Source description last updated: 20 January 2020
 
In brief: The Inter Press Service – News Agency (IPS) is a global non-profit, non-governmental news agency, emphasising on issues of development, globalisation, human rights and the environment.
 
Coverage on ecoi.net:
English language articles on human rights and women’s health.
Daily coverage on ecoi.net for countries of priorities A-C.
 
Mission/Mandate/Objectives:
The mission of IPS is to act “[…] as a communication channel that privileges the voices and the concerns of the poorest and creates a climate of understanding, accountability and participation around development, promoting a new international information order between the South and the North.” (IPS News website: About us, undated)
 
“Ever since its inception, in 1964, IPS has strived to act as an information bridge between the local and the global, and between the expert and the layperson. We combine the credibility of a professional news agency and strong penetration of traditional media markets, with a clear focus on the South, and strong relationships with civil society and the international community.” (IPS webste: The IPS News Service, undated)
 
Funding:
“The financial assets of the Association shall be constituted by membership fees, by private and corporate contributions and by any other income which the Association may receive from its non-commercial activities, and by real estate, properties or goods which may become property of the Association.” (IPS-Inter Press Service International Association - Articles of Association, undated, p. 9, Art. 34)
 
”Traditionally, IPS has three major sources of financing: income from the market, grants from multi-lateral and national development co-operation budgets and project funding (from international institutions, foundations and NGOs). In this scenario, IPS preserves its journalistic integrity through maintaining a wide diversity of revenue sources, working only with backers and initiatives that explicitly accept editorial independence, and being transparent about its sources of income. […]
The IPS Board of Directors has set a maximum limit on financial support from private sector donors at 30 % of total revenues. […]
IPS will not accept backing from private sector companies that go against our values. Recognizing that IPS has neither the human and financial resources nor the expertise to devote to ethical assessments of individual companies, IPS will rely in the first instance on credible, global and regional corporate watchdogs in deciding whether or not to accept financial backing from particular sources.
The primary point of reference will be the U. N. Global Compact, a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. […]
Furthermore, IPS will not partner with companies if their products or strategies are refuted by civil society, or other longstanding IPS constituencies.” (Code of Ethics - IPS relations with the private sector, February 2010, p. 1-2)
 
For a list of supporters from 2005 to 2010, see:
http://www.ips.org/institutional/get-to-know-us-2/our-financing/our-supporters/
 
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: “IPS tries to reach people excluded or marginalised by the process of globalisation, notably in countries of Africa, the Asia-Pacific and Latin America.” (IPS website: The IPS editorial policy, undated)
Thematic focus: Poverty and MDGs, civil society, sustainable development, globalisation and the South, inter-cultural dialogue, human rights and gender issues.
 
Methodology:
“To fulfil [its] mission, IPS has developed a three-pronged strategy that is reflected in its three main areas of work:
    Providing news and content: producing stories and analyses, which explain how events and global processes affect individuals and communities, especially the marginalised and voiceless.
    Capacity-building: empowering journalists, media organisations and civil society to be better able to communicate effectively by leveraging IPS’ unique character as a Southern-focused news agency, offering a different kind of training and follow-up.
    Dissemination and networking: building an information bridge linking civil society, international institutions, policy-makers, donors and individual readers, to promote an ongoing dialogue about communication and development for a better world.” (IPS website: Our mission, undated)
 
According to IPS, it is “the only global news organization with over 70 percent of contributors permanently based in countries of the South. Most of our writers work from their own country or region of origin. Coordinated by a global pool of editors, our diverse network of local stringers and correspondents is ideally suited to report on issues which affect the daily lives of the people they live amongst.
Our editorial products deal with economic, social, political and cultural aspects of development, with particular emphasis on covering the IPS global thematic priorities. While project-related financing often provides us with invaluable resources to delve deeper into specific topics, we have made it a point, over these many years, to retain our editorial independence over the choice of issues to address and approaches to adopt, something our audiences appreciate.
Finally, one distinctive feature of our editorial production is that as a news organization, we have made an explicit commitment to mainstreaming gender in our copy. To this end, we have developed a set of guidelines for our correspondents and stringers, and produced a set of tools to help bring a gender perspective into newsrooms around the world.” (IPS website: News and content provision, undated)
 
According to the IPS statutes, “[t]he Association shall have its registered office in Rome, Italy and may operate worldwide by creating chapters and representative offices.” (IPS: IPS-Inter Press Service International Association Articles of Association, undated, p. 1)
 
“IPS is currently governed by a 15-member board representing all continents. The board is elected every three years by the General Assembly of the association’s members. The headquarters are in Rome with regional offices in Montevideo, Bangkok, Johannesburg, New York and Bonn.” (Reddy & Izeboud, Evaluation of IPS, 2003, p. 3)
 
Language(s) of publications:
English, Spanish and French, Arabic, German, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Sumo, Swedish, Swahili and Turkish.
 
Further reading / links:
Giffard, C. Anthony: Alternative News Agencies, in: Boyd-Barrett, O. and Rantanen, T. (eds.): The Globalization of News. London: Sage Publications, 1998
 
Inter Press Service International Association: Articles of Association, undated
http://www.ips.org/institutional/documents/0_1_3_7IPS_Statutes.pdf
 
Inter Press Service International Association: Code of Ethics IPS relations with the private sector, February 2010
http://www.ips.org/institutional/documents/IPS-Code-of-Ethics.pdf
 

Sturmer, Martin: 50 Jahre Inter Press Service (IPS), 2014
https://sturmer.at/50-jahre-inter-press-service-ips/
 
 

All links accessed 6 December 2019.