Press agencies becoming skilled mediators, says veteran Italian journalist Lepri

(AGI) Rome, Apr 6 - In a publishing world transformed by the advent of the internet, "the future of press agencies lies in becoming skilled mediators", said veteran Italian journalist Sergio Lepri. Mr Lepri has been director of the Italian press agency ANSA for 30 years, and was taking part in a discussion at AGI headquarters about the changes facing the sector, organised by Agi and the communications watchdog Osservatorio TuttiMedia (OTM). Other participants included Agi CEO Alessandro Pica, Editorial Director, Roberto Iadiccicco, OTM President Franco Siddi and sociologist Derrick de Kerckhove. "Previously the agencies were indispensible primary sources of information. Now their survival depends on being skilled mediators. We are now living in a virtual reality, in which there is a danger of interactive and personalised information becoming limited information", said Mr Lepri. Press agencies were an antidote to this danger, he continued, "because they provide complete information and are able to interpret the facts." This concept was echoed by Mr Siddi: "Most people think there is a need for simplification, but the agencies are fundamental, and it is important that pluralism be maintained within the sector. The headlines provided by the agencies often mark the day with an interpretation of an occurrence." Mr Lepri also joked about agency pluralism, drawing on his lengthy experience to remember when, as a director of ANSA, he opposed the hypothesis that Agi might close that was being advanced in political circles. "I disagreed, because I was convinced that ANSA and Agi were both needed to avoid any pressures to conceal news." By having to provide throughness and objectivity, the agencies "are the prime professional organs, they set out the powers, interpret the facts, they are not just a source of primary information", said Mr Siddi. Mr Pica described the agencies as "the first link in the value chain of information", noting that 700 professional journalists were now employed in the sector, all taken on under Article 1 of the national Italian journalists' work contract (CNLG). He estimated that with three external collaborators for every professional, this meant a "huge total pool" of 2,800 journalists. A workforce from whom "media and clients demand information not as a commodity but as a means of news provision, as compared with a generalist background of information." In this regard, Mr Kerckhove indicated that the agencies' remit was to "choose content that did not necessarily respond to a certain objective", citing the recent example of the Panama Papers and Wikileaks to underscore the need to decodify news in order for it to be understood by a wider public. In this regard, Mr Lepri wondered how many people understood what Panama Papers meant, despite the abundance of information available on the internet. (AGI). .