Algeria Press Service

This article is about the Algerian international news agency. For other uses, see APS.

Algeria Press Service
Algérie Presse Service
وكالة الأنباء الجزائرية
ⵜⴰⵡⴰⴽⵍⴰ ⵉⵙⴰⵍⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵣⴰⵢⵔ

File:Algerie Presse Service.svg
Type	Not-for-profit news agency
Industry	News media
Founded	1 December 1961 (1961-12-01)
Headquarters	Algiers, Algeria
Owner	Government of Algeria
Template:Infobox Algerian name
Website	aps.dz

Algeria Press Service (APS; French: Algérie Presse Service; Arabic: وكالـة الأنبــاء الجزائريـة‎‎; Berber: ⵜⴰⵡⴰⴽⵍⴰ ⵉⵙⴰⵍⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵣⴰⵢⵔ) is a news agency based in Algeria. Its first hand-typed news with the national flag's colours was then taken up by all the foreign media of the time.

History

The agency was founded in Algiers on 1 December 1961 in the wake of the national liberation war; it was to be the nation's standard-bearer on the world media scene. As a strong supporter of the November 1954 Revolution, APS settled soon after the cease-fire at the historic Kasbah of Algiers, the centre of the resistance during the war. The agency was preparing for the post-war period, i.e. reconstruction of the country, and consolidation of national sovereignty.

Following the Independence, APS temporarily settled in a maisonette at Krim Belkacem Boulevard, improving its editorial office. They began establishing their network throughout the country and acquiring their first technical equipment. With the equipment, APS began operating as a public-service broadcasting network. In the meantime, it started training journalists, technicians and operators.

On 1 April 1963, the agency, which moved to a building at Ernesto Che Guevara Boulevard where it stayed for over 30 years, began telegraphic news broadcasting. It got connected with other world news agencies. It also extended its network of regional bureaus and invested in its representations abroad. Its expanding photography service at the time enabled APS to distribute images of Algeria's broad reconstruction process, using the Belino System.

On 19 November 1985, APS became a public institution with economic missions, endowed with social and cultural dimensions. On 20 April 1991 it became a public institution with an industrial and economic status endowed with the prerogatives of a public organization.

In January 1993, the agency moved to its new headquarters in Kouba. It became involved in new technologiesw on 1 January 1994 launched its first computerised editorial office. On 25 April 1995 it started delivering its news automatically.

On 18 February 1998, APS inaugurated its Web site, having been hosted the previous year by the Research Centre in Scientific and Technical Information (CERIST). On 5 July 1998, both of the agency's pages in Arabic and the agency's online products were launched. This marked the starting-point of a new stage that would position the agency among the world leaders of news and communication. In November of the same year, APS launched its broadcast via satellite, which would help the agency diversify its service range. From then on, its clients would have the possibility to get remote and real time access to its data banks, its à la carte specialised services, its digital pictures and computer-graphic products.

At the agency's central editorial office, the news is collected by 12 chief editorial staffs: the political, social, cultural, sports, regional, investigations and reporting, business, data banks, international, translation and Internet departments.

Divisions

At the regional level, the news are collected by a network of correspondents gathered around 4 regional directorates and covering all of the country:

Regional directorate	Based in	Affiliated cities
Central Regional Management	Blida	Tipaza, Boumerdès, Tizi Ouzou, Béjaïa, Bouira, Djelfa, Aïn Defla and Médéa
Eastern Regional Directorate	Constantine	Batna, Annaba, Skikda, Jijel, Oum El Bouaghi, Tébessa, Souk Ahras, El Taref, Mila, Khenchela, Biskra, Guelma, Sétif, M'Sila and Bordj Bou Arréridj
Western Regional Directorate	Oran	Tlemcen, Saïda, Sidi Bel Abbès, Mostaganem, Tiaret, Tissemsilt, Aïn Témouchent, Relizane, Mascara and Chlef
Southern Regional Directorate	Ouargla	Adrar, Tamanrasset, Illizi, Tindouf, Naama, Laghouat, Bechar, Ghardaia, El Oued and El Bayadh
Overseas	Algiers	Washington, Moscow, Paris, London, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Cairo, Rabat, Tunis, Amman and Dakar

External links

• Official website (ar, ber, en, fr)