News agencies: their structure and operation

217 Pages·2004·18.6 MB·English

N E W S AGENCIES
Their Structure
and
Operation
U N E S C O
N E W S A G E N C I E S
Published in 1953 by the United Nations
Educational, Scientijc and Cultural Organization
19, avenue Kle'ber, Paris-16e
Printed by Gorges Lang, Paris.
Printed in France
YC.52.D.ltlA
F O R E W O R D
e
The Constitution. of Unesco states that the organization will “collaborate in the work of advancing
the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication”.
Thus the Organization was doing no more than carry out one of its fundamental obligations,
when it set itself, from its inception, to study the problems involved in the transmission of news
and the informing of public opinion. If the freejow of information and ideas is to be ensured,
the progress which has been achieved in the jield of technology, and which has made possible the
faster and fuller transmission of news must be utilized to serve an ever greater part of mankind.
It was to further this aim that Unesco jirst undertook the compilation of the most exhaustive
possible inventory of the existing technical facilities of communication: a world-wide survey
was begun in 1947 and jinished in 1951. Such a survey could only confirm the capital role
played by telegraphic news agencies in informing public opinion. Reports on the survey were
published year by year in the series Press, Film, Radio,l but as they dealt with the communication
jacilities available country by country, it was not possible to give a complete picture of the intricate
news agency operations across the world. For the man in the street, his sources of news lie in
the newspaper, the radio, the newsreel and the documentary, but a special study was needed to
examine the way in which the raw news material reaches these media and to understand thef unction-
ing of national and world news agencies and the relations between them.2
To prepare the present study the information collected during the surveys in each country
was collated and regrouped according to a standard pattern for each agency. The individual
-
agencies were then requested to correct and amplify the report on their activities thus presented.
The great majority of them willingly agreed to co-operatei n this work.
For the historical chapter information was obtained not only from published sources but
also from the agencies themselves, who provided Unesco with data from their archives.
The chapter on the legal status of agencies was prepared by Mr. F. Terrou (France), a
specialist on the legislation concerning information media.
Finally,f or the technical chapters, the International Telecommunication Union very kindly
placed its vast documentation service at Unesco’s ditfposal and assisted the Organization with
the udvice of its experts.
Unesco wishes to record its gratitude to the Secretary-General of the ITU, to the directors
of news agencies and to all who have co-operated in the preparation of this work.
1 Reports on he Facilities of Mass Communication: Press, Film, Radio. Five volumes, Unesco, Paris, 1947-51.
The data published in this book have been checked as carefully as possible, but certain errors may still remain uncorrected.
For future editions, it would be greatly appreciated if any such errors or omissions were drawn to Unesco’s attention.
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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL REVIEW
The Creation and Development of Telegraphic News Agencies . . . . . . . . 11
Chronological List of Telegraphic News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Evolution of the Relations between the World News Agenciea . . . . . . . . 18
Relations between the World Telegraphic Agencies and Other Agencies I . . . . . 20
Relations between National News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Agreements between Telegraphic News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CHAPTER 11 . THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OF NEWS AGENCIES
The Particular Legal Problems of News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Legal Definition of News Agencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Constitution of News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Functioning of News Agencies: Conditions and Legal Status of the Service for the Collection and
Dissemination of News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Problem of the Legal Protection of News . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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CHAPTER 111 . THE TELEGRAPHIC NEWS AGENCIES
A . World Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
B . National Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
C . Specialized Telegraphic News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 32
D . Telegraphic News Agencies which have Ceased Operation . . . . . . . . 1 39
CHAPTER IV. TELECOMMUNICATION AND THE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS 'r
The Growth of International Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 46
The Use of Telecommunication by News Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . 1 53
CHAPTER v . THE INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF PRESS MESSAGES
The Evolution of the International Regulations of Telecommunication. . . . . . . 1 61
General Regulations of Particular Interest to the Press . . . . . . . . . . 16 7
Regulations Specifically Dealing with Press Telegrams . . . . . . . . . . 1 73
CHAPTER VI. NEWS AGENCIES AND RADIO BROADCASTING
Development of News Broadcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 178
Sources of News for Broadcasting Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 82
Broadcasting as a Source of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 82
CHAPTER VII. HOW THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN EACH COUNTRY RECEIVES ITS NEWS
Classification of Countries or Territmies according to the Manner in which World News is Distributed 185
Classification of Countries or Territories according to the World Telegraphic Agencies within whose
Zones of Influence they fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 93
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CONCLUSION . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 99
APPENDIX . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 03
INDEX. A LPHABETICAL LIST OF TELEGRAPHIC NEWS AGENCIES . . . . . . . . . . 2 06
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Something of a revolution in journalism occurred when the so-called “cheap press” first
made its appearance in France in 1836, and in Great Britain, following the final abolution
of the stamp duties, 19 years later. The newspapers, which until then had been concerned
more with principles and polemics than with “news” proper, changed their character and
became organs of information, and it was clear that no publication in any country had the
financial and technical means to gather, transmit and ensure the rapid reception of all the
news henceforth demanded by its readers, whose curiosity was expanding with their
education.
Thus the birth of the great “news” organs of the press was a factor in the development
of telegraphic agencies. These, which at first were commercial enterprises, could, by selling
news to an ever-increasing number of customers, supply them with this commodity at less
expense and as quickly as the telegraphic facilities of the period permitted.
Telegraphic news agencies have evolved rapidly since their introduction just over 100
years ago, this process being considerably assisted by the improvement and general spread
of telecommunications. Today, no newspaper or broadcasting station in the world which
wants to keep its readers or listeners informed of world events can afford to forego the services
of a telegraphic news agency. Even for domestic news, newspapers and radio stations will
find it useful to subscribe to the country’s national agency, however many their own local
correspondents may be, if only to ensure that they have not “missed” any important event.
A national agency is better equipped than they are to provide a complete national information
service.
When it comes to “foreign” news, only the great international telegraphic agencies have
the financial and technical resouces and the powerful and comprehensive organization
required for gathering and transmitting all the essential news of the world in the shortest
possible time.
Indeed, it is even less possible today than it was a century ago for a single paper-or
the news service of a single broadcasting station-to bear the cost of sending and maintaining
correspondents abroad or the costs of transmission, and the greatly increased number of
news centres throughout the world does not make matters any easier.
In addition, the speedy transmission of news-an increasingly important factor-
requires .delicate and expensive equipment which no newspaper 01- broadcasting station
could afford to set up in all parts of the world for its own exclusive use.
Intensified competition between papers and the prestige as news distributors acquired
during the second world war by broadcasting stations-a prestige they are anxious to retain-
compel all newspapers and radio stations to subscribe to the services of one or more telegraphic
news agencies. W e m ay therefore conclude that it is only through the services of national
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and world agencies that the general public in each country can be kept informed of what
is going on at home and abroad.1
At the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, national
agencies were still few in number. Moreover, by agreements between themselves, the world
agencies had to all intents and purposes divided the world into zones, in each of which one
agency had a news-gathering and distribution monopoly.2 Consequently, countries received
their news from a single source-from Havas, from Rauters or from Wolff. About the same
time, a national co-operative newspaper agency, the Associated Press, was established in
the United States. It concluded agreements with the three European agencies, which pro-
vided it with the same service of world news they sent to other countries.
In 1952, the situation is no longer the same. The world agencies have ceased, in prin-
ciple, to have a monopoly in “exclusive” zones, and may (except when the law in certain
countries forbids it) distribute their services in every part of the world. But although the
agreements between the world agencies no longer exist, in fact their freedom of action remains
largely theoretical; new distribution zones have appeared, corresponding to political and
ideological spheres of influence. Moreover, owing to the very high cost of the collection
and distribution of news in areas of the world where there is still open competition, and
owing, indeed, to that competition itself, some of the big world agencies have been driven
out of parts of the market for commercial reasons, and have to concentrate on other regions
where conditions are more favourable.
There is another very important factor which has markedly modified the organization
of news distribution throughout the world. In the past 35 years, and more particularly
since the end of the second world war, national agencies have sprung up in large numbers,
and in a great many countries they have a monopoly in the distribution of both domestic
and world news. Having signed contracts with the world agencies, they act as distributors
for them. Yet, obviously, before distributing the world agencies’ services, they make a
selection of which they are the sole judges, thereby making the news still less “universal”.
Such are the new features of news agency operation in 1952.
In the present work, the various aspects of news supply are studied from different angles.
Chapter I outlines)t he history of agencies and of the agreements between the world agencies.
It also includes a chronological list of agencies of all countries, which shows the extent to
which national agencies have sprung up since 1920. The legal system governing agency
operation and the problem of the ownership of news are studied in Chapter 11. Chapter I11
contains reports, as accurate as possible, on the various telegraphic agencies which gather
and distribute news in all parts of the world. Chapters IV and V study the relationship
bettveen telecommunications and telegraphic news agencies. The development of telecommun-
ications at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century decisively
influenced the growth of news agencies; it is therefore necessary to trace the history of tele-
communications, to mention the various international agreements governing them, and to
refer to their international organization, in so far as these matters affected the news agencies.
Chapter VI is devoted to an examination of the use made of news by broadcasting stations
and their relations with news agencies. Lastly, Chapter VI1 studies the most important
question of all-how the general public in each country gets its news.
1 The term “national agencies” is used to mean telegraphic news agencies which collect and distribute exclusively (or almost
exclusively) domestic news. The term “world agencies” means the telegraphic news agencies (of which there are six) which
collect and distribute news throughout the greater part of the world, either directly or through national agencies (see Chapter 111,
page 35).
The history of these agreements is studied in detail in Chapter I.
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,
C H A P T E R I
HISTORICAL REVIEW
THE CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TELEGRAPHIC NEWS AGENCIES
ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPHIC NEWS AGENCIES IN THE chief factors which decided the newspapers to sub-
NINETEENTH CENTURY scribe to the Havas Agency. In 1848, Havas began
methodically to organize links between Paris, London
The origin of telegraphic news agencies goes back to and Brussels and, two years later, between Paris,
the year 1825. In that year, a young Frenchman of Rome, Vienna and the principal cities of Germany.*
Hungarian extraction, Charles Havas, having toured In Germany, in 1848, Bernard Wolff, who had
Europe to secure the services of correspondents in the worked for the Havas office in its early days, became
various capitals, organized a news bureau. The news director of the Berlin paper National-Zeitung. In
was sent to the bureau by Havas's correspondents, order to reduce the cost of obtaining news for his
either by special courier or by post, and after it had own paper, he made a proposal to a number of other
been dealt with by translators and editors it was publications, and to some commercial firms, for
distributed to the subscribers. The first subscribers passing on to them his news service if they would
were private individuals diplomats, traders and finan- help to finance him. To begin with, he merely sent
ciers; when in 1826 Havas suggested to the newspapers stock exchange quotations from Hamburg, Frank-
that they should take out subscriptions, he met with furt on Main and Paris, but from 1855 onwards
blank refusals all round. It was not until 1836, he also provided general news items which he received
when Emile de Girardin launched La Presse (soon to over the telegraph wires recently erected in Germany
be followed by Dutacq with Le Sidclej, that the appear- and Northern Europe. Wolff's initiative became
ance of cheap press made news available to the very successful in Germany and finally led to the I
general public. From then onwards the newspapers establishment of the Wolff Agency.2
of Europe, previously far more concerned with prin- In England, the principal London papers had,
ciples and polemics than with news, underwent a since the beginning of the nineteenth century, had
radical change. A rapidly developing interest was their correspondent6 in the main provincial towns,
taken by an ever-growing public in current events, from which they sent periodical letters containing
and demand for ideological discussions or articles information about their local areas. They engaged
with a political flavour fell away. in keen competition, sending messengers to meet
ships from abroad as soon as they docked, to collect
information on events outside the United Kingdom.
BIRTH OF THE FIRST TELEGRAPHIC AGENCIES The general introduction of the electric telegraph in
1848, and the extension of postal services, had made it
Charles Havas foresaw that development. He had possible to obtain quicker news about the United '
bought a small undertaking on lines similar to his Kingdom itself. In 1851, the London-Paris cable
awn-the Correspondance Gamier-which provided started operating; this meant that the British press
him with private subscribers as well as with new could also obtain foreign news rapidly by telegram.
sources of information. He reorganized the Havas By that time, The Times was sending correspondents
office and, in 1835, created the Havas Agency. From abroad to cover special events.
the9 onwards, the director of the agency increased In 1851, a young German, Julius Reuter, who had
the number of his correspondents, evolved a service also worked for some years in the Havas office as a
for the speedy translation of foreign newspapers translator, opened an office for commercial news in
,and, above all, improved his communications by the London Royal Exchange. Reuter, who had
using the semaphore telegraph (the first successful spent some time in Germany and Belgium studying
telegraph systems were patented in 1837). In 1840,
Havas took a new step in transmitting news from one
capital to another; he used carrier-pigeonsf or carrying 1 The development of commmications facilities is described in Chapter IV.
8 For further details on the yarious agencies mentioned in this chapter, see
despatches. Speed of communication1 was one of the Chapter 111.
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how to use the new communication media of rail gathering co-operative to be set up in the United
and telegraph for transmitting financial news, at States. It ceased to function in 1857, when it merged
once tried to interest the London newspapers in with another news agency, the Telegraphic and
his news service. But it was only in 1858, after a General News Association (which had been founded
rebuff from The Times, that he succeeded in per- in 1850), to establish a new co-operative, the New
suading a competing newspaper, the Morning Aduer- York Associated Press. The main motive for the
tiser, experimentally to publish the news items he creation of this new venture was the high cost of
distributed to private individuals. The experiment transmitting telegrams: the telegraph was, in fact,
proved conclusive, and by the end of 1858 the ma- by that time, beginning to take on a considerable
jority of London new~papers,i ncluding The Times, extension in the United States. This New York
had subscribed to Reuter’s service. Associated Press never comprised more than seven
At the instigation of Cavour, Prime Minister of members, but it included all the important papers
Piedmont, who had grasped the future importance published in the city. In order still further to reduce
of news, a Trieste journalist, Stefani, organized in costs, the association extended its services to publi-
1853 a news agency which increased in size as Italy cations in other parts of the United States. So far .
became united. For news from abroad, however, as possible, it dealt with groups of newspapers. Cer-
the Stefani Agency resorted to a foreign agency, tain of these groups which maintained relations with
and concluded a contract with Havas. the New York Associated Press gradually formed
In 1850, there already existed in Vienna the KK regional associations of their own-the Western
Telegraphen Korrespondenz-Bureau, which distri- Associated Press, the Southern Associated Press
buted articles to the newspapers published by the and the New England Associated Press, all of which
Austro-Hungarian Government. In 1860, this govern- became affiliated to the New York association.
ment was the first to set up an official telegraphic These affiliated bodies organized news exchange
news agency, organized on the lines of English, services among themselves, in which each association
French and German agencies. The new Austrian paid part of the general, editorial and transmission
agency was closely linked to the Wolff Agency, but costs. By 1880 the groups thus formed represented
it was only in 1875 that it signed agreements with 355 United States newspapers. Nevertheless, the
Havas, Reuter and Wolff to obtain from them foreign regional associations felt themselves at a disadvan-
news. tage as compared with the New York Associated
The great European news agencies were thus created Press. They believed that the New York group
and organized between 1850 and 1860. As telecom- was passing on only part of the news, in order to
munications improved, they gradually extended maintain its supremacy. In 1885 the Western Asso-
their activity to every part of the world, and became ciated Press broke away from the New York group
world news agencies as we know them today. and set up an independent co-operative association.
As soon, however, as these agencies set out to widen It signed an agreement with the Wolff agency for
the international market for their services, they the supply of European news; the German agency
found themselves forced to co-operate. They quickly had refused to join in the agreement negotiated by
came to realize that, if they were to meet the growing the New York Associated Press with Havas and
demand for news on the part of the public and the Reuters. About the same time, an agency calling
press, they would have to contract considerable itself the United Press Association (but having nothing
expenditure, both on establishing networks of cor- in common with the present United Press) set itself
respondents at home and abroad and on meeting up to compete with the New York Associated Press.
the still very considerable transmission costs. They In 1892, owing to the growth of the Middle Western
therefore sought about for means of sharing the towns, the Western Associated Press was strong
expense, and Havas, Wolff and Reuter concluded enough to establish a new independent company
agreements between themselves for the exchange under the name of Associated Press with its head-
of news. This was the beginning of what has been quarters in the State of Illinois; the New York asso-
termed the “agencies alliance”, a system which with ciation which had tried in vain to prevent this reor-
a few interruptions lasted until 1934 (see page 18, ganization, then disappeared. Once the new Asso-
“Evolution of the Relationships between the World ciated Press had concluded an exclusive contract
News Agencies”). with Reuters, which provided it with the services
of Havas and Wolff as well as with its own (a contract,
moreover, which in practice gave AP the monopoly
ESTABLISHMENT OF TEE FIRST NEWS AGENCIES IN of all European news in the United States), the first
THE UNITED STATES United Press agency was gradually pushed out of
business and ceased operating.
In 1848, several New York newspapers negotiated an By 1895,700 newspapers were obtaining their news
agreement among themselves in order to share the from the Associated Press (Illinois), which continued
cost of using “news boats” which met incoming ships to extend its services and recruit new subscribers.
from Europe in order to gather news. This news In 1900 it was obliged, in order to benefit from more
was then brought by them into town as quickly as favourable legislation, to reorganize itself and trans-
possible for transmission to the various member fer its headquarters to New York. It was in that
newspapers. This enterprise, known as the Harbour form that the Associated Press as it exists today was
News Association, was in a sense the first news- really born. In 1902 the agency established a few
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bureaux abroad, but made no attempt to distribute papers. Another agency, specializing in economic
its news to the papers of the countries where it was news, was founded in London in 1872 under the name
thus installed. It therefore remained a national of the Exchange Telegraph.
agency, using the services of the big European agen- The Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Magyar Tavi-
cies in order to obtain news from overseas. rati Iroda) was established in 1881, and signed
In 1907 a newspaper owner, E. W. Scripps, the agreements for foreign news with the Havas ana
director of some chains of publications, decided to Wolff Agencies. Finland followed the example of
merge various associations owned by his organiza- the other Scandinavian countries in 1887 and set
tion (Scripps-McRae Press Association, Scripps News up a national agency, Suomen Tietotoimisto-Finska
Association), acquired a new agency, the Publishers’ Notisbyran.
Press Association, and established the United Press The year 1893 saw the creation of the Agence
Associations (which had no connexion with the deceased TBl6graphique Sdsse, which was set up in Berne as
UP), to supply news to the papers under his control a co-operative enterprise of several Swiss newspapers.
without resorting to the services of the Associated The Swiss agency signed contracts with Havas and
Press, As soon as United Press was set up, Scripps Reuters for foreign news, and organized a network of
set about seeking subscriptions to it from newspapers correspgndents for domestic news.
other than those under his control. In 1907 the
United Press, which was competing in the United
States with the Associated Press, signed an agreement ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AGENCIES IN OCEANIA
for the distribution of its services with the British AND IN TEE FAR EAST
Exchange Telegraph agency, and by this means dis-
tributed its news to a certain number of United In New Zealand a national agency, the New Zealand
Kingdom papers. In 1909 it sold its service to the Press Association, was set up in 1879. It took its
Japanese Dempo agency, sending its news by cable. foreign news from Reuters. In 1886 a news agency
It was not until 1915 that it organized a distribution was established in Japan under the name of Shimbun
service in South America. Since then, it has con- Yotatsu Kaisha; it merged with a government ser-
stantly extended its foreign bureaux and its distribu- vice specializing in the distribution of official news
tion services both in and outside the United States. and became the Imperial press agency. It was not
In 1909 another newspaper-group owner, until 1887, however, that foreign news began to
W.R . Hearst, followed Scripps’s example and created reach Japan by cable when Reuters started to supply
the International News Service (INS) for the papers copy to the country’s newspapers. In 1905 an agency
he himself directed, although without confining it was set up in India, the Associated Press of India,
to them. The agency was principally intended to to collect and disseminate Indian newg. For foreign
provide the Hearst press with national and foreign news it used Reuters, with which it had signed a
news, so as to give it some degree of independence contract and of which it was in effect a subsidiary.
from the Associated Press and the United Press. In 1907 a Japanese agency, Dempo (better known as
Like the United Press, INS has continued to extend Dentsu), was set up and distributed a domestic
its services both within the United States and abroad. news service to the Japanese press. It was not until
1914, however, that the first big Japanese news
agency was founded-the Kokusai agency, which
CREATION OF NATIONAL AGENCIES IN EUROPE not only distributed foreign news (through Reuters)
to the Japanese press, but also sent Japanese news
From 1866 on, a new development began-the setting abroad. Kokusai’s contract with Reuters bound it
up of national agencies. The mark of these was closely to the British agency.
that they collected domestic news in the countries
in which they were established and distributed it
to local newspapers, but signed agreements with one SITUATION OF TEE WORLD TELEGRAPHIC AGENCIES
of the three world agencies for the right to distribute ON THE OUTBREAK OF TEE FIRST WORLD WAR
their international news services.
The year 1866 saw a national agency set up in Until 1914 the world agencies which had been set
Denmark-Ritzaus Bureau, which long remained up and had developed in Europe remained the only
a family affair. In Norway, its example was followed sources of news for newspapers in all parts of the
in 1867 by the establishment of the Norsk Telegram- world, as a result of agreements signed among them-
byra, which began as a subsidiary of the Wolff Agency. selves or with the national agencies, and despite the
,
In the same year, Sweden followed suit with the growth of the three United States agencies and the
Svenska Telegrambyran. The three Scandinavian establishment of several national agencies. A kind of
agencies were soon closely linked to Reuters, which news “clearing house” had been established. More-
supplied them with world news. over, with the exception of the Associated Press, which
About the same time a big national agency was was still no more than a national agency in the form
set up in the United Kingdom, when the newspapers of a co-operative body owned by newspaper groups,
published outside the capital combined to form the all the world agencies, which had started as the per-
Press Aesociation. This agency organized a network sonal property of their founders, had been trans-
of correspondents throughout the United Kingdom formed in the course of time into strictly commercial
and distributed its news to all the British provincial joint-stock companies. The agencies procured news
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