About us

About
MediaConnect

A susbsidiary of the global news agency AFP, MediaConnect provides a secure, professional route for companies and organisations to communicate with the media.

What does MediaConnect do?

MediaConnect is a platform designed for media and communications professionals with two key goals:

To make it easy to access information released by companies, organisations and institutions.
To offer journalists, freelance writers and bloggers secure access to certified information.

Members of the public can also access the platform as visitors to see the source behind the news and to find out how it was originally formulated.

The platform serves both as a database and search engine. It stores press statements and rich media content including text, photo, video and graphics from companies, organisations and institutions. These are sorted by subject, media type and chronologically, dating back months or years to the birth of the platform in 2021.

How does it work?

The database offers content via email alerts to journalists, freelance writers, bloggers and influencers according to their chosen preferences.

Journalists create a user account to get access to a secure, dedicated space. They can select their email alerts through a search request or by subscribing to certain subjects or information providers.

A transport specialist, for example, can set up the account to give priority to related content. With the click of a mouse, a television journalist can search an image bank by media. Journalists can also follow news conferences in live video. And consult an interactive agenda, which lets users choose alerts to upcoming events by subject, get accredited and integrate events into their own calendars.

The platform complies with GDPR data protection and privacy laws, allowing personal data to be deleted easily if a user so wishes. Data are reserved for the sole use of MediaConnect.

Businesses and organisations get a dedicated 'pressroom' interface, illustrated with their logo, address, corporate web site, social network links etc., which lets them manage and present their own content directly. A control panel offers an instant view of key indicators of activity on the pressroom page. Directly from the same interface, they can send content by email to their own contacts, which can be easily imported. Connection options include notably LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple.

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How is the content shared?

Content is provided by companies, organisations and institutions, who are the content providers. MediaConnect's editorial team checks that the content respects the law (notably regarding racist, sexist, homophobic and hate-speech content) and that it does not present a health or safety risk, or a deliberate and proven attempt to mislead the public.

The team also highlights content most likely to be used by the press in the "Top News" section

However, no change is made to the published text or visual content. Providers are entirely responsible for the content they place on the platform.

Content that does not respect the law is removed from the platform. Users are advised of its withdrawal.

Media are obviously free to chose whether to use the content to which they have access. The fact that a statement appears on MediaConnect does not imply in any way that it may be published on AFP news services or platforms.

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Is the content secure?

Access to the platform requires two-step verification: a login and password as well as a code sent by SMS to a verified mobile phone number. Content providers may also authenticate text content with a blockchain-secured embeded code that gives proof of identity, date, and the integrity of the document.

When journalists download a secured PDF-format text document, they can drag and drop it over a shield icon on the platform, guaranteeing that it comes from the identified source and that it is indeed the content that was originally posted.

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What is the economic model?

The platform is financed by the content providers through subscriptions or by à la carte purchases. Access to journalists and the public is free.

How was MediaConnect born?

MediaConnect is a joint venture between AFP and its joint venture partner Epresspack, the European specialist in software solutions for communcations professionals.

AFP brings its deep knowledge of multimedia content and journalists' needs. For more than 10 years, Espresspack has been offering complete technical solutions with advanced features to allow major brands and companies to meet their content strategy challenges.

The associated Blockchain technlogy was developed by Keeex, a leader on the French market.

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