EOTO 3: Wire Services

    Have you ever wondered how different news outlets can have the same topic and facts but they each have their own twist on it? This is because of Wire Services.

    Wire services were established in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century as a way to gather and distribute news for local newspapers. It provided different news outlets their news reports. This was a more organized and efficient way to gather news. In most cases when an outlet receives their story from wire services, there is little to no edits needed to be made. Wire services have evolved and are often referred to as news agencies, news cooperatives, and cut down simpler as news services. From the 1860s to the 1880s, regional wire services were prominent but after the 1880s it cemented itself into a national system due to the efficiency within news collection. However, as time went on it became more relevant.

Stepping Stones

    Technology is constantly evolving, wire services began as a way to spread news through telegraphy. In the late 1940s tele typesetter machines were introduced. This allowed perforated paper tape stories be fed into typesetting or Linotype machines and did not need to be done with human operators.  In using tele typesetters it eliminated human labor making story production even more efficient. 

    After time, telegraphs turned to newspapers and newspapers turned to magazines. Today we can receive news instantly through computers and phones with articles, videos, photographs and other types media sharing outlets.

       Notable Publications

    Two of the most famous wire services are The Associated Press and Reuters. The Associated press is the oldest and largest 24 hour wire service. It began in 1820 and its main purpose at the time was to report news to New York form Europe. In 1848, The Associated Press took off after incorporating the telegraph as their way of spreading news. They pride themselves with keeping up with technology advances and in 1935 they created Wirephoto. This was the first wire service for photographers. 

    Reuters News Agency was created by Paul Reuter in 1851 and has become one of biggest news agencies with around 2,500 journalists and 600 photographers. There are also about 200 locations worldwide. It started as a transmission of stock market quotes between London and Paris. Soon later, it extended its services to many different European countries.

The Evolution

    By the 20th century news was available to the public through a variety of different ways. News was able to be shared through many other platforms due to the use of satellite service and the internet. 

    The Associated Press and United Press International continue to make advances in their services. Now customized services are offered in order to meet individual stations needs. The news services have received backlash for this because of pricing rates have increased. In almost all cases of updates and advances more money is needed. Although there is and will be backlash, this is not stopping the services to continue expanding. The United Press International is currently looking into adding a video news service.

    As time goes on and my career in journalism progresses, I am interested in waiting news wire services evolving and what more they can do.