Germany's leading international news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, is to create 20 jobs in Cork City by the end of the year. DPA has chosen Cork as a base to edit its English-speaking news service for all its international markets.
The operation, supported by IDA Ireland, will be known as DPA News International Limited. The jobs created will be available to English speaking journalists or university graduates with a good knowledge of German.
Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said: "DPA is the first news gathering operation to locate in Ireland and will further enhance the country's profile as a suitable base for such international operations.
"The Cork operation will be an important and integral part of DPA's global business into the future, as it will have sole responsibility for the English language world-wide service.
"It is also an excellent example of the type of investment which the Government's and IDA Ireland's strategies are designed to attract - a high quality international services company providing skilled employment opportunities for graduates," said Mary Harney.
On producing DPA's international service in English, the Cork operation will gather reports from DPA bureaux in Germany and in more than 100 other countries. Cork will be the service's central editing desk, co-operating with the regional sub-desks in Washington DC and Bangkok. It will also be responsible for DPA's online service in English. This service is a news product that covers topics from world politics to business, sports and entertainment, combining text, pictures and graphics.
The service is provided to close to 200 subscribers, which include newspapers, news agencies, radio and television stations, portals, syndicators and databases, as well as the corporate market, across the world. The service reaches thousands of end clients and many millions of readers every day.
The establishment of the editing desk in Cork is part of DPA's strategy to concentrate on four major languages for its international operations - English, Spanish, Arabic and German and to produce these services in the native linguistic territories.
With its headquarters in Hamburg, DPA began operations in 1949 and is a limited company with almost 200 shareholders, which include newspaper and magazine publishers, publishing houses and public and private broadcasters. It employs 1,100 people, plus hundreds of stringers and freelancers, in over 100 countries.
