News agency

News agency

A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.

Contents

History

The oldest news agency is Agence France-Presse (AFP).[1] It was founded in 1835 by a Parisian translator and advertising agent, Charles-Louis Havas as Agence Havas. Two of his employees, Paul Julius Reuter and Bernhard Wolff, later set up rival news agencies in London and Berlin respectively. In 1853, in Turin, Guglielmo Stefani founded the Agenzia Stefani, that became the most important agency in the Kingdom of Italy, and took international relevance with Manlio Morgagni.

In order to reduce overhead and develop the lucrative advertising side of the business, Havas's sons, who had succeeded him in 1852, signed agreements with Reuter and Wolff, giving each news agency an exclusive reporting zone in different parts of Europe.[2]

Commercial services

News agencies can be corporations that sell news (e.g. Press Association, Thomson Reuters, AHN). Other agencies work cooperatively with large media companies, generating their news centrally and sharing local news stories the major news agencies may chose to pick up and redistribute (i.e. AP, Agence France-Presse (AFP) or American Press Agency (APA)). Commercial newswire services charge businesses to distribute their news (e.g. Business Wire, the Hugin Group, Marketwire, PR Newswire, CisionWire, and ABN Newswire). Governments may also control news agencies: China (Xinhua), Canada, Russia (ITAR-TASS) and other countries also have government-funded news agencies which also use information from other agencies as well.[3]

The major news agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations. They provide these articles in bulk electronically through wire services (originally they used telegraphy; today they frequently use the Internet). Corporations, individuals, analysts and intelligence agencies may also subscribe.

News sources collectively described as alternative media provide reporting which emphasizes a self-defined "non-corporate view" as a contrast to the points of view expressed in corporate media and government-generated news releases. Internet-based alternative news agencies form one component of these sources.

References and notes

  1. ^ Broderick, James F.; Darren W. Miller (2007). Consider the source: A Critical Guide to 100 Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web. Information Today, Inc.. pp. 1. ISBN 0-9109-6577-3. 
  2. ^ media history]
  3. ^ Boyd-Barrett, Oliver, ed. (2010). News Agencies in the Turbulent Era of the Internet. Generalitat de Catalunya. ISBN 978-84-393-8303-1

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • news agency — ♦♦♦ news agencies N COUNT A news agency is an organization that gathers news stories from a particular country or from all over the world and supplies them to journalists. A correspondent for Reuters news agency says he saw a number of… …   English dictionary

  • news agency — news .agency n an organization that collects news stories and supplies them to newspapers, radio, and television …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • news agency — news ,agency noun count a business that provides newspapers and television stations with news from around the world …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • news agency — ► NOUN ▪ an organization that collects and distributes news items …   English terms dictionary

  • news agency — ☆ news agency n. an organization that supplies news to newspapers, radio and television stations, etc. that subscribe to its services …   English World dictionary

  • news agency — 1. a business organization that gathers news for transmittal to its subscribers. Cf. press association. 2. a business that sells newspapers at retail. [1870 75, Amer.] * * * or news service or wire service Organization that gathers, writes, and… …   Universalium

  • news agency — noun an agency to collects news reports for newspapers and distributes it electronically • Syn: ↑press agency, ↑wire service, ↑press association, ↑news organization, ↑news organisation • Hypernyms: ↑agency …   Useful english dictionary

  • news agency — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms news agency : singular news agency plural news agencies a business that provides newspapers and television stations with news from around the world …   English dictionary

  • news agency — agency that collects and distributes news to newspapers (and television stations, etc.) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • news agency — news′ a′gency n. a business organization that gathers news for transmittal to newspapers, magazines, broadcasting stations, and other subscribers • Etymology: 1870–75, amer …   From formal English to slang

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”