The organisation was founded on 21 August 1956 and is based in Bern at the seat of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency (sda).

[2] According to a London School of Economics study on news agencies published in 2019, "[b]ecause of their extensive embeddedness within national media systems, as well as their significant engagement with key stakeholders, news agencies offer a fruitful but neglected focus for a comprehensive and comparative study aiming to understand these structural changes in the contemporary media environment".

[3] Since 21 September 2018, Peter Kropsch, the CEO of the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), had been the President of EANA.

[4] For two years since 26 September 2014, Clive Marshall, the CEO of the British news agency Press Association (PA), had been the President of EANA.

[7] As of 2023[update], there are 32 members of the European Alliance of News Agencies:[8] Americas Asia Europe Oceania