News agency: definition and difference from a PR agency

What is a news agency?

A news agency is an information provider for the media. It employs journalists who produce news wires, photos, and videos, and then makes them available to newsrooms, often via subscription.

Newsrooms rely on this content to cover topics they cannot handle themselves due to a lack of time or on-the-ground presence. Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters, and the Associated Press are the world's leading news agencies.

News agency or public relations agency?

The confusion is common, but the two professions operate on opposite principles.

• A news agency produces information and sells it to the media. Its client is the newsroom.
• A public relations agency (or PR agency) helps a company gain media coverage. Its client is the company.

In other words: a news agency supplies journalists with content, while a public relations agency connects companies with them.

Which one is relevant to you?

If you are a startup looking to gain media visibility, it is a public relations agency you need, not a press agency. To understand its role, see what a public relations agency does, and to choose one, how to choose a public relations agency.