EU Reporter gala evening: 'Agency fills the gap'

Speaking at EU Reporter’s gala evening on 11 February 2014, in the presence of Greek Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas, EU Reporter Agency Technical Director Philip Declerq (pictured) told the audience:

"The EU Reporter Agency is a simple yet fundamental concept, and I will try to prove to you its simplicity by taking no more than one minute of your time to explain you all there is to know

"We all see with regret that important foreign media have decided to close their foreign offices  in Brussels,

"In the past 12 months, we have seen the closing of ITN and Al Jazeera in Brussels.

"The media industry is going through two crises.

"There is the crisis that we all know something about, of course, but there is a much deeper crisis, which is how to adapt, or how to find a new economic model, in the high-speed internet age.

"As long as no new models are found, there are budget cuts and essential offices representing independent communication about what happens in Brussels, at an EU level, NATO level and elsewhere, are closed. This means the end of the gatekeeper.

"Brussels remains a very important place for news gathering; the argument that Europe's importance is fading is wishful thinking for some, and needs to be answerer.

EU Reporter Agency is one such reply - it is a commercial initiative, but first and foremost it is about believing in Europe.

"EU Reporter Agency fills the gap - we offer to broadcasters from anywhere in the world to be their interim overseas bureau when there is an event to cover, and  we offer multilingual  TV journalists with a proven track record combined with  broadcast quality facilities.

"Moreover, we adapt to the editorial line of the broadcasters who commission us. And we do this for a guaranteed fixed price per story, whatever it takes to produce it.

"This is our 'USP' - the unique selling point of EU Reporter Agency."

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