Luanda - The Angola Press Agency (ANGOP) will launch, in the coming days, new services on its News Portal with informative, advertising and public utility content, its CEO, Josué Salusuva Isaías, announced Wednesday.
The Agency’s CEO made the announcement, while addressing the company's 49th anniversary, a ceremony attended by the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication, Mário da Silva de Oliveira.
According to Josué Isaías, the introduction of these services, which will now be accessible through subscriptions and prepayment, will turn the Portal into a versatile, interactive, functional and modern platform.
These are steps that, if implemented, will allow the news agency to quickly reach “new heights, both from an editorial and organizational point of view, cementing its place in the National Information System”, he stressed.
In the meantime, he added, the materialization of this entire program will depend to a large extent on the resolution of what he considered to be one of the biggest constraints, namely the move to new premises or the construction of a new headquarters, since “the current ones are in a terrible technical state, with serious and very risky problems, which in no way dignify the workers.
According to Josué Isaías, this anniversary, which marks almost half a century of dedication to journalism, comes at a time when ANGOP is facing major challenges, from an editorial, technical and, fundamentally, organizational point of view.
These challenges, the CEO said, inevitably involve diversifying and improving content, technological modernization, staff training and capacity building, as well as the quest for alternative sources of income for projects to be accomplished.
He stated that these are the pillars that have guided his management since 2018, when the company's financial reorganization process began, with the physical recounting of workers, followed by the implementation of the Occupational Qualifier, “a key instrument for staff development”.
The ANGOP's CEO stressed that over the last six years, the Board of Directors has invested heavily in staff training and technological modernization, providing its professionals with the tools to face the future with optimism and produce content that better responds to the public's wishes.
He highlighted the reshuffling of the newsrooms and the salary readjustment which, he acknowledged, despite being pertinent, can no longer meet the expectations of the workers, due to the high cost of living, forcing them to study new forms of management.
“As a result of this effort, in 2018 we were able to launch a dynamic and constantly growing multimedia service, which is being consolidated every year, especially after the launch of our streaming service in 2022,” he said.
According to Josué Isaías, audiovisual projects such as podcasts, major interviews and reports are underway, as well as the gradual introduction of new content on the grid of programs such as Living Healthy, Free Talks and Economics and Analysis.
“We are aware that, despite the progress made, we need to continue to diversify the content and attract new audiences that consume, in addition to mere informative material, other types of content aimed at the commercial side,” he said, calling for ever greater creativity.
ANGOP's CEO said he is aware that these are one-off solutions that will not solve the company's financial situation, but could in some way help to materialize strategic projects, while waiting for funding.
He called on all employees to remain optimistic and to help “build a renewed ANGOP, where peace, concord, harmony, a spirit of collaboration and mutual help continue to prevail. ADR/AMP
