Agencia EFE

   Founded by the Franco government in 1938 in the Nationalist zone during the Civil War, as the sole channel for the control of news originating from foreign agencies, EFE continued, even after the restoration of democracy, to be owned by the state, and operates, in effect, as the official news agency, with the editorial line being determined by the party in power. The largest news agency in the Spanish-speaking world, employing 1,145 people, EFE distributes information to 1,500 locations on the globe, including 137 cities in 102 countries. It releases some 300 reports daily, offering a 24-hour service to more than 2,000 journalists affiliated to EFE world-wide. Digital data is accessed through more than 1,000 terminals round the globe, linked to satellite transmitters. As well as news, EFE offers a large number of subscription services both within Spain and internationally, including sports information, photographs, a documentation bank covering the years 1939 to the present, and technical support. It markets annual compilations of information on CD-ROM.

   EFE has also, through its Departmento de Español Urgente (Department for the Defence of Spanish), founded in 1982, taken on the role of protecting traditional orthographic and grammatical norms for modern Spanish, and, especially, fostering the use of "correct" Spanish on the Internet, in opposition to the domination of English.

   EAMONN RODGERS