Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
No dream as ANA turns 4
FOUR years ago, on March 1, 2015, a small start-up with grand ambitions and an African dream was born.
The African News Agency (ANA) was launched into the market as Africa’s first news syndication service, a dream inspired by the notion of a news service by Africans, for Africans, as well as for the rest of the world.
At ANA we have always believed that we, as Africans, should tell our own stories – the good and the bad, the despairing, as well as the uplifting, the failing, as well as the innovative.
ANA’s Picture Wire boasts historical content dating back 75 years, as well as contemporary editorial and stock photographs, videos, as well as graphics and contemporary political satire content.
ANA was formed in the immediate wake of the demise of the erstwhile SA Press Association (Sapa), a decades-long institution on the South African media landscape and a conveyer belt for producing some of the country’s finest journalists.
In late February 2015, Sapa announced that it would be closing its doors after almost 77 years. Its final story, at midnight on 31 March 2015, ended thus: “Goodbye Sapa. Thank you for the news.”
In the meantime, hurriedly, a bit crazily, but with no little sense of purpose and destiny, ANA was set up and trialled its operating systems and hit the market on March 1, 2015.
Today, ANA provides content to a wide range of subscribers, both local and international, across text, photo, video and graphic formats.
But ANA was always geared to be more than a mere Sapa replacement. Africa has been scarred by the effects of colonialism.
Its peoples, its flora and fauna, its riches, its artefacts, its humanity, has suffered centuries of degradation. Even its stories have been expropriated. ANA and our partners are seeking to reverse this and to have the world hear and feel our stories of aspiration, innovation, ambition, style, and dignity.
Africa is Rising and ANA is here to tell its many stories.
Global Editor-in-Chief Lindiz van Zilla said: “ANA strives to produce authentic, definitive and highquality content which reflects the many nuances of our diverse but interconnected continent.”
ANA CEO Grant Fredericks said: “We are not after charity. As with all of Africa, all we are asking for is a fair shake.
“We offer a world-class product, formed and honed right here in Africa, and we are saying to the world, ‘if you want to know what Africa is truly about, then come to ANA’.
“We live in such an interconnected world today and it is only proper that Africa takes its rightful place among the family of nations as an equal, respected and valued member.”
We offer a world-class product... We are saying to the world, ‘if you want to know what Africa is truly about, then come to ANA’
Lindiz van Zilla
Global Editor-in-Chief, ANA