Today we have an additional newsletter. We don’t normally do this but we were impatient to tell you about our partnership with the European Press Agency and an exclusive 35% offer code we have for you.
Yes, this is a sponsored newsletter, but we have met the team behind EUPA and we really believe in what they are doing. They support freelancers across the globe with accreditation and legal guidance as well as helping them sell their work. We chatted to founders Anna Budnikova and Marie Majkowiez about the services EUPA provide to freelance journalists.
Can you tell us what the European Press Agency is and who it was created for?
The EUPA is a press agency that was particularly created for freelance media content makers. It is dedicated to all kind of independent professionals: journalists, photographers, reporters, bloggers, web TV hosts, podcasters, influencers, etc.
Basically, EUPA is for everyone producing media contents of professional quality. In our opinion, the term “professional” matches the quality of one’s work and is not income generated, level of studies or percentage of activity. That’s why we warmly welcome part time freelancers and newcomers. Our main idea was to offer new media actors the same rights and protection than mainstream medias employees enjoy.
The EUPA also developed a commercialisation platform available worldwide, where its accredited members can post their contents and sell them directly to the media.
Why did you decide to set it up?
Until recently, information was largely restricted to major news agencies and mass media groups. Now, however, the mediums for broadcast, and the type of content instantly available to users, has increased at an unmatched pace. The emergence of new technologies and players means that the major daily newspapers and national television channels are challenged, and even usurped by a variety of other media, including blogs, web-channels and social media accounts (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok etc.).
The legal framework governing the media industry has not yet adapted to the many new ways of doing journalism, so freelancers lack certain rights and tools to work properly.
Our agency was established to act as a platform for freelance content creators, and to provide them the rights and tools they needed, as well as our core value proposition, a commercialization platform to generate unbiased revenues for their work.
What specific tools and resources do you offer freelancers and why do you think that this is important?
We offer all our accredited members a complete press kit including a press card, a press pass, a press vehicle ID and a confirmation letter from our editorial office, contributing to building our members with a professional recognition and granting them access to numerous restricted areas, where only press members can usually enter.
Most of our documents include a QR code, allowing anyone to verify their authenticity directly by scanning it with their smartphone. Some of our board members also work as legal advisors, so we are able to offer guidance and support to our members if their rights or integrity are threatened while pursuing their activities.
Finally, our main tool has to be our content commercialisation platform, where every EUPA member can create a personal account, upload many types of files (videos, photos, articles) and sell them directly to media interested in their original content.
Can you tell us more about the EUPA platform where members can sell their content and how this works?
Our platform is what distinguishes us from other media agencies which offer press accreditation. Besides all the advantages we give to our members, we offer them access to a cloud-based software where they can post content and get paid for it.
Members are allowed to post articles, images, videos and set their own price for them, while media outlets who wants to have fast access to information and various content may buy what has been uploaded. We are also going to introduce a new broadcasting feature very soon, allowing our members to stream live and get paid for attending to various kind of events. We’re still working hard on improving our platform to make it more user friendly and full of practical tools and support for freelancers.
Can anyone join EUPA?
Well, to start, we must admit that we are selective! As an agency, if we want to be considered as serious actor, we must rely on the trustworthiness of our members.
For this reason, we kindly ask all our applicants to read and accept the EUPA rules and the SPJ code of ethics, and to implement them in their everyday work. It’s one of the aspects that distinguishes the work of professionals from amateurs. That said, we try to publish helpful tips (like, for instance, this article: https://eupa.uk/blog/what-should-you-pay-particular-attention-to-legally-speaking-when-posting-content-on-the-internet-and-social-networks/) and are currently working on adding some high quality online courses to help newcomers who are starting their freelance careers.
How can our readers find out more about you and how to sign up?
They can start by visiting our main website: https://eupa.uk
To become a member of the EUPA, they will need to fill in the registration form https://eupa.store/register so we can see they are effectively involved in producing professional quality media content. We check every application individually ourselves.
We are not here to judge what people are writing about and we welcome every opinion. Our team only verifies if the applicant’s content matches the agency’s requirements.
After one’s application has been reviewed and validated by the EUPA, the candidate receives a welcome email with login details with which he/she/they can access the platform. At this stage, our new member can upload his/her/their photo, pay membership fees and benefit from a new press kit within approximately two weeks.
Until the end of the summer EUPA are offering all Freelancing for Journalists subscribers a 35% discount!
Please use the code FFJ35 at the bottom of the registration form.
The newsletter will be back to normal, next Wednesday! In the meantime we love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!