The nature and size of EFE is not well known. To better understand its activity and penetration in the news market, the agency has updated its information for the general public

Updated in March 2021, the size of Agencia EFE’s online presence

The necessary rotation of journalists this year meant the replacement of bureau chiefs (EFE’s representatives outside Spain) in six important cities: Brussels, Paris, London, La Paz, Rome and São Paulo. In 2021, there will be new bureau chiefs in Cairo, Washington, Tokyo, New York, Beijing, Puerto Rico and Jerusalem. EFE has a workforce of 1.106 employees.

EFEservicios is an innovative tool that allows customers and end users to easily download content. The platform is optimised for Spain, America and Asia.

The 80th anniversary celebrations continued during the first several weeks of 2020 until the pandemic brought an early end to the campaign. As a result, the company failed to receive the full financial and reputational benefits.

In the days leading up to confinement in March, however, the agency was successesful in two interesting areas: its news videos offered on third-party platforms increased sales in the English-speaking market and the Poynter Institute awarded company the International Fact-Checking Network badge.

At the same time, the EFE Verifica service, which works continously to fight misinformation, increased production in a particularly relevant journalistic field in the negative context of populism and the creation of a massive number of hoaxes.

The independence of journalists, accuracy, professionalism and transparency are EFE’s journalism values that serve society.

The agency is aware of the concerns of citizens and has specialized news wires on issues of social importance such as health, the environment and equality.

Under President Julia Rodríguez Arévalo, a veteran EFE journalist, epa has been able to sign new and interesting contracts during a difficult 2020 and to present an austere, transparent and realistic action plan to attract new investors. Today, epa is a very important supplier of images to the agency. EFE has increased its production and its global video presence.

We are in a world in which establishing alliances with potential competitors is one of the future strategies to continue playing in the major international leagues.

EFE has incorporated its videos into the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters platforms. It now reaches areas where it had little influence before

In addition to offering exclusive news and interviews with the most important protagonists of current affairs, a number of EFE journalists were awarded different prizes. In chronological order, winners included Pilar Salas (Enrique Mapelli Award), Paolo Aguilar (International Malaga Festival), Oscar Tomasi (Mesa del Tabaco), Arturo Larena (The 100 Latinos Most Committed to Climate Action), Javier Otazu, Ana Isabel Cordobés and Iñaki Porto (Association of Journalists of Navarra), Violeta Molina and Macarena Baena (Against Gender Violence), Juan Ignacio Roncoroni (Adepa), María Traspaderne (Defense), Álex Segura (IMF Economic Journalism) and Nacho Gallego (Cossío). As a collective, the agency’s work has been recognized on a number of occasions and efe.com received the SEO2019 award from IndexWatch.

The King of Spain International Journalism Awards dedicated an honorable mention to the EFE Archive, which contains 20 million photographs, 24 million news stories and documents, and 300,000 videos. The International Data Verification Network highlighted the work of Efe Verifica, the report ‘Invisible Manila, ’ led by Sara Gómez Armas, received a special mention from the Manuel Alcántara Foundation, the GLAAD organization presented EFE an award for the work on a transgender biologist, pharmacists acknowledged the agency’s work in Extremadura as did Data Prize for the project ‘Visual Journalism Without Constraints.’

Despite the difficulties, Agencia EFE -one of the most influential agencies in the world- met its quantitative objectives of producing news in all formats and continued its commitment to quality.

The European Commission has recognized EFE’s activity as a Service of General Economic Interest (SGEI) and has authorized the funding that the agency -a state-owned company- receives from the state.
The SGEI system sets strict conditions for calculating the compensation that EFE may receive for carrying out its public service obligations, in a manner that is compatible with European treaties and competition rules. The agency has been allocated annual SGEI state aid of 53.9 million euros.

A small sample of the enormous amount of news produced by the agency is shown in this video with images chosen from the thousands taken during the 12 months. Each year, production continues to expand its valuable archive.

During the last several months of 2020, the agency begn an initiative to increase revenue and diversify its business model: EFEComunica. The unit will be in charge of developing and promoting on-demand products that the agency offers and that companies and institutions need to publicize their work or show their social commitment. EFE feels especially comfortable when it comes to promoting values such as the fight against climate change, sustainability, Europeanism, equality, health and science.

To innovate internal communications, it was essential to follow a strategy that would build and enhance the agency’s reputation, while increasing the sense of belonging and pride in journalism.

The role of each and every employee, their commitment and professionalism, served to confirm the company’s credibility from the inside. This “ad intra” became “ad extra” and public service journalism earned the vote of confidence from the public when they saw the commendable work carried out by our journalists during the hardest times of the pandemic, fulfilling their duty and responsibility to guarantee the right to information.

Internal communication became more transversal and people turned to the organisation from the confinement of their homes.

The Communication department became a producer of content to make the work of each division visible and this served so employees could see, value and respect each other’s work. Everyone was aware of the importance and more conscious than ever of the fact that they were all helping people.