In 2021, the Agency set four main objectives to improve the quality and impact of its news production:
Establish a central planning and coordination unit for all news coverage, which will also allow for a general reorganization of the use of space to improve efficiency, effectiveness and cost savings (include video in the centre of news).
In August 2021, renovation work began on the first and second floors of the head office for the Coordination Unit, based on sustainability, energy efficiency and environmental protection.
Gradual integration of audiovisual content (photo, video and audio) production and management.
Multimedia transformation of all newsrooms.
Foster news verification and the fight against disinformation.
In the National department, networking among the bureaus in Spain was consolidated and support from the Central Newsroom to the regional news services was strengthened. Formats were changed and news cycles were brought forward to adapt them to the demands of clients, especially with digital and audiovisual media.
In the International department, for security reasons, the Agency had to withdraw its correspondent from Kabul in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power. In mid-November, Cuban authorities withdrew the credentials of EFE journalists in Cuba, but reinstated them in March 2022. EFE was the first agency to report the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. It began the production of special multimedia content related to the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) debates under a contract with the European Parliament.
The Americas Editorial Desk, which now works with all media formats and covers all the countries on the continent -more than 200 journalists from 23 American bureaus- expanded its services and opening hours without increasing its operational costs, and launched the American unit for fact checking and combating disinformation.
The Economics department, in addition to its traditional news wires, produced explanatory videos on economic-financial terms, such as 'Austrian rucksack', 'spacs' and 'stagflation', and developed a video campaign on consumption on Twitter -sponsored by BBVA bank-, which in some cases received almost 190.000 views. The @EFEeconomía Twitter account was reactivated with the publication every morning of the day's key economic news, focusing on Spain, Europe and the Americas. EFE made its debut with its own space in the Spanish Pavilion at the Mobile World Congress, thanks to an alliance with Red.es.
In Sport, Real Madrid player and Brazil captain Casemiro, and FC Barcelona, in the women's category, received the EFE award for best Ibero-American player and club, respectively, for the season.
The Audiovisual and Photography departments were merged. The production of podcasts on current political and sports events began, which were picked up by important platforms such as Spotify's You Daily Drive playlist. The creation of audiovisual coordination positions on international desks continued, for example in the London bureau. The 2nd EFE-UOC International Mobile Journalism Awards were successfully held. Photo production increased by 103.054 photos compared to the previous year.
In the Documentation and Archive departments, in October 2021, testing began for the integration of the EFEData database and the Fototeca photo library into the UMP editor. The following exhibitions were also inaugurated:
23/01/2021.- The Exhibition "Africa(nos)" on the work of the late EFE photographer Cristóbal García was inaugurated in the Sahel Room of Casa África. His archive was donated to the agency. The exhibition later opened in Tenerife in april 2021 and in February 2022 travelled to Madrid.
29/03/2021.- The exhibition "Unpublished Pictures of the Civil War" at the Fundación CajaCanarias in Santa Cruz de La Palma.
26/10/2021.- The exhibition “2020. Pictures of a Year" at the Unicaja Fundation Centro Cultural in Málaga.
09/12/2021.- Photographers from the Canary Islands participated in the charity exhibition "La Palma, Volcano and Life" in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
