Following lengthy consultations, the Athens News Agency (ANA S.A.) and the Macedonian Press Agency (MPA S.A.) merged into a public entity Societe Anonyme under the name "ANA-MPA S.A." (Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency S.A.).
With Presidential Decree 191/ 9.12. 2008, the Charter governing the new company was made public. The new company has a nine-member Board of Directors, of which the majority (five members) is not appointed by the government. Specifically, the majority comprises representatives of the Athens Union of Journalists (ESIEA), the Macedonia-Thrace Union of Journalists (ESIEMTH), the Athens Union of Daily Newspaper Owners, the University of Athens (and on rotation every three years the University of Thessaloniki and the Pantios University), as well as a representative of the workforce, who is elected by all the company’s staff members.
The General-Director and President of the ANA-MPA is Ilias Matsikas, who was appointed to a five-year term in July 2010. The positions of President-General Director and Vice-President-Director of the Macedonia Regional Division are tendered every five years. The relevant minister's authority is restricted to supervision of the constitutionality and legality of the decisions of the Board of Directors, and the ability to request a financial audit. The financial management is audited every year by certified accountants.
Two autonomous offices will be in operation, accountable to the President-General Director: The "International and Public Relations Office-Press Office" and the "Legal Services Office". Also introduced is the post of "Special Advisor to the President-General Director", who will represent the company in its international relations, monitor developments in the international arena and implement various developmental programs while, by decision of the President-General Director, other responsibilities concerning the internal operation of the company may be assigned to the former. All staff members are transferred to the new company, maintaining all their rights, and are assigned to the corresponding Divisions/Directorates by the President-General Director. Finally, the new company assumes all the obligations and rights of the ANA and the MPA.
The Athens News Agency (ANA) was founded in 1895 as a private company, the Stefanopoli Telegraphic Agency. The Greek State assumed its subsidization in 1905, at which time it acquired its present name. In 1994 the ANA became a Societe Anonyme with a seven-member Board of Directors, three of whom are appointed by the government and one each by the journalist unions of Athens and Thessaloniki, the newspaper publishers' union and ANA employees. ANA collaborates with the international news agencies Reuters, AFP, DPA, ITAR-TASS and a number of national news agencies, as well as the EPA pressphoto agency. The Macedonian Press Agency (MPA), founded in 1991 as a state company, in 1994 also became a Societe Anonyme (S.A.)
SERVICES ON-LINE ENGLISH service: The On-Line English Service transmits the most important domestic news items (60-70 items daily) to foreign subscribers in Greece and abroad. ON-LINE FRENCH service: With the most important domestic news (15-20 items). ENGLISH and FRENCH ELECTRONIC BULLETIN: The ANA English and French Bulletin is a bilingual (English and French) electronic bulletin appearing daily (except Sundays) that covers domestic news and is targeted to foreigners in Greece and abroad. ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS DATA BASE: The English language News Bank with news items going back as far as January 1, 1992. It contains all the news items printed in the daily ANA English Electronic Bulletin, with call-up possible by a variety of methods.
ENGLISH, FRENCH AND RUSSIAN Internet sites The main domestic news appeared on the internet site of ANA-MPA every day (www.ana-mpa.gr).
Services in Greek INTERNATIONAL News Service: Daily service with 150 international news items and reports from ANA correspondents abroad. GENERAL Service: Daily service with 350 domestic and international news items (AFP, Reuters, DPA, ITAR-TASS etc). RADIO/TELEVISION service: The Radio/Television Service provides continuous transmission of domestic and international news items, daily. SPORTS service: The Sports Service provides continuous transmission of international and domestic sports news. PHOTOGRAPHIC service: The Photographic Service supplies hundreds of photographs daily covering international news and tens of photographs covering the main domestic news items. PRESS RELEASES Service (In Greek and Enlish): The PRs Service (Press releases service) is a new ANA service for organizations, corporations, etc. It transmits, in full, the announcements of subscribers, which are sent via the ANA network to all the mass media in the provinces and Cyprus. The transmission also includes photographs. GREEK LANGUAGE NEWS BANK: The Greek language News Bank contains all news transmitted by the ANA since October 1989. The news items are classified by the code enabling call-up (search) by a variety of methods. As of January 1, 1992, the news items are classified by categories and contains dossiers on a variety of topics: (Macedonian problem, Cyprus issue, Ecology, Narcotics, Media, etc) ELECTIONS DATA BASE: The Elections Bank, containing all the Greek governments since 1833. It contains analytical electoral data since 1926 as well as analytical data on European Parliament elections in Greece. BIOGRAPHIES DATA BASE: The Biographies Bank is a specialised data bank containing the biographies of thousands Greek politicians (all the presidents, prime ministers, ministers and under-secretaries since 1833 and all the MPs from 1920 to the present). It also contains the biographies of more hundreds of foreign politicians. SPORTS DATA BASE: The Sports Bank contains sports news items since January 1, 1992, processed for ability of selection by subject (soccer, basketball, etc.) or by dossier (Korac Cup, Panhellenic Games, etc.) There are also two specialised data banks containing: a) the soccer championships in the Greek 1st division and 2nd division the matches played by the National Soccer Team and the games of the greek soccer teams in the european competitions, as well as b) the basketball championships in the A1 and A2 categories, the National Basketball Teams games played by Greek teams in the European Cups since 1989. PHOTO DATA BASE: The Photo-Bank contains thousands of photographs covering Greek and international news since January 1, 1996.
Marketing Department: Τelephone: +(30) 2106400560 Fax: +(30) 2106400024 E-mail: sales@ana-mpa.gr
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