Press Trust of India, the country’s premier news agency, is planning to launch a video and a multimedia service, its outgoing Chairman N Ravi announced on Friday.

Addressing the 71st Annual General Meeting(AGM) of the shareholders of PTI, Ravi said the plan is proceeding at a good speed and the news agency’s customers will start getting new video and multi-media offerings early next year.

Ravi said plans to expand PTI’s services and its footprint have received an encouraging response and all-round support.

He said the news cooperative now “stands at the threshold of becoming a complete news agency” providing text, video and multimedia services.

“With the launch of the video service and the multi-media service, PTI will be transformed on the lines of the leading international news agencies with a complete bouquet of news services,” said Ravi, who is Publisher and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu.

The video service will cater to broadcasters and digital media subscribers.

Ravi also thanked the restructuring work of the previous chairman Vivek Goenka and those who preceded him in this transformative effort.

He noted that the “most important achievement of PTI in these challenging times has been to retain its unquestionable credibility.”

At a time when doubts are being raised over media’s integrity in the face of ‘fake news’ and ‘news plants’, PTI because of its diligent editorial scrutiny has been able to maintain the highest standards of journalism, Ravi said.

PTI is a not-for-profit news cooperative, whose shareholders include publishers of major Indian newspapers, and is managed by a 16-member Board of Directors.

The AGM of its shareholders elects a new chairman of the Board every year.

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