Chapter 4, detailed outline

Global news and information flow in the internet age




I- Introduction

- The internet is universally characterized as a revolutionary medium because it has opened up an altogether new world pf information and communication.

- Apart from using the Internet as a speedy means of communication for personal and professional reason, users are turning to this multimedia, interactive medium to specify and obtain then news, information and entertainment they need from across the world.

- This need-based information consumption pattern facilitated by the Internet is radically different from the centuries-old model in which the consumer is at the end news and information selected and purveyed by traditional media gatekeepers
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- News and information consumption patters of Internet Users are bound to show ever more reliance on this digital model as opposed to the traditional media.


II- Origin and early history of news agencies

- News and mercantile information needs of the mass market press that emerged in the first half of the 1800s provided the incentive for the creation of at least 3 of the major Western news agencies- the Associated Press, Reuters , and Agence France-Presse.

- By selling their products to many newspapers, news agencies could supply a large amount of news at less expense than a newspaper would.

- News agencies also had greater financial resources than the average news paper to invest in technical facilities such as the telegraph, to transmit the news as quickly as possible.

a- Agence France-presse

- The oldest of what were eventually to become the four major Western international news agencies.

- It was created by Frenchman Charles-Louis Havas in 1835.
- It grew out of a news distribution service, used mostly by merchants and government officials.

- Havas expanded his operations by hiring more correspondents and using the newly invented telegraph for faster delivery of news.

- In 1944, after liberation from occupying Nazi forces, the Havas Agency was given its present name, Agence France-Presse.

b- Associated press

- It grew out of the Harbor News Association, formed by 10 men representing six New York City newspapers in 1848 to pool efforts for collecting international news and to offset the prohibitive cost of transmitting news by telegraph.

-Two major changes have taken place in AP organization since 1945:

1- The U.S Supreme Court held illegal a clause in AP bylaws under which members could block the effort of a competitor in the same city to obtain AP news service by requiring election to membership, as a result AP membership was opened to all qualified U.S News papers.

2- In 1946, radio stations, for the first time, were granted associated membership in AP.

c- Reuters

- It opened 1851, by Paul Julius Reuter, a German-born immigrant.

- Reuters share ownership is now spread around the world , with the most significant holdings in Britain and the United States.

d- United press international

- It was established on July 21,1907, as the United Press Association because its founder believed there should be no restrictions on who could buy news from a news service.

- It was instrumental in freeing up news collection and dissemination worldwide by rejecting a cartel arrangement established by the other major Western news agencies in 1869.

e- ITAR-TASS

- Another of the world's largest news agencies is the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia.
- It has retained its status as the state central information agency.

III- International news agencies today

A- Associated press

-Today, it serves as source of news , photos, graphics, audio and video for more than 1 billion people every day.

- The AP news services are delivered in the form of state, national, and international wires.

- AP's international wire is available in four foreign languages: French, Spanish, German, and Dutch.

- It delivers top international and U.S news by explaining complex issues with simplicity.

b- United press international

- Leading supplier of knowledge-based products to the Internet.

- It provides up-to-date information for readers who are looking for news in a short, concise format pf 100 to 200 words.

- UPI perspectives provide readers with issue-focused reports required to make informed business or policy decisions.

- Reports are issued in the form of analysis, commentary, feature stories and special reports, and people in the news.

c- Reuters

- It dedicates the bulk of its resources to providing financial information to the global financial markets.

- Its information and news products include real-time financial data, collective investment data, numerical, textual, historical, and graphical databases, plus news services and broadcast media, websites, and consumers.

- It also uses the Internet extensively for wider distribution of information and news.

d- Agence France-presse

- AFP continues to provide a variety of services for the traditional media but has also developed a new line of services for the online sector.

- It is the only international agency to distribute in Arabic.

e- ITAR-TASS and Interfax

- ITAR-TASS is the state-owned successor to the soviet-era Tass news agency.

- It was a propaganda arm of the Soviet communist system, often providing its news service practically free to countries that were potential candidates for communism.

- ITAR-TASS's transition to an independent, objective, and reliable agency is still far from complete.

- ITAR-TASS is facing stiff competition from another Russian news agency called Interfax, which offers general and financial news services.

IV- Supplemental news agencies

- Newspapers needing more specialized fare, such as hard news exclusives, investigative reporting, political commentary, and concentrated business coverage, turn to supplemental wire services.

V- Broadcast news services

VI- Global newspapers, Magazines and Broadcasters

- Several international newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting organizations also play a significant role as purveyors of news globally.

- Three newspapers that are especially valued by opinion leaders around the world are the New York Times, The Times of London, and the Guardian, also from Britain.

VII- News flow patterns: offline and online

- The Internet offers the best hope to developing countries seeking a low-cost vehicle for news distribution and a more balanced flow of news globally.

- Although the distribution of news by a news agency to its clients via the Internet is much cheaper than via the traditional telecommunications system, a budding news agency must meet other costs and challenges before its acquires the necessary credibility as global news service.
- The financing required to hire the necessary staff and maintain news bureaus around the world is beyond the reach of most developing countries.
- There is also the issue of quality of information, for the information available on the Internet; credibility will be a source of power and influence.

- Therefore, the emerging news agencies will have a lot of catching up to do before they can compete with the established Western news agencies, and that will not be an easy task.

- The Internet has greater promise in serving as an equalizer in the skewed flow of news and information globally, another of the concerns raised by the developing world.

VIII- The outlook

- The mergence of democracy has considerably lessened the obstacles that news agencies and foreign correspondents encounter in covering news.

- Authoritarian governments in many countries continue to create several obstacles in the coverage of news, including restricted access, explicit or implicit censorship, and pressure against correspondents.

- Direct action against foreign correspondents is the most extreme and dangerous obstacle to free news coverage.

- Economic growth and the opportunities provided by the Internet should make it easier for many developing countries to expand their newsgathering and news dissemination operations.