The Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), a branch of the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

, is a membership organization for Arabic-language, national news agencies, currently of 18 or 19 members and established in 1975 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon.

Mission

FANA's mission is to promote cooperation among its members and around the world. FANA reflects development of similar regional groups including the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN), the

European Alliance of News Agencies The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) is a federation of news agencies in Europe. The organisation was founded in 1956 and is based in Bern at the seat of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency (sda). As of 2015, EANA has 32 members. EANA's predec ...

(EANA), the and the

Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) is an association of news agencies from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) member states in the Asia-Pacific region. It was previously known as the Organi ...

(OANA).

History

Efforts to form a union of Arab national news agencies started on October 28, 1964, in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, and resulted in a conference in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, Jordan, in 1965. In January 1974, the

League of Arab States League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

("Arab League") called for a second conference, held in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, Iraq, in April 1974. During a third conference in Beirut in 1975, the Federation of Arab News Agencies formed and made Beirut its headquarters, whose founding members came from Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.

Organization

FANA holds an annual General Assembly every November, while general managers of its national news agency members meet semi-annually. FANA held the 49th Conference of its General Assembly in Abu Dhab in November 2022 with the participation of the 14 news agencies' directors or their representatives.

Members

FANA's official English website has varying current members listed, which include: # Algeria -

Algeria Press Service Algeria Press Service (APS; french: Algérie Presse Service, links=, lit=, translit=, label=; ar, وكالة الأنباء الجزائرية, links=, lit=, translit=Wakālat al-’Anbā’ al-Jazā’iriyyah; ber, ⵜⴰⵡⴰⴽⵍⴰ � ...

(APS) # Bahrain -

Bahrain News Agency The Bahrain News Agency (BNA) is the state news agency of Bahrain. History and profile The BNA was established in 1976 with the name of the Gulf News Agency. In 2001 it was renamed as the Bahrain News Agency. The agency is run under the Minist ...

(BNA) # Egypt -

Middle East News Agency The Middle East News Agency (MENA) is a news agency based in Egypt. It is run by the Egyptian government. History and profile The MENA was founded on 15 December 1955 as a joint stock company owned by Egyptian press establishments. The agency, ...

(MENA) # Iraq -

National Iraqi News Agency The National Iraqi News Agency ( ar, الوكالة الوطنية العراقية للأنباء), or NINA, was the first independent news agency in Iraq after the Iraq War. It is primarily an Internet-based news outlet, although it plans to o ...

(NINA) # Jordan - Jordan News Agency (PETRA) # Kuwait -

Kuwait News Agency Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) is an official state news wire service based in Kuwait. History and structure KUNA was established in 1956. It was reorganized in 1976 as an independent body. However, it functions as a branch of the Ministry of Inform ...

(KUNA) # Lebanon - National News Agency (NNA) # Libya - Libyan News Agency (LANA) (AKA

Jamahiriya News Agency The Libyan News Agency, also known as LANA, is the official state news agency of State Of Libya It continues to operate online owww.lana-news.ly It was founded in 1964 as the Libyan News Agency by a royal decree, amended in 1970 after the 1969 co ...

) # Mauritania - Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) # Morocco -

Maghreb Arabe Press Maroc Agence Presse (known as MAP, french: Maroc Agence Presse) is the Moroccan state-owned official news agency. History and profile The agency was founded on 31 May 1959 by Mehdi Bennouna in Rabat. It was nationalized in 1973. The directo ...

(MAP) # Oman -

Oman News Agency Oman News Agency (, ONA) is the official news agency of the government of Oman. It was established by royal decree in 1997. It is bilingual in English and Arabic languages. See also * Federation of Arab News Agencies The Federation of Arab New ...

(ONA) # Palestine -

Palestine News Agency , abbreviation = WAFA , logo = wafalogo.jpg , image = , image_size = , image_alt = , image_caption = , type = News agency , products = Wire service, News, Photos, Video , formation = , fou ...

(WAFA) # Qatar -

Qatar News Agency Qatar News Agency () is a state-run Qatari news agency.Saudi Press Agency The Saudi Press Agency (SPA; ar, وكالة الأنباء السعودية) is the official news agency of Saudi Arabia. History and profile The agency was established in 1970 as the first national news agency in Saudi Arabia. The agency is a ...

(SPA) # Syria -

Syrian Arab News Agency The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) ( ar, الوكالة العربية السورية للأنباء (سانا), ) is a Syrian state-controlled news agency, linked to the country's ministry of information. It was established in June 1965. We ...

(SANA) # Sudan -

Sudan News Agency Sudan News Agency, also known as SUNA, is the official news agency of Sudan. It provides news to other organizations in English, French and Arabic. History and profile The Sudan News Agency was launched in 1971. Abdul Karim Mehdi was the first ...

(SUNA) # Tunisia -

Tunis Afrique Presse Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) ( ar, وكالة تونس إفريقيا للأنباء) is a Tunisian press agency. History and profile The agency, based in Tunis, was founded on 1 January 1961. With a corps of 300 agents, including photographers, r ...

(TAP) # UAE -

Emirates News Agency Emirates News Agency ( ar, وكالة أنباء الإمارات, Wakalat Anba'a al Emarat), also known as WAM, is the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates. History and profile The WAM was established in November 1976. It started an ...

(WAM) # Yemen -

Saba News Agency The Saba News Agency (SABA), also known as the Yemen News Agency, is the official state news agency of Yemen. History and profile SABA was founded on 16 November 1970 as the official news agency of North Yemen, and is headquartered in the capi ...

(SABA) Non-members (but Arab League members): #

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

- no national news agency #

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

- Agence Djiboutienne d'Information #

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

- no national news agency

Leadership

FANA's current head is Abdullah bin Fahd bin Mohammed Al-Hussein. FANA's leadership has included: *

Ziyad Abdel Fattah Ziyad Jamil Abdel Fattah (Arabic: زياد عبد الفتاح; born March 3, 1939) is a Palestinian politician, writer, journalist and novelist, born in Tulkarm, Palestine. He is one of the leaders of the Fatah movement, founder of the Pales ...

(1978-????) * Nasr Taha Mustafa (2003-2005)

Awards

* 2006: Best Photo to Layal Najib (1983-2006)

References

{{reflist

External links

FANA English

FANA Arabic

UIA FANA
News agencies Arab mass media Arab news agencies News agencies based in Lebanon Organizations established in 1975