PA Media

History

Founded in 1868 by a group of provincial newspaper proprietors, the PA provides a London-based service of news-collecting and reporting from around the United Kingdom. The news agency's founders sought to produce a more accurate and reliable alternative to the monopoly service of the telegraph companies.

In January 1870 the agency moved from temporary offices into new headquarters at 7 Wine Office Court, off Fleet Street. At 5 a.m. on Saturday 5 February 1870, its first press telegram was transmitted. The agency's first Editor-in-Chief was Arthur Cranfield, appointed in 1926.

In 1995, PA moved from Fleet Street to Vauxhall Bridge Road, enabling the company to rapidly expand its output particularly in the sports and new media divisions.

The Press Association launched the Ananova news website in 2000. Ananova was then sold to Orange.

In 2005, the company changed its name to PA Group.

In December 2013, PA Group sold its weather business MeteoGroup, Europe's largest private sector weather company, to global growth investment firm General Atlantic.

In February 2015, PA announced the sale of its finance publications divisions, which included TelecomFinance and SatelliteFinance.

In September 2018 it was announced that the news agency was renamed from Press Association to PA Media, and the umbrella company from PA Group Limited to PA Media Group Limited. This coincided with a move from their Vauxhall Bridge Road offices to a new space that would accommodate the move toward digital media.

The editor-in-chief of the news agency is Jack Lefley, who was appointed in 2024 and began the role in 2025.

In June 2024, the Central Arbitration Committee forced PA to recognize the National Union of Journalists as the official union representing PA's editorial employees. As of May, the bargaining unit was composed of 274 workers.

Other divisions and ventures

PA Training

PA Training is Europe's biggest journalism and media training company. It was formed in 2006, when the Press Association acquired Trinity Mirror's training centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. The NCTJ course in Newcastle has been around since 1969.

The business already owned the former Westminster Press-owned Editorial Centre and merged the two businesses to become PA Training.

Alamy

Alamy, a global stock photo agency with over 400 million images as of July 2025, was wholly acquired by PA Media in February 2020. The purchase enables PA Media to enter the international stock photography market.

Other subsidiaries

Other subsidiaries include Globelynx, founded in 2001; Sticky Content, acquired in full between 2013 and 2015; StreamAMG (Advanced Media Group), acquired in April 2017; and RADAR, founded in 2017.

References

References

1. Sweney, Mark. (14 June 2012). "PA Group records 85% increase in profits and boosts chief executive's pay". The Guardian.
2. "Our Brands - PA Media Group overview of the group companies".
3. "PA Images".
4. Burrell, Ian. (28 February 2011). "Ian Burrell: Agency hatched in Victorian cab has evolved for 21st-century". The Independent.
5. (2001). "Living on a Deadline: A History of the Press Association". Virgin Books.
6. (16 December 2013). "PA sells weather business MeteoGroup for £160m". The Daily Telegraph.
7. (6 February 2015). "Press Assoc sells finance division". The Daily Telegraph.
8. (18 July 2018). "Press Association agrees sale of London HQ as it searches for new home in capital to meet needs of 'modern digital media company'". Press Gazette.
9. (20 September 2018). "Press Association to rebrand as PA Media to coincide with move to new London headquarters next year".
10. Maher, Bron. (2024-06-12). "PA Media forced to recognise NUJ as official union for editorial staff".
11. Sands, Peter. (2015-12-22). "Sands Media Services: 20 years ago - the Editorial Centre was born".
12. (12 February 2020). "PA Media Group diversifies into stock images with Alamy acquisition". The Drum.
13. (6 July 2017). "RADAR press release". PA Media Group.