Company Summary
PA is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland and a leading provider of multimedia content and services. It serves all the UK’s major print and broadcast outlets, media and digital brands around the world, businesses and public-sector organisations.
PA’s daily output spans News, Sport, Entertainment and more, providing a rich mix of words, images, video, data, graphics and social media curation. PA also provides a comprehensive Racing & Betting service which supplies the industry with live data and editorial content, as well as Page Production and Listings services for media owners.
The news agency is part of the PA Group of specialist media companies.
Key Facts
PA’s 400 editorial staff create approximately 1 million words, 2000 photographs, 200 videos and 60 graphics each week.
Its picture archive holds over 20 million digital and physical images.
PA celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2018 and remains at the forefront of innovation in news media. In 2017 it launched RADAR, an AI-assisted service to upscale localised news.
PA history
The Press Association was founded in 1868 by a group of newspaper owners from the home nations and regions who wanted an accurate and impartial supply of national news. It transmitted its first press telegraph on 5th February 1870. PA’s ownership is still shared between newspaper groups including Archant, DMGT and News UK. The agency rebranded in recent years to dispel the misconception that PA is a membership organisation.
The PA Group emerged in 2005 from a strategy to diversify PA’s business in order to mitigate the pressures on the traditional media industry. Today PA Group incorporates news, information, technology and communications businesses.
PA Group’s current CEO is Clive Marshall.
