The pivotal role of news agencies in the context of globalization: a historical approach

Abstract

The global media play a fundamental role in contemporary globalization, making possible instant communication and promoting an experience of global connectedness. The globalization of media communications has deeply shaped the modern journalistic field in the last 150 years and, at the same time, global news organizations have been instrumental in creating the very conditions that have made globalization possible. In this article I explore the relationship between globalization and the media and trace the historical development of the field of global news, examining in detail the role and trajectories of its most important players, the global news agencies, and highlighting significant parallels between nineteenth‐century globalization and the processes that have led to increased global connectedness in the past decades. I also devote some attention to the more recent developments in the field of global news and the appearance of new types of media organizations.

Relationship Among the Attributes of World Countries and Their Coverage in Tweets of International News Agencies: 2010–2016

“…In the modern world, social media and the internet have changed the journalism trends of information gathering, production, and distribution [3][4]. On the other side, international news agencies always remain a key focus of international news flow studies [5][6][7][8][9][10]. With the arrival of modern communication and information technologies, their working also witnessing remarkable changes in information propagation.…”

“…News agencies are the most important organizations in the field of global news. They are instrumental [6] and the powers to propagate both the good and evil agenda reside with the international news agencies [11]. They often portray the Western world view and distorted image of underdeveloped countries [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…They are instrumental [6] and the powers to propagate both the good and evil agenda reside with the international news agencies [11]. They often portray the Western world view and distorted image of underdeveloped countries [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Currently, the major international news agencies are; The Associated Press (AP), Reuters [12], and Agence France Presse (AFP).…”

The sociology of translation: outline of an emerging field

“…Media sociology has neglected the study of the linguistic processes that make it possible to produce and communicate news across geographic, cultural and linguistic boundaries. Yet, modern journalism is, since its very inception, global in scope, and has developed through the establishment of a global infrastructure for the production and circulation of news (for a historical account of the constitution of the modern journalistic field see Bielsa 2008;Bielsa and Bassnett 2009, ch. 3). Translation has, from the very beginning, been at the centre of global news production.…”

ASA 2016 Media Pre-Conference: Anointing Credible Knowledge Producers: Newspapers and Sources in Africa

“…Julius Reuter had actually been a subeditor at Charles Havas' Agence Havas in 1848 before leaving to found Reuter's news agency in London (see,Bielsa 2008).4 These organizations relied heavily on the growth of telegraphic lines in their formative years and were the first international media organizations (see Boyd-Barrett and Rantanen 1998:1).…”