Criticism
In 2023, SWNS Media Group's 72Point faced criticism over the transparency and ethics of its content generation practices following the discovery of articles attributed to 72Point's staff members on news websites. [12]
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | News agency |
| Founded | Early 1970s |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people | Andrew Young, Paul Walters, Martin Winter |
Number of employees | 150 (2024) |
| Subsidiaries | SWNS 72Point OATH OnePoll Talk to the Press Pinpep Content Covered Play |
| Website | swnsmediagroup |
SWNS Media Group is a UK based media company with two divisions, news agency SWNS (also known as South West News Service) and creative agency 72Point. The group operates a number of brands including OATH, OnePoll, Talk to the Press, Pinpep, LoveThis.News, Content Covered and Play. [1] [2]
The company operates from offices in London and Bristol. [3] As of 2024, SWNS Media Group employed around 150 staff including 50 producing editorial for SWNS. [4]
SWNS Media Group was founded as the Bristol Agency in the early 1970s by Roland Arblaster. [5] It is now run by directors Andrew Young, Paul Walters and Martin Winter.
In 2010 SWNS launched the website SWNS.com (Small World News Service) as a first hand source of current affairs and general interest news. [6]
In 2016 SWNS acquired the regional agencies Masons News Service, Newsteam International, Ross Parry, National News, Centre Press and Northscot. [7] [8] [9]
SWNS previous had a relationship with the alternative news website venture The London Economic, though it was understood not to leverage any editorial control. [10]
Notable previous employees include Times editor Tony Gallagher, Telegraph editor Chris Evans, former Sun editor Stuart Higgins, former Sunday Telegraph editor Ian MacGregor, former Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver, Sky News correspondent Tamara Cohen and former Downing Street Director of Communications Lee Cain. [11]
In 2023, SWNS Media Group's 72Point faced criticism over the transparency and ethics of its content generation practices following the discovery of articles attributed to 72Point's staff members on news websites. [12]
The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, having been acquired by their parent company, Guardian Media Group Limited, in 1993. In December 2024, a deal was announced to sell the paper to Tortoise Media. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
Metro is a British freesheet tabloid newspaper published by DMG Media. The newspaper is distributed from Monday to Friday mornings on public places in areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Copies are also handed out to pedestrians. In 2018, Metro overtook The Sun to become the most circulated newspaper in the United Kingdom.
ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded entertainment and new media. Its corporate headquarters were in Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles. In 2022, ICM became part of Creative Artists Agency.
WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It is the world's largest advertising company, as of 2023. WPP plc owns many companies, which include advertising, public relations, media, and market research networks such as AKQA, BCW, CMI Media Group, Essence Global, Finsbury, Grey, Hill & Knowlton, Mindshare, Ogilvy, Wavemaker, and VML. It is one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside Publicis, The Interpublic Group of Companies, and Omnicom Group. WPP has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, operated the service from his house in Manhattan for approximately 15 years. The business was eventually sold to Western Union and then United Newspapers of London. In December 2015, Cision Inc. announced it would acquire the company. On January 1, 2021, Cision formally merged PR Newswire into the company.
DMG Media is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at 9 Derry Street in Kensington, West London.
PA Media is a multimedia news agency. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers. The biggest shareholders include the Daily Mail and General Trust, News UK, and Informa.
TheStreet is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus, a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed by Bob Lang and Chris Versace. TheStreet was founded by Marty Peretz and Jim Cramer, and the site boasts numerous notable former contributors, including Aaron Task, Herb Greenberg, and Brett Arends.
EG is a provider of data, news and analytics for the UK commercial property market. It was first published in 1858, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008.
Burson is a global public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City, focused on building reputation for clients.
George Pascoe-Watson is a British journalist and public relations consultant. He was formerly the political editor of The Sun newspaper, succeeding Trevor Kavanagh in January 2006.
Roger George Parry is a media and technology entrepreneur based in the UK. He is chairman of a number of companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange including Oxford Metrics plc and YouGov plc. He is the co-founder of the international marketing communications group MSQ Partners and of the television drama production company Chrysalis Vision. He is a visiting fellow of Oxford University. And is the author of six books and writes extensively on the media and associated topics. He was chairman of the trustees of Shakespeare's Globe theatre for eight years. He is a non-executive member of the board of directors of Uber.
The Grimsby Telegraph is a daily British regional newspaper for the town of Grimsby and the surrounding area that makes up North East Lincolnshire including the rural towns of Market Rasen and Louth. The main area for the paper's distribution is in or around Grimsby and Cleethorpes. It is published six days a week with a free sister paper being published once per week.
Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The i Paper, known as i until December 2024, is a British national newspaper published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust and distributed across the United Kingdom. It is aimed at "readers and lapsed readers" of all ages and commuters with limited time, and was originally launched in 2010 as a sister paper to The Independent.
Northcliffe Media was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2012 the company was sold by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) to a newly formed company, Local World, which also bought Iliffe News and Media from the Yattendon Group. In October 2015, Trinity Mirror, later Reach plc, bought Local World.
Ross Parry Agency is a national and international news agency based in Yorkshire, England. The company is owned by South West News Service.
The UK-based National Association of Press Agencies is a loose association of some of the largest private UK news agencies like Splash, Barcroft, SWNS and Caters. The agencies work together to discuss issues of mutual interest and maintain professional standards of conduct. They also organize an annual awards ceremony known as the NAPAs which rewards the best agency generated content usually published in UK national newspapers. NAPA holds one AGM a year that usually takes place in London at the Grange City Hotel.
National World plc is a British multimedia company based in Leeds, England. The company was founded and listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2019 as a media takeover vehicle. In January 2021, it acquired JPIMedia for £10.2 million.
Chris Evans is a British journalist and the editor of The Daily Telegraph since 2014. Also Director of Content at The Telegraph Group, he was previously Executive Head of News at The Daily Telegraph.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
