Historical sketch of news agency journalism

 

NEWS AGENCY

T

 

he concept of wire service was taken from courier pigeon service between two cities of Europe which had not been linked by telegraph in the first half of the 19^th century. The first modern wire service was the Associated Press (AP) which did not acquire its present form until a dispute erupted between its eastern and western factions, resulting in the formation of the Associated Press of Illinois. United Press International (UPI) became the first supplier of news to radio stations. Before 1947 the Muslim newspapers were dependent on Hindu dominated news agencies. At that time two news agencies namely Associated Press of India and United Press of India were important. Syed Mohammad of Bihar established Orient Press of India in 1940 in Patna. After partition the Associated Press of India was converted into the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) by its Lahore Bureau. Similarly, Pakistan Press International (PPI) and UPI were established in 1949. 

NATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES

The wire services have to rely on the government subsidy since the normal monthly subscription from the newspapers and other media organizations is very low. Normally the tariff for the service is as low as Rs. 10,000/-per month. There are reports that some news agencies resort to selling the service for only Rs. 2,000/- per month. It is obvious that these services cannot make enough revenue to sustain at this rate. Also recovering dues from the media organizations is another big challenge.

Association Press of Pakistan (APP) Corporation:         APP is official news agency of Pakistan that is controlled by the Information Ministry. “ The Association Press of Pakistan started its life 1947, with the independence of Pakistan. Initially it was run through a trust, but owing to financial problems, it was taken over by the Government through an Ordinance called, “Association Press of Pakistan (taking over) Ordinance 1961”, on 15^th June 1961, to put it on a sound financial footing.”

Although at the time of takeover the then government had announced that the agency will be handed over to a trust of employees that never happened. APP’s main role is to report, gather and distribute domestic and foreign news. Besides economic, financial and sports reports, it projects national events. Its charter of functions is to:

APP was made a corporation in 2002, when the military government introduced new media laws just  before the general elections.

Online:           Online is a news / photo agency of Pakistan. At the time of its launch, this was Pakistan’s first bilingual news and photo wire service that claimed to address issues that are neglected by the mainstream media. Agency was also the first modern wire service relying on latest technology. The agency’s photo service is more relied upon by the news media than its news service. It has started its weekly publication Pulse.

Pakistan Press International:         PPI was the first news agency in the private sector. The company was incorporated and started its operations after the independence of Pakistan. Regardless of the fact that it also received subsidy from the government of Pakistan, it has been respected for its independent status. Till early 1990s this was second largest news agency after the official APP.

News Network International:        NNI was established in 1992, it was the first Urdu language wire service. The agency created its own space and was soon recognized and subscribed by all the mainstream media.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES

AP, UPI, Reuter and AFP are the major foreign news agencies. AP and UPI both have some 200 bureaus operating the worldwide. It is the task of a bureau to gather and transmit information. AP has its head office at New York. It exchanges news on mutual grounds with other news agencies. UPI operates in more than 100 countries, serving 5000 publications and radio stations in the United States. UPI is a privately owned company. Reuter was established in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter in England. Reuter provided free trial service to the newspapers in 1858. It is delivering news to media in 15 countries. AFP was established in France. It has 12000 subscribers in 160 countries and is distributing news in six languages.

 

ROLE AND SCOPE OF NEWS AGENCY

Basis function of a news agency is to deliver up-to-date, impartial and well written news. This requires continuous revision of stores. An additional aim is to keep intact as much of each original story as possible, so that material already set in type may be retained. The result is that a basic story will be revised many times in bits ranging from an inserted phrase to a few paragraphs. Generally, only the most timeless features and insignificant sidebars are moved in single neat packages that “stand” for an entire transmission cycle. The stories are revised several times in order to correct errors, add the latest information and improve emphasis, readability and brightness. News agency has its own sources of news including its separate reporting section and foreign based correspondents. A separate news room performs the selection and editing process under the supervision of desk incharge and shift incharge. News agency’s writers and editors usually work under time pressure. News agencies have main trunk distribution circuits running across the country.

In the present situation, where electronic media is on top the role and scope of news agencies is increasing. However, the print and electronic media is also increasing their reporters but for the international news they are rely on news agencies. Foreign and local news agencies are increasing their sources and appointing professionals to explore the world of news.

 

News agencies can be corporations that sell news (e.g. Press Association, Thomson Reuters, UPI). 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), MYOP). Commercial newswire services charge businesses to distribute their news (e.g. Business Wire, the Hugin Group, Market Wire, PR Newswire, 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 well.

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.

Internet-based alternative news agencies as a component of the larger alternative media emphasizes a "non-corporate view" that is independent of the pressures of corporate media, business media and government-generated news and releases.

CONCLUSION

As the news agencies are the first source of news in the early days of life of newspaper and with the passage of time the print and electronic media is growing faster, however the reliance on the news agencies are somehow is still there.

Basically news agencies are working on quantitative policy, they have agreement with the newspaper’s management against the each news or bulk news. In some cases the authencity of the news is doubtful. But still news agencies play a vital role in the modern media.

On the other hand to get a news from the government department the role of news agency which is government owned agency is very important. For the international news they play a major role. Somehow, we can say the role of news agencies cannot be decreases.