Catalan News Agency (CNA), a new tool for foreign correspondents

Madrid (ACN).- This Monday, the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN) presented its English news service, the Catalan News Agency (CNA), to foreign correspondents based in Madrid. In an event with tons of journalists from all around the world, ACN’s director Saül Gordillo said that the CNA aims to publish main news stories from Catalonia for an international audience. “The CNA wants to inform people from abroad about Catalonia, but from a Catalan point of view, so that foreign media do not only have the perspective of the Madrid based press”, argued Gordillo.

The director of the agency said that the CNA is an “ambitious” project. He explained that the English website is not an automatic translation of the agency’s main contents. On the contrary, journalists elaborate the information in English starting from scratch, bearing international media and the public in mind. “We offer more contextualised information that helps to understand the Catalan reality”, he said.

“There is no news provider in Catalonia with the intention of being understood abroad”, said Gordillo. The director of the agency said that the CNA is a “strategic plan for the future”' in order to “open” the company to the world. “The Agència Catalana de Notícies is the national news agency of Catalonia. As a public service, we thought that we should project Catalonia into the world. And to do it in English, especially in this moment of economic crisis and when the relationship between Catalonia and Spain is widely discussed”, he stated. In fact, the Catalan News Agency (CNA) aims to boost the internationalisation of Catalonia from a journalistic point of view. 

The foreign correspondents that attended the event said that they found the website “useful” and “necessary”. Most of them agreed that the English service of the news agency will be especially important for them during the Catalan Parliament elections expected for the 28^th of November.

The correspondent for the Mexican journal 'Cambio', Cristina Begne, welcomed the initiative, especially because foreign media usually see Catalonia with “suspicion” as they wrongly perceive that the only language used is Catalan. Begne said that the CNA is an example of “the contrary” and argued that “it is very positive” to offer an “image of being open to the world”.

Finnish correspondent Michael Carsten said that the CNA will be “very useful” as an “important source of information” during the electoral campaign and polling day in Catalonia. He agreed that the project is an alternative way to learn about the “Catalan reality” without the filter of the Madrid press.

The English service of the Catalan News Agency has three parts, as world news editor in chief, Albert Segura, explained. The first one is a digital newspaper that includes the main news stories of the day. The second part of the website is an opinion blog called 'Catalan Views' in which recognised figures from the Catalan political, cultural, economic and social spheres participate. Finally, the third service of the website is a newsletter with the most important information from the last fifteen days that will be sent to Catalan institutions abroad, foreign media, enterprises, tourist operators and universities. All the content of the CNA website is multimedia, as it is based on information provided by the ACN.