18 November 2013 Tolosa, Philippines

Survivors of typhoon Haiyan during a
religious procession in Tolosa on the
Philippine island of Leyte.
AFP / PHILIPPE LOPEZ
40
41
11 November 2013 - Tacloban, Philippines Survivors living next to a ship washed up on the shore after
the passage of typhoon Haiyan. AFP / NOEL CELIS
AFP teams bring the horror of typhoon Haiyan

to the world
My mission to Tacloban lasted only six days,
but in terms of life lessons I feel like I got
15 years worth. This was how Agns Bun,
AFP video journalist based in Hong Kong,
summed up her experience of covering the
aftermath of the deadliest typhoon ever
recorded in the Philippines. On November 9,
the day after Haiyan hit, an AFP team arrived
in the devastated city of Tacloban after
managing to board one of the first Philippine
military flights to the stricken region.
Twenty-four hours ahead of the competition,
AFPs journalists landed in an apocalyptic
scene.
The destruction was so great that there were
no more infrastructures, no communication,
no roads, no air or sea access, remembers
Asia-Pacific editor Marc Lavine. Our
journalists found themselves in a kind of hell:
42
While overseeing reporting on the ground,

Marc Lavine organised staff rotations,
arranged shipments of equipment and food
and did everything possible to ensure the
journalists safety. Logistically it was the
most challenging experience of my career,
he admitted. As soon as we learned how
great the damage was, we sent the journalists
who had already been pre-positioned in
Manila to Cebu. They arrived in Tacloban by
military aircraft, which was the only way to
get there. Other AFP reporters arrived later
on a ferry carrying generators and food. The
coverage of this story was rich from a human
and professional perspective, as well as
visually. Our content got used a lot, thanks to
the exceptional production of all of the
members of our teams, explained Marc
Lavine. We had video journalists on site,
and the writers and photographers also did
web clips. That way we were able to provide
material for websites before the edited videos
were ready for transmission.
The success of this coverage, achieved in
extreme conditions, owes much to advance
preparation. Its the result of being well
established locally. Our Manila bureau had
succeeded in making very high quality

contacts, in particular with the army, and
because of this we were able to get our
journalists there very quickly, said Phil
Chetwynd, AFPs global editor-in-chief.
The relationships we developed locally were
a help to us, he continued. For example one
of our photographers in Manila was from the
Tacloban region and knew the chief of police,
and this made certain things considerably
easier for us.
Those six days in Tacloban taught me a lot
about my profession, about the pragmatism
you need when covering this kind of tragedy,
and I also learned a lot about human nature,
said Agns Bun in a post on AFPs
Correspondent blog.
A picture taken by Philippe Lopez of a religious
procession of women against the backdrop
of a devastated landscape was selected by
Time Magazine as one of the 10 emblematic
photographs of 2013.
28/11/2013
Photo by Nol Celis on the
front page of Time
no electricity for their computers, no mobile

phone coverage, not to mention any water
or food amidst people left battered and
totally helpless. A generator housed in
a ruined shanty near the airport, turned into
a makeshift command post by the Philippine
army, provided the reporters with electricity
to transmit the photos and videos that would
give the world some idea of the scale of the
disaster and the fate of the victims of the most
violent typhoon in history.
Everyday production was an enormous job
and living conditions were very difficult.
Our first team to arrive faced the same
conditions as the local people, sleeping on
the muddy ground, added Marc Lavine.
Over the course of these intense days,
technical problems had to be dealt with
before any stories could be written.
Asia-Pacific
Read
the blog
Asia-Pacific
43
2 August 2013 - Jirania, India Two images taken three months apart of Roona Begum, who suffers from
hydrocephalus and was treated at a hospital in the New Delhi suburbs. AFP / ARINDAM DEY
Baby Roona Begum: a shock AFP image

triggers outpouring of support
The story of two-year-old Roona Begum,
whose head had been swollen by
hydrocephalus to nearly twice its normal
size, aroused worldwide sympathy and led
to a vast fundraising campaign to finance
surgery for her. What many people do not
know is that the campaign to help Roona,
who lives in the remote northeastern state
of Tripura, was inspired by the publication
of photographs taken of the little girl in early
April by AFP photographer Arindam Dey. The
photos taken by our stringer were published
all over the world, and their emotional impact
was such that we were immediately flooded
with requests from people wanting to know
where to send donations, said Marc Lavine,
Asia-Pacific editor. Our multimedia coverage
of this story started from the day we received
the pictures and so did the movement of
solidarity.
Roona underwent two operations in May and
June to drain the accumulated cerebrospinal
fluid. In November surgery was again
performed in a hospital near New Delhi,
this time to remove part of the bone from
her skull and then rebuild it. The series of
operations reduced the circumference of her
skull by half from 94 cm to 58 cm.
44
The pictures were taken with her familys

consent, added Marc Lavine. This story was
so exceptional from a human perspective that
we knew we had to publish the photos and
write a story about this little girls ordeal.
The coverage generated a huge emotional
response from those who read it in the press
or online and inspired a fundraising campaign
to pay for the surgery.
It made it possible for her to have the
surgery, which her very poor parents would
not have been able to afford, said the HongKong based Asia editor.
Asia-Pacific
Read
the blog
Discover first-hand accounts of the work of AFP journalists on afp.com
Asia-Pacific
45
Bangladesh factory disaster: AFP Dacca bureau

leads the coverage
The death of 1,135 people in the 24 April
collapse of Rana Plaza, a complex in Daccas
Savar district housing five garment factories,
turned the world spotlight on Bangladesh.
Reporting the tragedy posed numerous
challenges to international media, and the
value of AFPs worldwide network was again
clear. AFPs Dacca bureau is manned by
two writers and one photographer. When an
event like this happens, the usual reaction
is to immediately send reinforcements to
back up the local team. This time, however,
it proved impossible to obtain visas for
specials and the bureau had to rely on its
own resources to produce multimedia
reports on the events.
It was a small team, but with a high degree
of expertise on the ground and very good
contacts, said Marc Lavine, Asia-Pacific
editor. They knew the story and the people
so well that it gave us a major advantage
over some of our competitors who either
werent there or were not able to do this kind
of in-depth coverage. From the collapse of
the building to the political and economic
consequences, to the rescue operations and
the workers demonstrations, AFPs small
team provided round the clock coverage of
this multidimensional story, including what
Marc Lavine qualified as exemplary video
production.
It was a considerable job for a team like
that, especially as the sequence of events
lasted weeks. But all of our content was used
a great deal, he said. Many international
media used AFP copy, including the New
York Times, the Guardian, the Wall Street
Journal, the Times, the BBC and the Daily
Telegraph.
This performance justifies AFPs policy
of maintaining bureaux throughout Asia.
The Dacca bureau is not always a major
news centre, but an event like this shows
46
25 April 2013 Dacca Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a garment factory complex whose
collapse left 1,135 dead.
AFP / Munir uz Zaman
why its important for the agency to keep

roots in Bangladesh, especially given that
it was impossible to bring reinforcements
in, he said. This view was shared by
another Asia expert, AFPs global editor-in-
Asia-Pacific
chief Phil Chetwynd who was Marc Lavines

predecessor in Hong Kong: Maintaining local
staff is a key to our good coverage.
Asia-Pacific
47
LATIN
AMERICA
9 April 2013 Catia La Mar, Venezuela

Venezuelan interim president Nicolas
Maduro holds up a portrait of late
president Hugo Chavez at an electoral
rally in the run-up to the presidential
elections.
AFP / Luis Acosta
48
49
AFP production is now shown in Rio buses and beach bars.
Brazil: Latin Americas biggest market a priority

target for AFP
The worlds eyes are on Brazil -- a country
that generates a lot of news and is the host of
the 2014 FIFA World Cup. As Latin Americas
largest media market, Brazil has been
designated a commercial priority by AFP, with
very promising results.
Our Brazil plan is aimed at developing our
sales on this market with our text, video and
infographics services in Portuguese, as well as
photos and on-demand services, explained
Juliette Hollier-Larousse, AFPs regional
director for Latin America. In 2013 we
continued to enjoy growth on the major visual
platforms as well as on text. We also began
translating the Relaxnews wire the worlds
first leisure news wire launched by AFP with
Relaxnews in 2010 into Portuguese. We
expect to see the first results of this in 2014.
50
in the Sao Paulo metro, in the major airports

of the country, which is excellent with the
World Cup coming up, in some buses and
even in bars on Rios Copacabana Beach,
said Juliette Hollier- Larousse.
Another innovative operation is AFPs
partnership with the Brazilian publishing
company Gol to provide educational content to
a digital university library for use by students.
Its a project that could be reproduced
elsewhere, in other languages, she remarked.
In 2014, Brazil remains a territory to be
conquered for AFP. In addition to covering the
football World Cup, the biggest event of the
year to which the agency is sending no fewer
than 140 journalists, AFP has set itself the
objective of entering the video archives market
-- while at the same time pursuing its offensive
to expand its base of website clients and
increasing its individual photo sales business
with the help of a new, ultra-rapid distribution
system. On-demand services are another
growth sector. We are approaching Brazilian
companies and offering them the products
of AFP-Services, a subsidiary providing
on-demand production services. For us this
is a specific business in a rapidly growing
market, said Juliette Hollier-Larousse.
Brazil accounts for 31% of our Latin

American sales, with video representing
nearly 10% of this overall figure the strategic
level defined by the agency, she continued.
Seven contracts were signed with Brazilian
television stations, out of a total of 17 with
broadcasters across Latin America as a
whole.
As videos rise continues in the land of
samba, multimedia production is already
solidly established. Of our 51 web clients
across Latin America, 10 are in Brazil. These
are also our biggest contracts, and include
Terra, Globo, Yahoo, UOL and MSN.
Several other contracts help to promote
AFPs visual content. We are now visible on
a large number of public screens in Brazil:
Latin America
Latin America
51
Front pages featuring AFP content on Hugo Chavez, who died in Caracas, Venezuela on 5 March 2013.
Extract from AFP slide presentation published by the New York Times, retracing Hugo Chavezs career.
The death of Hugo Chavez marks the end of an

era for the Caracas bureau
The death of Hugo Chavez, after a two-year
battle with cancer and 14 years of autocratic
rule, plunged Venezuela into a new period
of uncertainty. For AFPs Caracas bureau,
Chavezs death also marked the end of
a period characterised by the omnipresence
of the Bolivarian leader.
Our job was Chavez, summed up Beatriz
Lecumberri, bureau chief from 2007 to 2011,
the height of the Chavez era. It was the only
topic that interested the international or the
Venezuelan press. AFP was heavily used by
the Venezuelan newspapers, which had very
limited access to the president.
He was a president who talked all the time:
six or seven hours a day, ten when he was
inspired. And, she pointed out, Ten hours
is a long time, the length of a flight from
Caracas to Paris listening to him, unable
to guess what he was going to say. At one
point we were working crazy hours to keep
52
up with him. Chavez might start talking as

the bureau was shutting down. He also did
a television programme every Sunday called
Al Presidente which was like his private
platform. We were stuck all day, it was
exhausting, said the Spanish journalist.
In addition to covering the presidents
speeches, one of the main jobs of the four
journalists and the bureau chief was to
establish contacts. This meant spending
hours at pointless press conferences or
at the presidential palace where we might
bump into councillors or ministers, she said.
It was necessary to build this anonymous
network, indispensable for predicting the
Chavez news. In order to provide some
escape from this routine, Beatriz Lecumberri
established an informal rule: Once a week,
we would do a story in which the word Chavez
was not used once. It was a challenge.
Latin America
Even though it was expected, the

Comandantes death left Venezuela in
disbelief. The country wasnt ready, nor were
the journalists. There was a news vacuum, we
didnt know what to talk about, observed the
former bureau chief who was sent back to
Caracas as a reinforcement for the funeral.
AFP provided multimedia coverage of the
Venezuelan leaders funeral, attended by
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko.
This coverage included three hours of live
video broadcast and live multimedia web
feed. Beatriz Lecumberri was the first foreign
journalist to be granted an interview by
interim president and presidential candidate
Nicolas Maduro. This interview was a reward
for our work and our independence, she
commented. Even though I knew Maduro,
when I left Paris I wasnt at all sure Id be able
to talk to him. But it happened.
Latin America
Read
the blog
53
NORTH
AMERICA
23 May 2013 - Moore, Oklahoma, USA

A bolt of lightning flashes above a suburb of
Oklahoma city as residents search for their
belongings after a tornado which killed 24
people and destroyed 2,400 homes.
AFP / Jewel Samad
54
55
Lance Armstrong and the doping conspiracy
The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published damning allegations against Armstrong last week
that outline the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport
has ever seen, according to chief executive Travis T.Tygart
Drugs
Linked to allegations against

Armstrong and the US Postal
Service Pro Cycling Team
Testosterone
Promotes protein synthesis,
muscle growth
EPO
Erythropoietin,
hormone stimulates
production of red blood
cells to increase oxygen
carried to muscles
Blood transfusion
Increases red
blood cells
Cover-up
A sophisticated
system to evade
detection
Cortisone
Affects metabolism,
lessens pain,
reduces tiredness
Enforcement
Of a doping culture
Distribution
Of EPO syringes
Supply
Of testosterone
patches to
teammates
Threats
To a rider who spoke
out: I have a lot
of time and money and
I can destroy you
spoken to 2004 Tour
rider Filippo Simeoni
Surveillance
Of testing teams
8 June 2003 Villars-de-Lans, France American cyclist Lance Armstrong talks to journalists before the
start of the Critrium du Dauphin Libr. AFP / Franck Fife
Pressure
On teammates to follow
the doping plan
Lance Armstrong
Seven times
winner of
Tour de France
1999-2005
Avoidance
Of tests and testers
We hid: Tyler
Hamilton, USPS
team member
Saline drips
Before drug tests
to lower red blood
cell ratios
Human growth hormone

Acts on cellular metabolism,
skeletal growth, enhances
power of steroids
False
prescription
Cortisone
cream to treat
a saddle sore
Limiting
EPO use
to tiny traces,
boosted by
altitude tents
Make-up
Covered injection
bruises on arm
Source: USADA/WADA/FIFA
Armstrong: the confession heard round

the world
Lance Armstrong is not just a sports story,
but a complex affair that also embodies
a legal aspect, a business aspect and
a celebrity aspect. The story came back into
sharp media focus in early 2013, when the
fallen winner of seven Tour de France races
made his televised confession. The most
eagerly awaited interview of the year was
covered by AFPs Washington headquarters
and Los Angeles bureau, with support from
the agencys worldwide network.
It was an important moment for the world
of sport and therefore for AFP, said David
Millikin, the agencys North America regional
director. Cycling is one of our strongest
areas, in particular thanks to our coverage of
56
the Tour de France, so we were naturally very

much on top of this story.
Armstrongs sports icon status, together
with the doping aspect and the fact that
the interview was conducted by TV mega
personality Oprah Winfrey, meant that
the story had as much impact locally as
worldwide. There was everything to make
this a story of great interest for Americans,
said David Millikin.
We had the strength of our sports coverage
and our network, and at the same time it was
just the kind of story the United States media
loves. So it was a good subject for us, he said.
The setting for the interview was an unadorned
hotel room in Austin, where Armstrong lives.
North America
Armstrong acknowledged having used

performance-enhancing substances -- EPO,
testosterone and blood transfusions -throughout his career. When asked why, he said,
in front of the Oprah Winfrey Network cameras,
that it was his ruthless desire to win.
Armstrongs confession kept us busy for two
nights, as the programme was broadcast in two
parts, recalled Chris Lefkow, North America
editor. We sent out lots of alerts on doping, lots
of fact pieces. The multimedia service even did
a live report, which is very rare for an interview,
but this was worthy of a live report.
Then there was the flood of reactions from
the cycling world. Many of these reactions
were from Europe, so many of AFPs bureaux
were involved in the coverage, as were our

sports correspondents, he added. There were
a great many backgrounders and fact boxes
about doping methods, the products used, and
the legal and financial consequences of his
admission.
AFPs text and video coverage of Armstrongs
confession again demonstrated the agencys
responsiveness and its priority focus on sport,
in all its forms and in all its dimensions.
North America
Read
the
blog
57
NSA scandal: on the trail of Edward Snowden

Of the people who dominated the news
in 2013, Edward Snowden occupies
a distinctive place. In addition to the
news created by his revelations of the
United States governments surveillance
programme, the computer technicians flight
turned into a soap opera that kept a number
of AFP bureaux busy.
Everything started with Snowdens
revelations to Glenn Greenwald, an American
journalist working for the Guardian who is
still the person who knows the most about
this large scale surveillance scandal,
said Chris Lefkow, AFPs editor-in-chief for
North America.
Snowden, a former CIA employee and
National Security Agency sub-contractor,
told the Guardian that Washington had
access to data of the Verizon telephone
network and users of Internet services
provided by Microsoft, Google, Facebook
and Yahoo. These leaks gave the world
an idea of the NSAs surveillance operations
and those of its counterparts in the UK,
France, Sweden, the Netherlands and
Germany.
We started by working with the information
published by the Guardian and the
Washington Post. Then the story moved to
Hong Kong when Snowden sought refuge
there in May. Thats where he was first
interviewed by Greenwald. Our local bureau
tried to approach Snowden but he would
only communicate through Greenwald,
so we got an interview with Greenwald,
said Chris Lefkow.
The interview with Greenwald took place in
Brazil, where the American journalist lives.
In the July meeting, Greenwald told Javier
Tovar of AFPs Rio de Janeiro bureau that
Snowden had no regrets, adding that many
more articles on the NSAs activities would
be published.
58
24 June 2013 Moscow Edward Snowdens empty seat on the Moscow/Havana flight that took off
without him after he sought asylum in Russia. AFP / Kirill Kudryavtsev
Our Moscow bureau took over after

Snowden sought asylum in Russia,
he continued. But we also had to cover
the reactions from the leaders of U.S.
allies like Germany and France, whose
communications were spied on by the NSA.
It became a world story involving all of
our major bureaux, he said, adding that
journalists in the Washington headquarters
managed to contact some of the authorities
North America
at NSA, who usually arent very talkative,

and examined the story from various angles
including the consequences on peoples
private lives and the scandals political cost
for President Barack Obama.
More than 10 journalists in the Washington
bureau alone followed the story as it
unfolded from day to day: correspondents
assigned to the White House, the Pentagon,
the State Department and Congress, as well
as writers specialised in technology and

economics. The story is far from over,
said Chris Lefkow. Were still on the alert,
as Greenwald promised there would be
many more revelations.
North America
59
AFP further consolidates its partnership

with Getty
In 2013 AFP signed a strategic agreement
with Getty for the agencys text and
multimedia products in the United States.
This agreement reinforces a 10-year-old
contract with Getty for the distribution of
AFP photos, which since 2009 has also
included video.
This new extension of the agreement will
enable us to market our photos more widely
in the United States, along with the text
service. Now Getty can sell the two together,
as well as our English language Online News
and the lifestyle content of AFP-Relaxnews,
said David Millikin, AFPs regional director
for North America.
This makes AFPs text service the first
to be distributed by Getty in America.
The agreement, which went into effect in
November 2013, is non-exclusive, so AFP
can continue to distribute its text content to
its U.S. clients.
60
Its an important agreement because

Getty represents such strong potential
sales given its access to corporations
and its relationships with major brands,
said David Millikin. Now all our
American clients who already subscribe
to our photo service can get our dispatches
too.
By pooling its expertise with Gettys
multi-platform distribution capabilities,
AFP consolidates its relationship with this
preeminent photo agency while at the same
time strengthening its position on the North
American market.
North America
North America
61
innovations
2 February 2012 - Bruyeres-Le Chatel,

France Partial view of the room housing
the Tera-100 supercomputer, the most
powerful in Europe.
AFP / ERIC PIERMONT
62
63
Meeting the technical challenges

facing the media
Caroline RAVETON
Director of Information Systems
What were the Information Systems Departments big

projects in 2013?
Theyre constantly changing, as Information Systems is involved
in all of the agencys major projects. We are always looking for
ways to improve and innovate, to make positive changes for
those working in AFPs various departments. 2013 was the year that Iris, our new
production platform, came into use by our text and multimedia journalists all over
the world. This system enables all of our journalists to produce, share and validate
all of the agencys feeds in real time.
In 2013 we also acquired equipment enabling us to produce live video coverage
of events and offer this new product to our clients. Guaranteeing the technical
aspect of this new type of production involved the deployment of equipment,
developments, people and expertise. At the same time we increased our satellite
distribution capacities and upgraded the servers installed at our clients facilities.
Client service is at the heart of the agencys concerns. What is the role of the
Information Systems Department in this?
Mobility is at the heart of our thinking and of our plans: the deployment of the
projects initiated in 2013 will be accelerated in the coming year. We are also actively
working on new challenges for the distribution and analysis of our information.
Our clients are evolving, and we have to keep up with them, offering them new
ways of accessing our wires and our production. We already have a number of APIs
that facilitate data integration and sharing: this is a decisive step towards other
types of client relations. There is a great deal at stake and we are now turning all
of our attention towards these new usages. Our production is present everywhere;
our text, our photos, our videos are used on numerous portals and mobile
applications. Analysing, tracing and verifying multiple utilisations of these contents
is also a major challenge. Knowing our clients and their needs and serving them
better will be one of the goals for us on the technical side.
64
Innovations
A reorganisation of the Information Systems department has been

initiated. What are the objectives of this reorganisation and what will the
next stages be?
In order to meet all of the challenges facing us, we now need to re-examine our
organisation and the way in which internal and technical processes are managed.
Our clients are demanding and they expect a constantly higher level of service.
The Information Systems department has undertaken a reform in order to bring
the quality and visibility of our service into line with our customers expectations
by setting up a client-oriented organisation and creating a dedicated department.
This department will showcase our technologies and our services and will provide
support for all of our clients.
We are not forgetting our internal users writers, video journalists, photographers
as well as those in the commercial and financial departments, human resources
and communication. A user support department will also be set up to address their
needs, again with the idea of offering a better service by improving our proactivity
and performance. This department, whose services will be especially in demand
for major events and live video coverages, will make the job of reporting easier.
Obviously, the Developments and Technical Infrastructures departments at the
heart of our organisation will be redesigned around our catalogue of services.
What is the outlook for 2014?

2014 already looks to be a very full year, with the coverage of the Sochi Olympics,
the FIFA World Cup and the Tour de France, as well as the Oscars, Cannes and
the municipal elections. The Information Systems department is pulling out all the
stops to ensure that coverage of these events goes well. Every minute theres a new
challenge to be met, and the technical teams and the global news management
are working in close cooperation so that at every event we are ready. The overall
context, the stakes and the challenges are the same for all of the technical teams,
who will be looking to the future and supporting the agency as it evolves.
Innovations
65
Interface of the 4W (Who, What, When, Where) prototype
Medialab AFP: a dedicated Research and

Development unit
From the 4W prototype, an application to
create web pages on the fly, to the creation
of a tool for transcribing speech extracted
from videos, AFPs Medialab is in a constant
quest for technological innovation. Its active
participation in the latest Hackathon in
Berlin last October confirms this.
Its the first time AFP took part in this
technological forum organised by WANIFRA (World Association of Newspapers and
News Publishers) and the experience was
conclusive, said Daniel Oudet, Medialabs
technical manager. We set some 50
developers to work on our issues, which
produced a project for an application for
creating ones own Web magazine from the
agencys multimedia archives.
Before embarking on this experiment, the
Medialab team, co-directed by Daniel Oudet
and editorial director Denis Teyssou, spent
three years working within the EU-funded
project Glocal on Event-Based Retrieval of
Network Media. For this project, Medialab
developed 4W (Who, What, When, Where),
an application for creating multimedia
66
web pages on the fly based on simple

searches around four criteria: the person
or organisation, the event, the time and the
place. The prototype sources multimedia
documents, both recent and archived,
produced by AFP. The webpage thus created
is dynamic, i.e. it is refreshed as soon as a
new document is released. The application
makes it possible to view content in the form
of cartographic mashups in which documents
are placed on a map in accordance with
their content, or in the form of dynamic
timelines (ChronoLines, a project funded by
the French research agency ANR).
We indexed all our multimedia documents
and created an API, which is to say an access
point to our data so that the application
can prompt the user to search and browse
events, explained Daniel Oudet. For our
multimedia developers, the most obvious
targets for this application are websites and
content aggregators who want a product
that can draw traffic and that they can then
monetize with advertising.
Innovations
The AFP4W prototype (along with EarthNews,

which enables users to geolocate AFP
multimedia news in real time on a Nasa 3D
globe) were unveiled to the public in June 2013
during the four day Futur en Seine innovation
exhibition in Paris.
Another prototype developed by Medialab in
2013, in collaboration with PME Vocapia for
the EDyLex project funded by ANR: a tool
for transcribing and synchronising speech
that can extract the sound from a video
and transcribe it almost perfectly into text
and know exactly where its synchronised,
continued the technical director of
the Research and Development unit.
With a search engine, you can look for a
word and the system goes to the place where
this word is spoken, which can be a great help
for journalists.
This technology is not so simple because

it has to analyse voice pitches, take out
background noise and be able to recognise
words that are accented differently, that are
different depending on what other words are
around them, he continued, summarising
the way Medialab works in one sentence
-- shaking up ideas and offering solutions -to journalists and then to clients.
Learn
more
about
Medialab
26-27 October 2013 - Berlin - Daniel Oudet, technical director of Medialab with the developers awarded
prizes at Hackathon. AFP
Innovations
67
Germany: the sports agency SID driven by

video, corporate
AFP Sports launches a new offer

The launch of AFPs new sports offer,
a strategic asset in an area where the agency
excels, was one of the big events of 2013.
Sports production now has its own structure
that is independent both editorially and
financially. It comprises a dedicated sports
wire and interactive applications combining
editorial products, databases and in-depth
statistics, all adaptable to digital platforms.
Marketed under the brand AFP Sports,
this offer is aimed at AFPs media clients as
well as companies and organisations involved
in sport on various levels federations, clubs,
sponsors, brands and event organisers.
We wanted to depart from the traditional
pattern in order to access new clients, who
also need accurate, reliable sports news
thats different from everything you can find
online, said Vincent Amalvy, head of AFPs
sports service.
AFP Sports consists of a French language
sports news wire enriched with coverage of
various thematic subjects (society, business,
adventure). The service sends out 230
dispatches a day on average, covering all major
sports and with a special focus on football,
cycling, rugby, tennis and motor sports.
This service, which also includes a range
of interactive applications, will soon be

available in five languages (French, English,
Spanish, Portuguese and German).
The standard application, developed in
partnership with infoplum (AFPs partner
for the development of HTML applications)
provides live commentary on events,
analyses, photos and a full range of data
on the main sports: fact sheets, statistics,
calendars, infographics and rankings.
The premium application, for which AFP
worked with Amisco, is able to provide more
precise, more in-depth data, in particular for
football.
For us the aim is clearly to become the
number one data provider for second
screens, said commercial and marketing
director Olivier Lombardie. Everyone needs
sports news, even the television channel that
has the broadcast rights and needs coverage
of the build-up and then the post-event
reactions.
.
SPORTS
68
Innovations
21/11/2013,rubrique Crations
SID, a wholly owned subsidiary of AFP, is the

market leader for German language sports
news. It is internationally recognised for its text
and video production as well as for its corporate
activities. A key player on the sector, its clients
include the main German media companies,
the German Football Federation (DFB) and such
major industrial groups as Deutsche Telekom,
Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. In the past
year we were able to successfully pursue the
development of the video business, whose
sales figure almost trebled in four years,
said Yacine Le Forestier, director of SID. In spite
of the difficulties the sector is experiencing,
and one episode of fierce competition, we
gained the loyalty of the main audiovisual
media who have ordered even more content.
In one form or another, all of the television
channels and all of the main Internet sites
are SID clients for video now, he continued,
recalling that editorially, 2013 was a big year
for us, marked by the German domination of the
European Champions League. With its editorial
headquarters in Cologne and four bureaux
in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich,
plus a vast network of stringers, the agency
handles the full range of sports news. At the
Sochi Olympics and above all at the World Cup
which Germany is a favourite to win, we will
again prove the excellence of our production
so that existing and potential clients can judge
for themselves how relevant it is to subscribe
to us, he said.
On the corporate side, SIDs clients include
the DFB website and the German Olympic
Committee, and it distributes video from the
football club Borussia Mnchengladbach.
He added that 2013 had been an important year
in further strengthening relations between SID
and AFP, with the merging of the administrative
and commercial departments in Berlin and
SIDs migration to Iris, the new multimedia
production platform.
69
Interview with:
Olivier LOMBARDIE
Commercial and marketing director
Vincent Amalvy
Head of Sport
What is AFPs objective for this new sports

offer?
What is the role of statistical data compared to the agencys traditional

content?
Olivier Lombardie - We wanted to revisit our

sports offer, make it more complete, more
cohesive, and more modulable for our clients.
Our aim was an exhaustive view of what sport
is in the world, every day of the year. The offer
needs to be consistent so that AFP Sports sales
remain stable, regardless of whether major
events are taking place. But thats only one part
of it: our goal is to become the leading sports
news agency in the world in terms of making
sense of sport, of explaining sport, and for live
sports coverage.
OL - Our partners provide us with an enormous amount of data. But data like
statistics is first of all material for our journalists and it needs to be analysed by
professionals. Sport is an area thats crawling with information, where there are so
many kinds of content. Our editorial contribution can help clients to find their way
through this deluge of data.
What is the added value of this new offer?

Vincent Amalvy - Today we have an offer combining content and technology, a
cohesive set of bricks, or components where you find in addition to raw
information analysis, related stories, statistics, data and social networks.
Clients can choose one brick or another depending on their needs.
70
VA - Pure data is not enough, there has to be editorial content. In addition to the
traditional wire, the editorial department will have the job of taking apart and
analysing data from our partners. We will identify the meaningful data, the data
that can enrich our content.
Have social networks become an additional resource for the sports
department?
VA - Its a fact. Moreover, in 2014 well be launching a Twitter application aimed at
the world football community.
What will the next stages of development be?
OL - Its very rare for one company to have people who are capable of talking just
as competently about cricket in India as they are about baseball in Japan, basketball
in the United States, the Olympics in London or the football World Cup in Brazil.
As the only truly European news agency, we can really play the sports card, and
sports are so much a part of European culture. We are able to offer content for all
platforms in increasingly varied digital environments.
VA - We need to open up to sports other than the traditional disciplines.

We need to take an interest in mass sports, which represent an important economic
sector. We also want to distribute editorialised video images completed with data.
There are territories to be conquered.
Who are your main targets?

OL - We have two main targets. First, media clients who need a second screen,
starting with the television networks, who may or may not have broadcast rights.
We are also targeting non-media playersfederations, sponsors, brands, organisers,
everyone in the sports economy. They all need the kind of verified, certified content
that AFP can provide. Our idea is to create an AFP Sports environment where users
will be able to find what they need without having to leave this environment.
OL - We formed a partnership with Presse Sports, the photography agency of the

LEquipe group, for distributing their photos outside of France. This makes AFP the
largest supplier internationally of French sports photos. We will also be launching
a Chinese language sports news service in the most populated country in the
world, in partnership with Hupu Sports Media. And in addition to our partnerships
with Amisco (the leader in performance analysis and enriched statistical content)
and infoplum (for HTML applications development), we have signed contracts to
supply content to 17 Latin American television channels.
Innovations
Innovations
What major contracts were signed in 2013?
71
26 July 2013 Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Videographic (extract) explaining the accident.
AFP / Stphane Koguc / Fred Garet / Olivier Devos
12 September 2013 Isola del Giglio, Italy - Videographic (extract) on the righting of the Costa Concordia.
AFP / Fred Garet / Olivier Devos
Videographics: fast news in rich 3D

From the destruction of chemical weapons
in Syria to municipal elections in France,
from deep-water fishing to chocolate
manufacturing videographics are synthetic
3D images that make it possible to visualise
the unseen and to quickly gain a thorough
understanding of complex information.
By reconstituting, decoding and informing,
videographics enrich the coverage of news
topics. They take the form of animated visuals
about a minute in length, accompanied by
audio commentary and a separate script.
But creating these videos takes time and
the news happens fast. In general we
concentrate on subjects that are not red hot
breaking news. But we also have the ability
to follow whats happening right now, said
Sophie Huet, head of AFPs infographicsvideographics department.
For example, within twenty-fours of the
train accident in Spain, we produced an
animation.
72
On Wednesday, 24 July, at 8:42 pm local

time, a high speed train from Madrid to
El Ferrol travelling at 179 kilometres per hour
derailed on a curve four kilometres from
Santiago de Compostela. The human cost of
the accident was shocking, with 79 people
dead and 180 injured. It very quickly became
the top international news story. The news
broke in the evening. We started working
on the videographic early the next day, with
the facts that we had, and we finished it
by the end of the day, said Sophie Huet,
praising the collective effort of her team and
the other AFP departments involved.
A very different example of this departments
work is provided by their production on the
righting of the Costa Concordia one of
our big successes of 2013. This time it was
possible to do much of the work in advance.
We had prepared it a year in advance,
but the factual videos were produced on the
actual day.
Innovations
Since its launch two years ago, AFP

videographics has become a very popular
product. They are delivered in video format
that enables them to work on all types of
screens. Were starting to acquire a loyal
customer base, and we dont really have any
competitors who regularly produce newsrelated videographics, said Sophie Huet.
Watch
the video
Innovations
73
Legal risks: awareness and prevention

Until recently, AFPs legal resources were
divided between the general management
office and the commercial department. To
ensure a more cohesive, more effective
service, the two teams were joined together
in 2013 to form a single department that now
handles all of AFPs legal matters.
The agency was aware that it needed an
integrated legal department in order to
improve the efficiency and consistency of
rights management concerning the agencys
journalists, its partners and clients,
explained AFPs legal director Christophe
Walter-Petit. In this way we are developing
synergies and are better able to make the
various operational departments more
conscious of the need for risk prevention.
AFP is exposed to growing legal risks
because of the increased legal complexity
of the business, the enactment of more
and more new laws and regulations and the
development of digital networks which implies
distribution of the agencys text, photo and
video production in an environment where
there is no limit in time and where national
borders are non-existent.
In a company like AFP, which has a
worldwide network and whose main business
is managing the rights related to its content,
it is essential to act as far in advance as
possible and to be involved in in the decision
making process.
We are an international company present
in 150 countries this kind of number is
never seen, even for the largest groups, said
Christophe Walter-Petit.
The new legal departments tasks range
from managing copyrights to contracts with
clients and service providers in addition to
managing AFPs relationship with the French
government and the banks, handling disputes,
tax matters, and making the satellite network
and information systems legally secure.
Internationally, it is responsible for handling
74
AFPs headquarters
AFP / THOMAS COEX
legal, fiscal and employment matters for the

agencys bureaux.
Ive rarely seen such a large spectrum, said
Christophe Walter-Petit, who has been in
charge of the legal departments of several large
companies. Its a fascinating job because its
so varied and crosses so many different areas,
he added. At the time of the terrorist attacks at
the Boston Marathon, AFP got hold of a photo of
suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. We had to crosscheck with Moscow and Nicosia and within
Innovations
an hour I gave the green light to send it out.

We couldnt afford to make a mistake because
two minutes later it was on the major sites.
The new legal department also deals with
often complex contracts with suppliers, such
as the one recently signed with Globecast
for satellite data transmission. This was one
of the biggest contracts of the year and it
required a great deal of time and expertise
from us.
The major preoccupation of 2013 concerned
the growing use of content published on social

networks, which has led to new, sometimes
serious risks. Even though rigorous
procedures already exist, we are going to
intensify legal training of our journalists,
especially regarding image copyright,
said the legal director.
Innovations
75
2014, in particular the editorial updates on or the videos, said Pierre Clrier, formerly
the home page and the creation of a page AFPs technical editor-in-chief.
devoted exclusively to sport, which is one of The agencys new editorial tool, Iris, is now
our strategic priorities.
used on 1,500 workstations across the AFP
Another new service: it is now possible to network. Used for text production at present,
provide the client with all of the metadata its applications are soon to include photo,
related to the production. For a given infographics and video.
subject, we can now deliver dispatches with
a dateline, a geo-localisation and the list of all
the people, organisations andAFP
placesForum,
named
at your service
in the article or that are shown in the photos
Access content quickly and optimize its usage
Germany
10507
All documents
796
Text
Photo
9667
Video
20
Graphic
21
3
Videographic
geo-located search
AFP Forum home page AFPs new download platform
afpforum.com
Introducing
AFP Forum, our new multimedia
platform
AFP Forum, the agencys new download
platform, is now operational. AFP Forum
is a one-stop site for AFP and specialist
partner content of ImageForum (still photos
and infographics), AFP Direct (text) and
VideoForum (video and videographics).
This new platform addresses the needs of
all users: print media, television, websites,
mobile operators, content providers, public
screens, companies and institutions.
More than 6,000 new documents are added
to AFP Forum every day. A dedicated team
76
of editors puts together thematic packages,

retrospectives, anniversary coverages and
best of packages around six themes (news,
economics, sport, celebrities, features and
fashion), using current or archive material.
What we want to offer is the possibility
to editorialise the content offered on
the platform by selecting current topics,
the dominant topics across all the media,
explained Pierre Clrier, deputy global
news director. He predicted that AFP Forum
would go through some changes starting in
Innovations
Result of a search by location
Multimedia navigation
DISCOVER AFPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE ON ONE PLATFORM
AFP Forum brings together the complete text, photo, video, infographic and videographic production of AFP
one platform to facilitate browsing between the different types of content.
ONE ACCESS TO ALL OF AFPS ARCHIVES
Access over 40 million archived documents from the 20th and 21st century through analyses, biographies, n
reports, retrospectives, portraits, historical archives, anniversary packages
Enhanced search engine

USE DYNAMIC FILTERS IN THE SEARCH ENGINE TO FIND EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
Powered by Exalead, AFP Forum lets you filter your results by name, geographic location, category, keywo
partner and language.
Innovations
77
Usain Bolt, Olivier Morin and a flash of

brilliance
Correspondent AFP journalists tell the stories

behind the news
Correspondent is a blog where AFPs
1,500 journalists around the world can give
a unique insight into their work. In the year
since its creation it has become a showcase
for the agency, read by tens of thousands of
people each month.
2013 was when we really took off, when
we reached a monthly average of more
than 55,000 unique visitors and a growth
rate of 10% to 15% from month to month,
said Roland de Courson, who coordinates
the blog, whose French version is called
Making-of.
The success of Correspondent can be
chiefly attributed to the fact that it brings
context to an event or an image. Sometimes
what went on behind the scenes of a photo
or a video says more than what that image
says on its own.
According to Google Analytics traffic
statistics, 50% of Correspondent readers
come to the blog via Twitter and Facebook
buzz, which gives an idea of the amount of
interest generated by the blog whose four
categories are Behind the Image, Eye
witness, Debriefing and Decoding.
The most viewed blog in French in 2013
was Issouf Sanogols account of taking
a photograph of a French soldier in Mali
wearing a deaths head scarf around his face.
The image caused outrage on the internet
and the blog received 70,000 hits.
The absolute record is held by Roberto
Schmidts blog on how he captured the
famous selfie of Barack Obama with the
British and Danish premiers at Nelson
Mandelas memorial service.
It was the first and only time photographer
Roberto Schmidt talked about this image,
and really explained what was happening
in the photo, said Roland de Courson.
The blog was quoted by world media
including Fox and the BBC and has had more
than 400,000 hits.
78
Usain Bolt never merited his name more

than in a memorable image captured as
he won the final of the 100 metres at the
World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
Before the start, AFP photographer and
sports specialist Olivier Morin installed
five remote control cameras to capture
the instant the winner crossed the line,
arms raised and with the stadium in the
background.
Bolt won but at first glance had shown no
emotion. Olivier Morin looked at his images
and saw nothing exceptional, then suddenly
noticed that four showed a lightning bolt
streaking through the dark Moscow night,
and that two of the images were useable.
I knew it was a good shot but I didnt
anticipate the amount of reaction it would
get, he recalled.
In my 25 years as a photographer Ive never
had an uncontrollable external element
make a photo like this, and I imagine if
I tried again for a similar result for the next
50 years it wouldnt happen again.
Bolt himself retweeted the image, which
was hailed by the international media and
became an instant hit on social networks.
For many, it was the sporting image of 2013.
At a rhythm of around five posts a week,

Correspondent reveals the story behind
a news coverage and explains the work of
the news agency journalist.
We are producing something which exists
nowhere else, there was no format before
which allowed us to tell the story behind
a photo, said Roland de Courson.
Text of course is not forgotten.
Correspondent is also a laboratory for
a new form of writing at AFP, he said.
It allows more freedom of style and lots of
creativity.
Thanks to its success online and through
social networks, this blog has become
a showcase for the agency.
It shows the richness of our network and
the depth of our talent. Our sales people use
it to show the quality of AFPs products to
clients around the world.
Innovations
Read
the blog
Discover the stories behind the news on afp.com
79
An extraordinary diversity
Grgoire Lemarchand
Head of social networks
Did AFP make any changes in 2013 in terms of how it

approaches social networks?
The agency is now well established on social networks, but we
decided to put the emphasis on photo. Photos are the most likely
to go viral. So we broadened the way our content can be shared
on social networks. Until recently some of our pictures could
be seen by millions of people without them knowing that they
were by AFP. We worked on this. We also updated the guidelines and practical
recommendations of our social network guide for AFP journalists. We launched
Twitter accounts in Arabic (@AFPar) and Portuguese (@AFPpor). And with the World
Cup coming up, we naturally had to create an @AFPBrazil account.
What forms have these two photo-oriented actions taken?
In early 2013 we opened a Twitter account (@AFPphoto) featuring a selection of
some of the pictures already highlighted by our clients. It has more than 13,000
followers. Then we launched a Tumblr account on which we post two or three
photos each day that are representative of the diversity of AFPs production.
They include sport photos, offbeat, shots of tragic events in Syria or the Central
African Republic, as well as celebrities nothing is excluded, as our aim is to
show the extraordinary quality of our photojournalists work. Lastly, we created a
Pinterest page, a platform enabling us to create themed image boards.
How will people know that they are AFP pictures?
We systematically stamp our images with a digital AFP watermark and a strip
showing the name of the photographer and the agencys logo. Also, as there are
more than 400,000 followers of our various Twitter accounts and there are many
journalists following us, its quickly known that its an AFP photo. And with its
new function for viewing photos directly on the timeline, Twitter is now the best
showcase of our activity.
Twitter Account AFPphoto
Which AFP photo had the greatest success on these platforms in 2013?
Discover
the
account
That would have to be the Danish prime ministers selfie with Barack Obama and
David Cameron at the memorial service in Soweto for Nelson Mandela. When I
saw that Roberto Schmidts photo was taking off online I quickly tweeted it on our
accounts and it soon became a photo taken by AFP. Many international media
retweeted it with the AFP watermarked version.
80
Innovations
Innovations
81
AWARD
WINNING
JOURNALISTS
11 August 2013 Moscow Jamaican

Usain Bolt wins the 100 metres at the World
Athletics Championships in 9 77/100, as a
lightning bolt streaks across the sky above
Luzhniki Stadium..
AFP / Olivier Morin
82
83
21 October 2012 Aleppo, Syria A wounded young Syrian sits on the back of a truck waiting to be
taken to hospital. AFP / Fabio Bucciarelli
Robert Capa Prize
18 October 2012 Aleppo, Syria Two rebel gunmen holed up in the Karm al-Jabal district.
AFP / Javier Manzano
Pulitzer
Battle to the Death in Aleppo:

The impressive series of 12 photos taken in
the Syrian town of Aleppo during the battles
of autumn 2012 earned Fabio Bucciarelli,
Italian freelance photographer for AFP, the
prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal Award
2013. The series also won second prize in
the World Press Photo Spot News Story
category.
Awarded since 1955 by the Overseas Press

Club of America (OPC), the Robert Capa Prize
rewards the best published photographic
reporting requiring exceptional courage
and enterprise.
Bucciarellis photographs put you in the
moment and have a palpable sense of
urgency, the award citation said.
In 2013, for the second time in AFPs

history, one of its photographers won the
Pulitzer Prize, one of the highest awards in
journalism.
Javier Manzano, a stringer for the agency,
won the feature photography category
for what the jury called his extraordinary
image of two Syrian rebels in Aleppo in
October 2012.
AFPs first Pulitzer Prize was won in 2012 by

Afghan photographer Massoud Hosseini in
the Breaking News category for his image of
a shocked girl surrounded by bodies after a
suicide bomb attack in Kabul in December
2011.
Find
out more
84
2013 Awards
Find
out more
2013 Awards
85
Multiple talents
rewarded
Photo, text, video, infographics: the quality
Danube Exhibition - Gold medal in

photojournalism
Bayeux-Calvados war correspondents

prize - 2nd Place, Short video format
category
World Press Photo - 2nd prize, Spot News
of AFPs production is regularly recognised

by international prize juries. AFP journalists
won no fewer than 40 in 2013 alone.
21 October 2012 Aleppo, Syria A young wounded Syrian

sits on the back of a truck waiting to be taken to hospital.
AFP / Fabio Bucciarelli
3

prize - Nikon Photo Award in the
professional category
9 August 2012 - London - Usain Bolt looks at his Jamaican

compatriot Yohan Blake as he crosses the line to win the 200
metres in the Olympic Games. AFP / Adrian Dennis
6
POYi - 2nd prize News Picture story

Freelance / Agency
Premio Italiano di Fotogiornalismo,
Festival della fotografia etica World
Report Award Master Award
Press Photographers Year 2013 Photograph of the Year

Sportfolio - Gold medal in news category
2 March 2013 - Zinj, Bahrain A Bahraini policeman runs after

a woman during clashes with protesters.
AFP / Mohammed Al-Shaikh
1
7 July 2012 - Azzara, Syria A young fighter weeps over the

killing of his friend Ahmad by an army sniper in Krak des
Chevaliers. AFP / Djilali Belad
2
86
30 July 30 2012 London Thai rider Nina Lamsan Ligon

on Butts Leon competing in the cross trial in the London
Olympics. AFP / Adrian Dennis
4
12 February 2013 - London Englands Danny Care

scores a try against Italy during their Six Nations clash at
Twickenham. AFP / Adrian Dennis
5
2013 Awards
National Press Photographers

Association (NPPA) - 1st place - Olympics
Feature
1 September 2012 London Britains Richard Whitehead

(centre) wins the final of the 200 metres T42 at the
Paralympics in London. AFP / Adrian Dennis
7
5
Press Photographers Year 2013 - 1st prize:

Sports Folio of the Year
Press Photographers Year 2013 - 1st prize:

Olympic Folio
Picture Editors Guild - 2012 Paralympics

Photographer
British Sports Journalism Awards (SJA) Sports Photographer of the Year
11 August 2012 - London Usain Bolt takes a selfie with

fans after winning the 400 metres relay at the Olympics.
AFP / Adrian Dennis
8
87
23 September 2012 - Manchester, England French

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny is congratulated by his
teammates. AFP / Adrian Dennis
9
9 December 2013 - Val dIsre, France Switzerlands

Marc Berthod loses a ski as he passes a gate in the World
Cup giant slalom. AFP / Franck Fife
10
4 May 2012 - Paris - Youna Dufournet (2nd left), bronze medalist

in the 2009 World Championships, in a training session at
Frances national sport institute INSEP. AFP / Franck Fife 11
88
13 August 2013 Moscow Russian Yelena Isinbayeva

celebrates after winning the gold medal at the World Athletics
championships with a jump of 4.89 m. AFP / Yuri Kadobnov 12
24 March 2013 - Sochi, Russia World speed skating.

AFP / Yuri Kadobnov
13
18 April 2013 - Moscow - Ksenia Afanasyeva during the

qualifying for the individual asymmetric bars at the European
Championships. AFP / Natalia Kolesnikova
14
2013 Awards
9 September 2012 - Fort Pierce, Florida Pizza restaurant

owner Scott Van Duzer lifts up Barack Obama during
the presidents visit to Florida. AFP / Saul Loeb
15
10 October 2012 - Daville, Kentucky Vice-presidential

debate between Joe Biden and Republican candidate Paul
Ryan. AFP / Saul Loeb
16
Barclays Premiership - shot of the season

for 2011-12
10
Sportfolio - Silver medal in news category
11
Sportfolio - Gold medal in reporting

category
12
III All-Russia festival-contest of sports

journalism - Bronze medal, category The
energy of victory
13
III All-Russia festival-contest of sports

journalism - Category the best reporting
about the athlete or event
14
Sportfolio - Bronze medal in Action

category
15
POYi - Award of Excellence Presidential

campaign 2012
16
WHNPA - Award of Excellence campaign

2012
17
WHNPA - Award of Excellence

Inauguration 2013
21 January 2013 - Washington D.C. - Barack Obama takes

the oath of office during the 57th inaugural ceremony at the
US Capitol. AFP / Saul Loeb
17
89
22 October 2012 Boca Raton, Florida President Barack

Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney.
AFP / Saul Loeb
18
18 June 2012 - Langreo, Spain Miners protest against a

government decision to drastically reduce mining subsidies .
AFP / Cesar Manso
21
11 August 2012 - London Britains Mo Farah wins 5,000

metres at the London Olympics.
AFP / Olivier Morin
24
18
WHNPA - Award of Excellence Political

Picture Story
19
Time Magazine - Top 10 images of the year
20
Slovenia Press Photo 2013 - Best Sports

Single Photo
21
North American Press Photographers

Association (NPPA) - The best of
photojournalism, Excellence award in
International News Picture Story
22

prize - French Ministry of Defence Photo
Public Prize
China International Press Photo Contest
(CHIPP) - Silver Prize in the War and Disaster
News category
World Press Photo Spot News, 3rd Prize
stories
18 November 2013 - Tolosa, Philippines Survivors take

part in a religious procession a week after typhoon Haiyan.
AFP / Philippe Lopez
19
16 August 2012 - Stuttgart, Germany Italians Domenico

Soale and Gioia Cerasoli perform their farewell dance at
the German Open. AFP / Jure Makovec
20
90
18 October 2012 Aleppo, Syria Two rebel gunmen holed

up in Karm al-Jabal.
AFP / Javier Manzano
22
19 November 2012 Near Goma, RD Congo Members of

the anti-government March 23 Movement.
AFP / Phil Moore
23
2013 Awards
POYi - First place News Picture Story

Freelance / Agency
11 August 2013 Moscow Usain Bolt wins the 100 metres
in 9 sec 77/100 as a bolt of lightning streaks across the sky
above Luzhniki Stadium. AFP / Olivier Morin
25
23
Days Japan - Special Prize by Jury
24
Sportfolio - Bronze medal in the news

category
25
GLGS (Gruppo Lombardo Giornalisti

Sport) - First place
26
POYi - First Place Olympic Action
30 July 2012 - London - Korean Shin A Lam confronts

Germanys Britta Heinemann during the fencing semi-final at
the Olympics. AFP / Alberto Pizzoli
26
91
28 July 2012 - London Italys Valentina Vezzali celebrates her

victory over Tunisias Ines Boubakri in the Womens Foil Individual
Fencing Olympic quarter final. AFP / Alberto Pizzoli
27
17 July 2012 - Mont Berlin, Colombia Colombian sergeant

Rodrigo leaves his post under pressure from the local population,
which has been targeted by the FARC. AFP / Luis Robayo 28
20 December 2012 Madinat Zayed, UAE A child playing

with a remote-controlled plane.
AFP / Karim Sahib
29
92
3 November 2012 - Bristow, Virginia - Barack Obama

is greeted by supporters at a rally in the Jiffy Lube
amphitheatre in Bristow, Virginia. AFP / Jewel Samad 30
11 January 2012 - Chicago, Illinois A woman weeps as

she listens to a campaign speech by Barack Obama at the
University of Illinois. AFP / Jewel Samad
31
7 November 2012 Chicago, Illinois President Barack

Obama celebrates his re-election in front of his supporters.
AFP / Jewel Samad
32
2013 Awards
23 May 2013 - Moore, Oklahoma Tornado survivors search

for their belongings as lightning flashes across the sky.
AFP / Jewel Samad
33
27
POYi - Award of excellence Olympic

feature
28
Prix Simon Bolivar - Category - photo
29
North American Press Photographers

Association (NPPA) - The best of
photojournalism, 2nd place in
Contemporary Issues
30
WHNPA - 2nd Prize Presidential
31
WHNPA - Award of Excellence Portrait
32
WHNPA - Award of Excellence Political

Picture Story
33
FotoWeekDC - 3rd Place - Photojournalism Series category
34

(CHIPP) - Award of Excellence in the Art,
Culture and Entertainment News category
35
NPPA - The best of photojournalism,

2nd place in Contemporary Issues
15 January 2012 Gangasagar, India A sadhu, or holy man,

bathes in the Ganges during the Makar Sankranti festival.
AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar
34
10 July 2012 Geddani, Pakistan A worker pulls on a

cable that he is going to attach to a chain to pull pieces
from the hull of a ship. AFP / Roberto Schmidt
35
93
11 September 2012 - Arlington, Virginia President Obama

and First Lady Michelle Obama amidst the headstones in
Arlington National Cemetery. AFP / Brendan Smialowski 36
94
13 April 2012 - Pyongyang Crowds watch a fireworks

display after the unveiling of statues of the late leaders Kim
Jong-Il (right) and Kim Il-Sung. AFP / Pedro Ugarte
39
18 May 2012 - Chicago, Illinois A policeman patrols the

streets 48 hours before a NATO summit on Afghanistan.
AFP / Jim Watson
42
18 December 2012 - Newtown, Connecticut Students

return to school for the first time since the Sandy Hook
massacre. AFP / Brendan Smialowski
37
12 November 2012 Kaldar, Afghanistan A five-year-old

girl is surrounded by her family in hospital after being raped
by her 22-year-old neighbour. AFP / Qais Usyan
40
13 June 2012 Bangladesh, Teknaf - Rohingya Muslims ,

trying to cross the Naf river to escape violence in Myanmar,
look on from an intercepted boat. AFP / Munir uz Zaman 43
5 March 2010 - Athens Anti-riot police arrest a

demonstrator.
AFP / Angelos Tzortzinis & Will Vassilopoulos
38
15 August 2012 - Dubuque, Iowa President Obama hugs

his wife Michelle after a rally in Iowa.
AFP / Jim Watson
41
24 April 2013 - Savar, Bangladesh Rescuers evacuate

a survivor from the ruins of a factory complex.
AFP / Munir uz Zaman
44
2013 Awards
36
WHNPA Award of Excellence Presidential
37
WHNPA Award of Excellence Domestic

News Picture
38
POY Third place News multimedia story
39
elmundo.es Best photo of 2012
40

(CHIPP) Gold Prize in the General News
category
41
WHNPA Award of Excellence Portrait
42
WHNPA Award of Excellence Presidential
43
Human Rights Press Awards - First Prize:

photojournalism feature
44
FotoWeekDC 1st Place in Photojournalism

Single category
95
AFP
FOUNDATION
AND
SUBSIDIARIES
17 November 2013 Abu Dhabi, United

Arab Emirates Chairman of Agence
France-Presse (AFP), Emmanuel Hoog, with
Noura Al-Kaabi, twofour54 Chief Executive
Officer, on November 17, 2013, after signing
a strategic partnership agreement in Abu
Dhabi.
AFP / JOSEPH CAPELLAN
96
97
AFP Foundation: promoting media training and

press freedom
The AFP Foundation, which promotes press
freedom and journalistic excellence through
training courses, saw its Africa Check project
receive widespread recognition in 2013.
Launched in October 2012 in partnership with
South Africas Witwatersrand University in
Johannesburg, it is the first site of its kind in
Africa and is designed to check the veracity
of statements made by public figures.
The Foundation is now looking at expanding
it to other countries in Africa, beginning with
Senegal. It was one of the winners of the
prestigious IPI innovative media awards.
This fact-checking site helps train South
African students and journalists in how
to cover events and how to handle social and
economic developments in their country,
said Robert Holloway, the Foundations
director. In the space of a year, 60 issues
have been handled, more than a quarter of
them dealing with public health.
Beyond researching and cross-checking
information, we have also contacted doctors
and organizations like the WHO, he added.
Other topics handled included crime,
education and emigration.
Africa Check is also a teaching tool: the site is
hosted by the universitys journalism school
and is designed to instill the fundamental
principles of the profession: rigour,
multiplication of sources, and checking of
facts.
It has helped improve professional standards
amongst South African journalists.
It has become a reference. The international
press talks about it and we receive a large
number of comments on the site, which are
moderated from London.
The Foundation is also considering launching
new fact checking sites in Arabic, Spanish
and Russian.
The AFP Foundation is involved in two other

projects: Media for Development in Lebanon,
which brings together journalists from
different religious and political backgrounds
to cover issues linked to the countrys
structural problems and is financed by
the Chirac Foundation and the French Foreign
Ministry; and the European Neighborhood
Policy Instrument, which includes training of
journalists in 17 countries bordering the EU
including Russia.
In 2013 the Foundation also signed
agreements with the emirate of Fujairah
for the training of journalists, and with
twofour54, a centre for developing media and
entertainment content in Abu Dhabi.
These two programmes were launched
thanks to the excellent reputation of
AFP, and in particular its Arabic service,
said Robert Holloway.
In addition to its training programmes, which
are led by journalists from within the AFP
network, the Foundation is multiplying its
initiatives to promote free and independent
media. These have included conferences in
Beirut on conflict coverage and in Vilnius on
human rights. The latter was organised by the
Foundation as part of the EU-funded Media
Neighbourhood programme and hosted
by the European Humanities University,
a Belarusian university in exile.
The Foundation also finances the annual
Kate Webb Prize which was launched in 2008
to recognize the work of local reporters in
hostile situations in Asia.
Learn
more
about the
Foundation
Visit
the
website
Screenshot of the Africa Check site.

98
99
We work within their content management

system, so were an extension of their
editorial department, observed Pierre
Taillandier.
The editorial activity was launched in June,
so were still in the consolidation phase.
But we know that the demand is there,
he continued, adding that he expects this
new offer to develop strongly.
The supply of custom-made content to
companies and institutions such as the
European Commission is also developing.
Were signing a lot of new contracts while
retaining prestige clients like the UN, the
Hong Kong Trade Development Council,
Doctors Without Borders and the National
Gallery as well as big corporations like
Sanofi Aventis, Gemalto and the Brazilian
mining group Vale, said Jon Dillon, director
of AFP-Services. They all want to tell their
story.
New in 2013: AFP-Services was involved in

the organisation of the Fujairah International
Photojournalism Competition (FIPCOM)
which included managing the site and
preparing the March 2014 prize giving
ceremony.
Finally, 2014 will see the commercialisation
by AFP-Services of journalism training
courses offered by the agency.
Learn
more
about
AFPServices
Example of news delivered by AFP-Services to the RTL.fr site
AFP-Services widens its range

Already active in on-demand production
for companies and institutions, in 2013
the subsidiary AFP-Services successfully
launched a new activity: providing a custommade news feed to its online clients.
Articles, photos and infographics are
selected from AFPs production and
customised by a team of AFP-Services
journalists. When necessary, they add third
party content provided or suggested by the
client. In all cases, the AFP-Services offering
is backed by the agencys know-how and
reputation for quality.
Our clients need to differentiate themselves;
they want to offer something other than
AFPs general news flow. Today we have the
means to provide a customised response to
100
this demand, explained Pascal Taillandier,

editorial head of AFP-Services. The two
biggest clients of this service are Orange.fr,
an historic online partner of AFP, and RTL.fr.
For both of these clients, the AFP-Services
offering is designed to fulfil very precise
specifications in terms of responsiveness,
content volumes, customised rewriting
and online presentation in order to achieve
optimal views.
For Orange.fr, this service is provided every
day from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm, in the form of
multimedia documents delivered to the sites
server. For RTL.fr, the service is provided
round the clock, in permanent liaison with
the client.
An example of news provided by AFP-Services to the Orange.fr site
101
AFP on display
In 2013, AFP was again a vital partner
in cultural, artistic, educational and
community events, highlighting the
richness of its production and expertise.
FIGRA 2013 (le Touquet) - 26 to 30

March: exhibition in the town of Le
Touquet of 20 photos illustrating 20 years
of news.
Cannes fait le mur - 15 May to 30 June:

17 giant images of stars exhibited in the
city during the annual festival 1
Sportfolio (Narbonne) - 1 to 18 June:

More than 50 images exhibited as part
of this festival dedicated to sports
photography 2
3
4
Visa pour limage (Perpignan) - 31 August

to 15 September: one exhibition and three
projections presenting the work of the
agencys photographers
1
2

awards - 7 to 13 October: to mark the
20th anniversary of the prize, open-air
display of 250 AFP images after the prize
giving ceremony 3
Womens Forum - Brazil (Sao Paulo) -- 17-18

June; France (Deauville) -- 16-18 October;
Myanmar (Yangon) -- 6-7 December: AFP
journalists joined the panel discussions.
(Womensforum) 4
102
103
Contributors:
Agns
BUN
AFP-TV
journalist
Head of
infographicsvideographics
department
Dominique
Joly-Brul
Pierre
CLRIER
Pierre
Galy
Marc
LAVINE
Deputy Global
News Director
Philip
CHETWYND
Global
editor-in-chief
Roland
De Courson
AFP blog
coordinator
Jon
Dillon
Director of
AFP-Services
104
Sophie
HUET
Editor-in-chief
for sport
Emmanuel
GIROUD
Cairo bureau
chief
Juliette
HollierLarousse
Latin America
regional director
Robert
HOLLOWAY
Director of
AFP Foundation
Head of social
affairs service
Asia-Pacific
editor-in-chief
Yacine
LEFORESTIER
Director of SID
Beatriz
Lecumberri
Deputy foreign
editor
Chris Lefkow
North America
editor-in-chief
David
Millikin
Roberto
SCHMIDT
North America
regional director
Head of
photography for
South Asia
Jean
MONTOIS
Journalist
Emmanuel
Srot
Olivier
MORIN
Nichole
SOBECKI
Photographer
Daniel OUDET
Medialab
technical
manager
Journalist
Journalist
Pascal
Taillandier
Head of editorial
for AFP-Services
Florence
Panoussian
Head of online
and mobile
service
Christophe
Walter-Petit
Legal director
105
Editor: Thibaut Leroux

Translation: Eric Wishart
Graphic design: Jean-Matthieu Franchomme
Agence France-Presse
April 2014
106
The whole world. The whole story. 2013
KENYA 23.11.2013
FRance 02.11.2013
Attack on Westgate shopping mall
Demonstrations by Red Bonnets movement A child plays with an aeroplane
U.A.E. 20.12.2012
ITALY 09.09.2013
PHILIPPINES 18.11.2013
VENEZUELA 09.04.2013
The Costa Concordia righted
Supertyphoon Haiyan in Tolosa
Presidential election rally
BRAZIL 27.07.2013
RUSSIA 11.08.2013
SOUTH AFRICA 10.12.2013
Pope Francis at the World Youth Day
Usain Bolt wins 100m
Memorial for Nelson Mandela
AFP 2013
13, place de la Bourse - CS 40212 - 75086 Cedex 02 - Tel: +33 (0)1 40 41 46 46
afp.com

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The whole world. The whole story.

Attack on Westgate shopping mall

Demonstrations by Red Bonnets movement A child plays with an aeroplane

The Costa Concordia righted

Supertyphoon Haiyan in Tolosa

Presidential election rally

SOUTH AFRICA 10.12.2013

Pope Francis at the World Youth Day

Usain Bolt wins 100m

Memorial for Nelson Mandela

The whole world. The whole story.

13, place de la Bourse - CS 40212 - 75086 Cedex 02 - Tel: +33 (0)1 40 41 46 46

Interview with Philippe Massonnet, Global News Director

8 | We have built up our products, our offer and our strategy

Interview with Rmi Tomaszewski, Managing Director

France and Europe

Interview with Bernard Pellegrin, Regional Director France

Africa and the Middle East

50 | Brazil: Latin Americas biggest market a priority target for AFP

Interview with Caroline Raveton, Director of Information Systems

Award Winning Journalists

AFP Foundation and Subsidiaries

AFP has a responsibility to educate, to provide

What is your assessment of AFPs coverage in 2013?

Editorially, there was also a trend towards developing lifestyle coverage in

We have built up our products,

AFP launched a number of major projects in 2013.

10 July 2013 Mont-Saint-Michel,

The 100th Tour de France: a first for AFP photo

A first ever race start in Corsica, a spectacular

AFPs cycling correspondent Jean Montois

racing boats, makes it possible to send

France and Europe

that has made the pressure worse. The Tour

France and Europe

Sports animated graphics: from Playmobils

On-demand sports applications

While these products are still offered, for

Strengthening relationships with the French

Regional Director France

all these departments closer together, by shortening the channels of

29/11/2012, High-Tech and Media

Has this boosted interactivity with AFPs media clients?

France and Europe

France and Europe

International TV newscasts hit their stride

The international TV newscasts have become

France and Europe

International TV newscast on giant screen at the La Dfense pedestrian precinct.

France and Europe

Coverage of this significant closure was

Social Affairs: specialists in crises and reforms

the Red Bonnets which was covered by the

France and Europe

The battle between Jean-Franois Cop and

Alain Jupp announced to AFP that he had

AFP-TVs live video offer becomes established

work within the extremely tight restrictions

France and Europe

inside and outside the City Hall could be

video culture in AFP has been spectacular,

France and Europe

We have reached a milestone

AFP has made video one of its strategic priorities.