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PA Media

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"Press Association" redirects here. For the similarly named American news agency, see Associated Press.
PA Media
FormerlyPress Association
Company typePress agency
Founded1868; 156 years ago (1868) in United Kingdom
HeadquartersNorth Wharf Road
London, W2
United Kingdom
Number of locations
7 (2018)
ParentPA Media Group
Websitepa.media

PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency. It is part of PA Media Group Limited,[1] a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers. The biggest shareholders include the Daily Mail and General Trust, News UK, and Informa.

PA Media Group also encompasses Globelynx, which provides TV-ready remotely monitored camera systems for corporate clients to connect with TV news broadcasters in the UK and worldwide; TNR, a specialist communications consultancy; Sticky, a digital copywriting and content strategy agency; and StreamAMG, a video streaming business.[2] The group's photography arm, PA Images, has a portfolio comprising more than 20 million photographs online and around 10 million in physical archives dating back 150 years.[3][4]

History

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Founded in 1868 by a group of provincial newspaper proprietors, the PA provides a London-based service of news-collecting and reporting from around the United Kingdom. The news agency's founders sought to produce a more accurate and reliable alternative to the monopoly service of the telegraph companies.

In January 1870 the agency moved from temporary offices into new headquarters at 7 Wine Office Court, off Fleet Street. At 5am on Saturday 5 February 1870, its first press telegram was transmitted.[citation needed] The agency's first Editor-in-Chief was Arthur Cranfield, appointed in 1926.[5]

In 1995, PA moved from Fleet Street to Vauxhall Bridge Road, enabling the company to rapidly expand its output particularly in the sports and new media divisions.

The Press Association launched the Ananova news website in 2000. Ananova was then sold to Orange.

In 2005, the company changed its name to PA Group.

In December 2013, PA Group sold its weather business MeteoGroup, Europe's largest private sector weather company, to global growth investment firm General Atlantic.[6]

In February 2015, PA announced the sale of its finance publications divisions, which included TelecomFinance and SatelliteFinance.[7]

In September 2018 it was announced that the news agency was renamed from Press Association to PA Media, and the umbrella company from PA Group Limited to PA Media Group Limited. This coincided with a move from their Vauxhall Bridge Road offices to a new space that would accommodate the move toward digital media.[8][9]

The editor-in-chief of the news agency is Pete Clifton, who was appointed in October 2014.[10]

In June 2024, the Central Arbitration Committee forced PA to recognize the National Union of Journalists as the official union representing PA's editorial employees. As of May, the bargaining unit was composed of 274 workers.[11]

Other divisions and ventures

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PA Training

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PA Training is Europe's biggest journalism and media training company. It was formed in 2006, when the Press Association acquired Trinity Mirror's training centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. The NCTJ course in Newcastle has been around since 1969.

The business already owned the former Westminster Press-owned Editorial Centre and merged the two businesses to become PA Training.[12]

Alamy

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Alamy, a global stock photo agency with over 125 million images, was wholly acquired by PA Media in February 2020. The purchase enables PA Media to enter the international stock photography market.[13]

Other subsidiaries

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Other subsidiaries include Globelynx, founded in 2001; Sticky Content, acquired in full between 2013 and 2015; StreamAMG (Advanced Media Group), acquired in April 2017; and RADAR, founded in 2017.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Sweney, Mark; Ben Dowell (14 June 2012). "PA Group records 85% increase in profits and boosts chief executive's pay". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Our Brands - PA Media Group overview of the group companies". PA Media Group.
  3. ^ "PA Images". paimages.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  4. ^ Burrell, Ian (28 February 2011). "Ian Burrell: Agency hatched in Victorian cab has evolved for 21st-century". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24.
  5. ^ Moncrieff, Chris (2001). Living on a Deadline: A History of the Press Association. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-85227-917-2. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  6. ^ "PA sells weather business MeteoGroup for £160m". The Telegraph. 16 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12.
  7. ^ AAP (6 February 2015). "Press Assoc sells finance division". The Daily Telegraph.
  8. ^ Mayhew, Mayhew (18 July 2018). "Press Association agrees sale of London HQ as it searches for new home in capital to meet needs of 'modern digital media company'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  9. ^ Tobitt, Charlotte (20 September 2018). "Press Association to rebrand as PA Media to coincide with move to new London headquarters next year". Press Gazette. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  10. ^ Turvill, William (28 October 2014). "Former BBC News website editor Pete Clifton named new Press Association editor-in-chief ahead of Jonathan Grun departure". The Guardian.
  11. ^ Maher, Bron (2024-06-12). "PA Media forced to recognise NUJ as official union for editorial staff". Press Gazette. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  12. ^ Sands, Peter (2015-12-22). "Sands Media Services: 20 years ago - the Editorial Centre was born". Sands Media Services. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  13. ^ Glenday, John (12 February 2020). "PA Media Group diversifies into stock images with Alamy acquisition". The Drum. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  14. ^ "RADAR press release". PA Media. PA Media Group. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
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