The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally. It was founded in 1868 by a consortium of provincial newspaper proprietors as a co-operative in order to supply news items from across the country to its members. It has offices around the UK and Ireland including London, Nottingham (photographic department) and Howden and has over 200 correspondents throughout Britain.
It is part of the PA Group which includes subsidiaries that specialise in coverage and data of sport, entertainment and business. In turn the Press Association has two subsidiaries, the Scottish Press Association and the Press Association of Ireland (covering Northern and the Republic of Ireland).
The Press Association produces over 100 stories on weekdays. The choice of stories by the Press Association has a large impact on coverage in UK media. A study to quantify this found that 70% of UK news articles in the five most notable quality London based newspapers were largely influenced by the Press Association's copy (or the few other much smaller agencies in the UK). 30% of stories were simple copies.
The amount of power this confers on the Press Association has brought with it criticism of how it covers the news it chooses. Guardian journalist Nick Davies' study of what he pejoratively termed churnalism found that a high proportion of stories in UK media, including some distributed by the Press Association, amounted to little more than uncritical reproduction of press releases and spin from government bodies and corporate organisations.
It was considered a trusted source by the BBC, which in 2004 stated it was "a confirmed, single source". However, since that time the BBC has adopted a policy of attributing some breaking news stories to agencies until confirmed by at least one other source.
Read more about Press Association: History, Board of Directors, Shareholders
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