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10 CNN: International Role, Impact, and Global Competitors
11 The Role of Global News Agencies and Sources
12 Arab Media and the Al Jazeera Effect
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11
The Role of Global News Agencies and
Sources
As one would expect, the revolutionary emergence of digital, mobile, and web‐based
media has resulted in radical change regarding which news sources are most relied
upon globally. Little consensus, however, seems to exist in recent polls, studies, and
reports as to which specific news sources are the most significant in a global sense.
Much of that, no doubt, is because in some specific nations, even major news
sources with a more or less global reach such as BBC or CNN, may be less popular
than more localized or regionalized options.

In an earlier and simpler era, world news was largely dominated by major traditional
news agencies like Reuters and Associated Press, as well as by major “papers of
record,” such as the Times of London and the New York Times. Now, however, news
may come from a surprisingly diverse mix of sources, which may take advantage of
newer web‐based options. News may come directly from a Twitter feed, or from
videos uploaded by individuals, or from such websites as BuzzFeed or WikiLeaks.

Traditional news agencies have tended to operate either as official arms of national
governments, as with China's Xinhua News Agency, or as monolithic commercial
enterprises spanning several continents, such as Reuters. Even where traditional
news agencies still operate today, however, they may take a back seat at times to
more immediate and, ironically, occasionally more credible news sources, such as
online video posted by private citizens.

A prominent example of the latter type of situation is news of the major earthquake in
2008 in the Sichuan province of China. Individuals in China first found out about the
quake on QQ, a social media platform which is far more popular there than Twitter.
Then the rest of the world found out through Twitter. The official news agency
Xinhua was slow to report. Perhaps because of criticism, Xinhua now reports
earthquakes directly on Twitter.

Traditional News Agencies

The traditional news agencies are sometimes still termed “wire services,” although
this is a legacy term which dates from the early days of international newsgathering
when telegraph wires played a central role. The emergence of international news
agencies in the 19th century occurred shortly before the invention of the telegraph as
a revolutionary new device for gathering and sharing news.

Before telegraphy, news was disseminated through such means as horse‐drawn

mail coaches, ships, and railroads, and by sending messages using carrier pigeons,
also known as homing pigeons. Various experimental methods of sending messages
some distance emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of these were forms of
what today would be called an optical telegraph system. Such systems relied on
such features as flags, beacons, or movable wooden devices which could be used to
send a coded message and which would be seen from a distance using binoculars.

Attempts at achieving an electrical telegraph system began in the 18th century,

specifically in 1753. It was not until early in the 19th century, however, in the 1830s
and 1840s, that the American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse perfected a working and
practical electrical telegraph system that would become widely adopted globally.

Morse's system was patented in 1837, but not actually perfected until around 1844.
Already by 1851, his system was in use in Europe as the standard for telegraphy. As
a result, Morse's system became a major factor in world journalism. As his invention
spread, it tended to use International Code, a variant of Morse code, whereby series
of short and long clicks were interpreted as letters of the alphabet.

Once telegraphy became widely available by the mid‐1840s and into the 1850s, it
became the system of choice for international newsgathering. The vital importance of
telegraphy was underscored by the installation of the first transatlantic cable in 1866,
on the ocean floor between Europe and America. By the 1880s, the medium of
telegraphy had been supplemented by the teleprinter machine and the telephone as
important news gathering tools. Shortwave radio allowed for international audio
communication by the 1920s.

As these sorts of technologies spread, demands for improved global news options
grew. This led to the formation of news agencies in Europe, beginning in 1835. Much
of the impetus was business‐related. By this time, newspapers were serving the
needs of business in an unprecedented way, with daily papers intended for the
masses, the so‐called “penny press,” emerging in the early 1830s. By the 1850s, the
telegraph had become a standard way of sharing business and financial information
across national borders. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was
formed in Paris in 1865, primarily to address the issue of telegraph lines crossing
national borders.

The emergence of news agencies, such as Havas in Paris in 1835 and the
Associated Press (AP) in New York in 1846, allowed newspapers to cut costs by
tapping into news resources made available to multiple newspapers. Specifically,
such agencies were eager to take advantage of the new newsgathering technologies
of the day. In the case of AP, individual newspapers shared their news with other
papers for their mutual benefit, with the telegraph playing a major role.

In addition to general breaking news stories, the need for accurate business data on
a daily basis was met by the news agencies. Large cities often published multiple
editions of the same paper at different times throughout the day, allowing for even
more frequent updates. Technology‐driven agencies provided global news for such
papers.

By the first decade of the 20th century, various forms of “printing telegraph” systems
were available. These were used in newsrooms to automatically print news as
received by telegraph. Teleprinters built by the Teletype Corporation and commonly
referred to simply as “Teletype machines” were a common sight by the 1930s and
were in operation until the Internet era.

In the minds of journalists the world over, such machines become synonymous with
the wire services, or news agencies. These machines automatically printed such
information as news, sports, zoned weather, and business news onto rolls of paper,
for use by newspapers and broadcast stations. That information came from news
agencies like the Associated Press and, in an earlier era, its closest competitor,
United Press International.

Today, traditional news agencies are still formidable forces in the arena of world
journalism, although they face considerable competition from new sources, including
various types of web‐based sources. One of the most prominent of these agencies is
Reuters, which calls itself “a wholesaler of news – in the form of text stories,
photographs, and video footage.”1 The same description would fit other agencies as
well (Table 11.1).

Table 11.1 World's top traditional news agencies, 2018.

Sources: A variety of online sources; see, for example, https://www.quora.com/What‐

is‐the‐largest‐news‐agency‐in‐the‐world, accessed October 30, 2018.

1 Xinhua News Agency

2 Reuters

3 Associated Press (AP)

4 Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today)

5 Agence France Presse

Such news outlets as broadcast stations, networks, newspapers, and websites

typically pay a subscription fee which entitles them to access and reuse news from
news agencies in their own publications, newscasts, web pages, and the like. A
traditional news agency may have far more correspondents, photographers, and
videographers in other countries than a specific newspaper, even a major paper,
would be able to maintain.
Agence France‐Presse (AFP)

Agence France‐Presse, based in Paris, is the world's oldest news agency, as well as
one of the most prominent. AFP is smaller in size, however, than either AP or
Reuters. AFP disseminates news, including text, photos, graphics, and video, in
multiple languages and on a global basis through the Internet and by satellite.

AFP traces its beginnings to 1835, when it began as Agence des Feuilles Politiques,
later called Agence Havas. This was founded by Charles‐Louis Havas as the world's
first international news agency, gathering news from across Europe using scattered
reporters and translators. News arrived at Havas headquarters in Paris by railroad
and by carrier pigeons. Using pigeons enabled Havas to receive news faster than
official government services. By 1840, horse‐drawn mail coaches were used to
receive news dispatches.

The news division of Havas was nationalized by the French government in 1940.
The advertising arm retained the Havas name, but the news section became known
as the French Information Office (OFI). Once France was liberated from Nazi
occupation in 1944, OFI became Agence France‐Presse. The agency's editorial
independence was ensured by the AFP Statute, passed by the French Parliament in
1957.

Agence France‐Presse relies on over 1500 journalists and nearly 2300 staff
members, as of 2018, with 201 bureaus scattered around the world. AFP typically
carries around 5000 stories, 3000 photos, and 250 videos in a day. 2 In addition to
AFP Services, AFP subsidiaries consist of AFP GMBH, the agency's German
service, and Sport‐Informations‐Dienst (SID), which provides multimedia sports
coverage.

The agency has been increasing its presence on social media while making its
content more easily accessible via mobile devices. AFP's social media team actively
monitors worldwide social media. Because AFP acknowledges that most news
consumption takes place via mobile devices, the agency has developed new text
formats which are easier to read on such devices. AFP has also developed what it
calls a “what we know” format, “which allows the reader to separate proven facts
from the social media noise.”3

Associated Press (AP)

Associated Press, or AP, began as a news cooperative, and was the first private
news organization to operate nationally in the US. AP has grown to become one of
the world's leading traditional news agencies, and is headquartered in New York
City. The agency operates on a not‐for‐profit basis.

The agency began when editors of five New York City newspapers realized that by
banding together to share news, not only would they have access to better news
coverage for their individual papers but, ironically, it would cut newsgathering costs
as well. The agency began when these five newspapers shared the costs of
establishing a system whereby news of the Mexican War in 1846 would be covered
by relays of horseback riders between Alabama and New York.
Associated Press is responsible for 2000 news stories each day, as well as a million
photos and 50 000 video files per year. AP operates as a membership cooperative,
with about 1500 daily newspapers among its members. The agency operates more
than 240 global bureaus and maintains more than 4000 employees. Historically, AP
has been closely linked to newspapers. A progressive decline in the newspaper
industry appears to have resulted in a concomitant decline in revenue at AP. This is
because although nearly half of AP revenue has come from TV broadcasters, nearly
a fourth has come from newspapers.

Various sources have noted some major newspapers dropping the Associated Press
during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The Chicago Tribune, for instance, was
reported as satisfied with Reuters after dropping AP in 2013. 4 Other papers were
given lower rates around 2016 in exchange for longer contracts. In addition, a
stronger US dollar means less value from overseas sales by AP. 5

AP added an Arabic language service in 2014. In 2018, AP played a significant role

in Facebook’s fact‐checking initiative to combat journalistic misinformation. The AP
Archive remains a major arm of the Associated Press, and is a highly significant
collection of photos and video. Content from CCTV+, the video news agency of
China Central Television, was added in 2015.

The Archive also includes material from the old Universal Newsreel service from
1929 to 1967, as well as from Celebrity Footage, which is a leading producer of
Hollywood‐related videos. Much of the AP Archive content comes from Associated
Press Television News (APTN), which calls itself “the world's leading television news
agency,”6 with more than 80 global bureaus.

For decades, United Press International, or UPI, operated as a close competitor of

the Associated Press. UPI cutbacks began in 1982, and AP bought its broadcast
client list in 1999. UPI was bought in 2000 by News World Communications, founded
by Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church. UPI continues to operate,
although as a shadow of its former status as a dominant news agency. Its current
headquarters appear to be in Boca Raton, Florida, and Washington, DC.

AP is still a formidable force, but not to the degree of other traditional news agencies
such as Reuters. Although AP does handle world news, the agency has traditionally
focused primarily on the US. AP maintains bureaus only in a little over 100 countries,
fewer than either Reuters or Xinhua.

Inter Press Service (IPS)

Critics of global media have seen the overall mix of international communication
options as characterized by a tendency toward North‐to‐South media flows. In other
words, the most predominant flows of media content and media flows have followed
a path from the generally better developed Northern Hemisphere, the global North,
toward the Southern Hemisphere. A growing concern of scholars in recent years has
tracked the presence of what is termed media counterflow, from lesser‐developed
portions of the globe to core nations.
Inter Press Service is a news agency which focuses on South‐to‐North counterflow,
while promoting such flow of media content, particularly news. The service describes
itself as offering “news and views from the global South,” and more fully as

an international communication institution with a global news agency at its core,

raising the voices of the South and civil society on issues of development,
globalization, human rights, and the environment. 7

This has also been expressed in terms of “giving a voice to the voiceless” 8 where
global news is concerned.

IPS began in response to what was viewed as a neglectful lack of news about Latin
America in the overall mix of world news. In order to supply such news to global
news sources, IPS was established in 1964 by Roberto Savio, an economist, and
Pablo Placentini, a political scientist. Both were Italian‐Argentinian. IPS began as a
mail service, but expanded as a daily news service in English and Spanish in the
1970s and 1980s. By the early 1980s, IPS had widened its scope and was including
Africa and the Philippines. According to its own claims, by the early 1990s IPS had
become the first entity to refer to itself as a “global” news outlet, 9 and the agency had
become an early web user.

IPS restructured in 1994 and became what it called “a nonprofit, international non‐
governmental organization,” or NGO. Regional centers in various parts of the world
became their own separate legal entities. The IPS International News Agency
currently operates as a cooperative consortium, headquartered in Rome. 10 At various
times, funding for IPS has come from national governments as well as from such
diverse sources as the European Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, and
beverage company AB InBev.

Reuters

Reuters News Agency, most commonly known as simply Reuters, is based in

London. Reuters maintains about 200 bureaus and employs about 2500 journalists
and about 600 photographers. Reuters calls itself the world's largest international
news agency,11 although other sources would cite Xinhua of China as the largest.

The beginnings of Reuters can be traced to 1850, when Paul Julius Reuter began a
fledgling news service based in Aachen, Germany. By 1851, his service was using
both the relatively recent invention of telegraphy and an older form of
communication, the use of carrier pigeons, to transmit news from Brussels, Belgium,
to Aachen. From the beginning, Reuter's primary focus was on business and
financial news.

Today the agency is a division of Thompson Reuters and was formerly a division of
Reuters Group plc, until the Reuters Group was acquired by the Thomson
Corporation in 2008. Thomson is Canadian‐owned, but operates from a base in
Stamford, Connecticut. Thomson was known as a major publisher of academic
textbooks as well as a supplier of academic information and reference services until
its Thomson Learning segment was sold in 2007. Thomson Learning is now known
as Cengage. Other divisions of Thomson are still involved in such areas as research
and financial services.

In its news coverage, Reuters seeks to operate in accordance with its “Trust
Principles” which were formulated in 1941, during World War II. Those principles
emphasize objectivity and freedom from bias:

1. That Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group, or faction;
2. That the integrity, independence, and freedom from bias of Thomson Reuters shall at
all times be fully preserved;
3. That Reuters shall supply unbiased and reliable news services to newspapers, news
agencies, broadcasters, and other media subscribers and to businesses, governments,
institutions, individuals, and others with whom Thomson Reuters has or may have
contracts;
4. That Thomson Reuters shall pay due regard to the many interests which it serves in
addition to those of the media; and
5. That no effort shall be spared to expand, develop, and adapt the news and other
services and products so as to maintain its leading position in the international news
and information business.12

This stance has sometimes resulted in criticism, however, of Reuters' “value‐neutral”

approach, which eschews use of what Reuters sees as such “value‐laden” terms as
“terrorist.” A Reuters internal memo from the time of the 9/11 attacks in the US has
sometimes been cited in this regard:

We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and that
Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist. To be frank, it
adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack. 13

Reuters operates the Reuters TV news app and streaming channels, designed for
personalized use by individuals. Services for news outlets include various types of
web‐based access, as well as Reuters World News Express, which offers live
satellite feeds. In 2018 Reuters faced the prospects of possible job cuts in some
areas, but new hiring in others. This was the result of the sale of a controlling interest
in the terminals and data arm of Thomson Reuters for $20 billion.

Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News Agency, also called New China News Agency, is by some reckoning
the world's largest news agency, with the largest number of correspondents of any
traditional news agency. Xinhua, based in the People's Republic of China, maintains
over 180 global bureaus in addition to 33 branches and numerous bureaus
throughout China. Over 10 000 journalists are a part of Xinhua.

The beginnings of Xinhua can be traced back to 1931, when the agency was
established to serve as a press outlet of the Communist Party in China. Xinhua
began international English‐language radio broadcasts in 1944. The agency's first
bureau outside of China was established in 1948. Today, Xinhua is China's largest
media organization, and is state‐run, headquartered in Beijing.
Xinhua operates more than 20 print media newspapers, including the Xinhua Daily
Telegraph, and magazines, including Outlook, with a combined circulation of over 10
million. Xinhuanet is a major Internet news portal, which operates in 12 languages,
including English. In 2013 Xinhua initiated its New Media Service, which offers news
and information in various formats but delivered in an integrated manner. A Xinhua
news app is available for Android and Apple's iOS.

Since Xinhua maintains an monopoly on official news in China, and because of a

tendency toward minimal or negative news about China on the part of Western news
sources, Xinhua has sought over the last several years to enhance its presence
outside of China.14 Xinhua is financially backed by the sale of its news content to
news outlets in a manner similar to other news agencies, such as Reuters.

The Media Bias/Fact Check website, which bills itself as “the most comprehensive
media bias resource,” characterizes Xinhua as “mixed” as to factual reporting, “due
to a lack of linked sourcing and promotion of pro‐Chinese government propaganda.”
Further, according to the site, the agency “cannot seem to glorify Xi Jinping
enough.”15 Jinping is general secretary of the Communist Party and president of the
People's Republic of China.

Additional Global News Sources

Determining the world's top news website is difficult, in part because various polls
and statistics report only on sites which focus exclusively on news, while others
include more general sites which may include some news in addition to other
content. In addition, some sources report results which appear to be skewed toward
a particular world region. As of 2018, the top five news and media websites in terms
of web traffic were (1) yahoo.com (US); (2) yahoo.co.jp (Japan); (3) qq.com (China);
(4) msn.com (US); and (5) naver.com (South Korea).16 These are not sites which
focus exclusively on news, however. Table 11.2 lists some of the world's most
prominent websites for news. Of course, other sites which do not limit themselves to
news, such as Yahoo!, China's QQ, and MSN, contribute greatly to the overall mix of
significant global news websites.

Table 11.2 Top global news websites, 2018.

Sources: Various sources,
including https://www.alexa.com/topsites/category/News;,https://www.similarweb.co
m/top‐websites/category/news‐and‐media; and https://www.adweek.com/digital/the‐
worlds‐15‐most‐tweeted‐news‐sources/, accessed November 6, 2018.

1 CNN

2 Google News

3 New York Times

4 The Guardian

5 India Times

The rise of the significance in recent years of such digital media fare as Internet
websites, web‐based video, podcasts, and news apps has meant that quality and
credibility of news and information has sometimes been a mixed bag. Sometimes
some of the most talked about online news sources have not necessarily been
among those which are universally respected.

Controversy erupted in the summer of 2018 over the InfoWars podcasts and news
app operated by Alex Jones. YouTube, a Google subsidiary, removed the YouTube
page which had been maintained by Jones. Apple removed his podcasts from
iTunes, while retaining his news app. Despite the controversy, Alex Jones's InfoWars
app was reported as the fourth‐most popular news app in the Apple App Store in
August of 2018.17 This was the case despite Apple citing “hate speech” in connection
with its podcast ban:

Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and
developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users. 18

Bloomberg

Bloomberg, headquartered in New York, calls itself a “global information and

technology company.”19 Bloomberg supplies news and data, especially pertaining to
finance. The company was formed in 1981 by Michael Bloomberg.

The bulk of Bloomberg's income comes from its core product, its Bloomberg
Professional service, with more than 325 000 global subscriptions. The service is
accessible via a computer‐based system known as Bloomberg Terminal, which
involves the leasing of terminals in two‐year cycles. These terminals provide real‐
time market data in addition to news, messaging, and price quotes. Multiple displays
can be connected to each terminal.

Bloomberg purchased Barclay's index business, which was called Barclay's Risk
Analytics and Index Solutions. Bloomberg has greatly grown and developed its web
presence. News is also disseminated by Bloomberg through TV and radio, through
the magazine Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and through a syndicated news service.

Bloomberg currently employs 19 000 persons in 176 worldwide locations, in addition

to more than 5000 technology specialists and computer engineers. The company
handles 5000 stories a day in more than 120 countries. Bloomberg recently
constructed a new European headquarters in London.

Bloomberg Media Group offers news through its global broadcast TV news network.
This is supplemented by other forms of media, including radio feeds, OTT (over the
top) web streaming, mobile and web access, apps, podcasts, and social media. A
Twitter network operated by Bloomberg, called TicToc, draws 750,000 viewers a
day.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is a prominent web‐based news and media outlet based in New York City.
Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III formed BuzzFeed in 2006 as a lab designed
to track viral web content. Co‐founder Kenneth Lerer is executive chairman of
BuzzFeed as well as chairman of The Huffington Post, which is discussed in a later
section. BuzzFeed's news division began operations in 2011.

In past years, BuzzFeed has been the subject of some controversy concerning its
news credibility. Since its inception, however, web content by BuzzFeed has
gradually become more substantial, and the company has become more highly
respected as a news source. BuzzFeed became a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018. As
of 2017, investment from NBCUniversal was to bring $400 million into the company.

About three‐quarters of BuzzFeed's content is disseminated via social media. An

example is its food‐oriented Tasty channel, with videos drawing millions of viewers
on Facebook. Company divisions include BuzzFeed Media Brands, which creates
lifestyle channels like Tasty for social media; BuzzFeed Studios, formerly BuzzFeed
Motion Pictures; and BuzzFeed Commerce, which oversees licensing and commerce
partnerships.

Perhaps because BuzzFeed is also responsible for such fare as social media
quizzes, animated gifs, and “listicles” (web articles in list form), the company created
a BuzzFeed News app and a separate news website. The fact that one company is
responsible for serious news as well as more trivial content appears to have led to
some consumer confusion.20

CNN

As a collection of major global TV news networks and services, CNN was discussed
in Chapter 10. The company also maintains one of the world's primary news
websites, CNN.com.

The CNN website was originally called CNN Interactive, and began operations in
1995. The company launched CNN Pipeline as a subscription‐based, on‐demand
web video service, but the service lasted only from 2005 to 2007. Pipeline video
content was then transferred to CNN.com on a free basis. CNN.com includes live
video streaming, audio options, and searchable archives. CNN maintains a video
channel in Google‐owned YouTube, but it is only available in the US.

Dow Jones

Dow Jones & Company is a major news source owned by News Corp. The company
is US‐based, but is of global importance. Dow Jones is involved in publishing, most
prominently The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, and supplies financial information.
Dow Jones was formed by Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser in
1882, and was then acquired in 1902 by Clarence Barron. The company was
subsequently owned by the Bancroft family until News Corporation, now News Corp,
acquired it in 2007.

The company had been responsible for publishing the Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJIA) and other financial statistics, but 90 percent of its Dow Jones Indexes arm
was sold to the CME Group in 2010. The CME Group, short for Chicago Mercantile
Exchange & Chicago Board of Trade, is a financial market company which operates
in Chicago, New York City, and London.

After the sale, the DJIA became a part of what was termed the S&P Dow Jones
Indices, a joint venture involving CME, News Corp, and S&P Global. CME then held
about a 24% share. CME bought the other 10% of Dow Jones Indexes in 2013, and
its share in S&P Dow Jones Indices increased to 27%.

One of Dow Jones' current products, Dow Jones Newswires, supplies global
business analysis and commentary. Its Factiva service for business professionals
supplies news and information from more than 32 000 sources, covering more than
22 million companies, in more than 1.4 million articles per day.

Building on the Wall Street Journal brand, WSJ Pro membership services provide

analysis, data, and insight in several specific categories through WSJ Pro Central
Banking, WSJ Pro Venture Capital, WSJ Pro Private Equity, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy,
and WSJ Pro Cybersecurity. Business news headlines, analysis, market updates,
and related information are accessible through Marketwatch, with premium content
available via subscription.

Barron's has served as a major business magazine since 1921, and is currently

supplemented by updates available through the Barron's app for iOS (Apple) and
Android. In addition, the Wall Street Journal has been one of the world's leading
business‐focused newspapers since its beginnings in 1889. Various web‐based data
feeds, news streams, and related services are available through WSJ.com, in
addition to video options for web‐streaming devices.

The Guardian

The visibility of The Guardian in world news, although it was formerly only a daily
newspaper, appears to have increased markedly in recent years due to its
prominence as a web news source. In 2018 the site openly acknowledged that it was
battling with a factor which has plagued many newspapers that have taken to the
web: Ad revenues have been less than the UK‐based newspaper, along with its
sister publication The Observer, would have hoped. As the website phrased the issue,

More people are reading The Guardian's independent, investigative journalism than

ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many
news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our reporting as
open as we can.21
Still, The Guardian's parent company, Guardian Media Group, reported in 2018 that
revenue from its digital operations for the previous year had exceeded print revenue
for the first time, although only by about £1.1 million. 22 Part of that increase came
from voluntary contributions from readers.

John Edward Taylor, a cotton merchant, established the Manchester Guardian in

1821. The Scott Trust was formed in 1936 to ensure the paper's financial
independence and editorial objectivity. The paper's name, as reflected in its
masthead, was changed to simply The Guardian in 1959. In 1964, the paper's
headquarters moved from Manchester to London.

The Observer, as the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, became a sister newspaper
after its acquisition in 1993. The first Guardian website appeared in 1995. Today, the
site includes a “Guardian US” option. News scoops for which The Guardian was
responsible include the 2011 phone hacking scandal involving News Corporation
subsidiary News International, as well as the scandal involving Associated Press
(AP) journalists' phone records secretly collected by the Barack Obama
administration in the US in 2013.

The Times of India

One of the world's primary news websites is indiatimes.com, operated by Times

Internet. Times Internet, which began operations in 1999, is a part of the largest
media and entertainment group in India, known as Times of India or the Times
Group, based in New Delhi.

The company also produces The Times of India, which is termed the world's largest
daily English broadsheet newspaper. The paper has been published since 1838,
when it was known as The Bombay Times. Times Internet calls itself India's largest
Internet company, with 23 billion page views, 39 digital businesses, and 270 million
monthly users.23

Times Group's media involvement extends to TV, radio, magazines, and billboards.
In 2018, Times Internet acquired popular Android media player MX Player. This was
evidently to help Times Internet more effectively compete in the video‐streaming
arena alongside such competitors as Netflix and Amazon Prime, as well as such
popular regional platforms as Hotstar and Voot. Times Internet hinted that it might
produce its own content for the streaming market. The company's CEO was quoted
as saying,

With over 400 million Internet users in India, India presents one of the biggest digital
entertainment opportunities in the world, and yet, today, most content available is
either user‐generated or repurposed from broadcast television.

Instead, Times Internet was looking to produce new programming for a younger
Indian audience.24

PR Newswire
Some have classified PR Newswire as a news agency, but this online database
operates differently from entities like Reuters or AP. Instead, PR Newswire
distributes press releases, also known as news releases, from a huge variety of
sources, and reaches over 170 countries.

The service was established by Herbert Muschel in 1954. Back then, news releases
were distributed by means of teleprinters, commonly referred to as Teletype
machines. These were capable of printing incoming text automatically, on rolls of
paper. The current service is web‐based, and is headquartered in New York. PR
Newswire has been owned by Cision, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, since 2015.
Before that, the service was owned by London‐based United Newspapers, and
earlier by US telegraphy giant Western Union.

PR Newswire content reaches newsrooms directly. Subscribers include such news

outlets as the New York Times, ABC News, and BuzzFeed.25 Content is also added to
major databases like Lexis‐Nexis and Moody's. Around 800 000 individuals are
responsible for writing content for PR Newswire. News releases are tagged with
subject keywords as well as geographic or industry‐specific tags.

News Aggregators and Social Media

As a result of social media, a true citizen journalism phenomenon has emerged in

recent years, with global implications. The ability for anyone connected to social
media to potentially become a one‐time journalist has caused some of the world's
top news stories to rely heavily on amateur video and firsthand text reports from
ordinary individuals. Breaking news revealed by private citizens through social media
has played a central role in news coverage of such major events as the 2008
Sichuan earthquake in China, the devastating 2011 tsunami in Japan, and the 2012
“Arab Spring” uprisings.

Storyful, a News Corp product, has been called “the first social media newswire.”
The service collects news, including video, disseminated via social media, discerns
its accuracy through validation and contextual analysis, acquires rights, and makes
that material available to journalists. As the company phrases it, they “help global
newsrooms break news stories at the speed of social.” 26

Sharing of news via social media platforms is a method of news delivery which is of
growing significance. In addition, curated news aggregator apps and websites, some
of which can be personalized, make news available to consumers while bypassing
direct access to traditional news sources like broadcast networks or major
newspapers.

Various news aggregators, also known as news readers or feed readers, emerged in
the 1990s as tools to bring together digital web‐based information or “feed” from a
variety of sources into one web page or, later on, one app, for the sake of
convenience. These sources include various types of syndicated and regularly
updated content from such sources as news websites, online newspapers, and
blogs, generally using a web‐based subscription system known as RSS, short for
“really simple syndication.”
News readers typically allow for a great deal of personalization, with the user given
the ability to choose news sources and types of news. This may have the result that
news reception is more narrowly focused and potentially more biased than would be
the case when viewing TV newscasts aimed at a more general audience.

News aggregator websites include such sites as Yahoo! News and Google News. A
number of news reader or aggregator apps have arisen; these include Apple News
and Flipboard. These news readers or aggregators may derive their news from such
regularly updated news websites as Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, World News (WN)
Network, Daily Beast, and the Drudge Report. In addition, some websites operate as
social news aggregators in that individual users share stories they deem significant.
Examples of such social news aggregators include Reddit and Digg.com. Of course,
more generalized social media websites, such as Facebook, Tencent's QQ in China,
and Twitter, are used to both share news from outside sources and to post original
news.

The Chinese government has tended to be less than enthusiastic about the use of
social media and other websites to disseminate original news. State broadcaster
CCTV accused QQ groups in 2018 as being involved in such illegal behavior as
gambling and loan‐shark activities.27 Earlier, in 2016, the government banned web‐
based companies like Tencent from engaging in any original reporting. 28 Original
reporting on the part of websites in the past has been characterized by the
government as having produced “huge negative effects.” 29

A 2018 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism which looked at 37
countries found that the confidence level that individuals have toward social media
and news aggregators was low. Respondents cited news polarization with various
media, even prominent media, taking political sides and reporting accordingly. Only
about 44% indicated that they had faith in news generally, and only 51% trusted their
preferred news sources.30 The same report noted some recent decline in use of
social media as a news source.31

In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that about two‐thirds of Americans get at
least some of their news via social media sites or apps. 32 Statista, however, reported
a much lower level, 45%, of adults reporting social media as a source of news in
2018, while noting a much higher percentage level, 66%, in Brazil. 33

Apple News and Google News

Various news aggregator apps exist, such as Feedify and Flipboard, and in some
cases their popularity has either grown or waned at different times. Apple News and
Google News are both prominent news aggregators, and both are customizable.
Google's product is available as an Android or iOS (Apple) app, but also as a
website. By contrast, Apple News is only available as an app for its iOS mobile
operating system or for the macOS desktop/laptop operating system.

Google News has been officially available since 2006, and Apple News has been
available since 2015. Both Facebook and Google News depend on sending viewers
to the websites of its news sources. Apple News, on the other hand, generally
includes entire articles within its own app, and Apple News has been growing in
popularity and prominence.

Some websites have seen their traffic noticeably increase as a result of Apple News.
A 2018 report noted that traffic for the Slate website had about tripled since
September of the previous year, strictly because of Apple News access, with more
traffic through Apple News than via Facebook.34 Controversy, however, surrounded
the fact that direct revenue generation as a result of inclusion in Apple News has
been another matter. As a result, Apple announced late in 2018 that it would allow
individual news publisher sources to include ads in Apple News by using Google's
DoubleClick service.

Reddit

Despite calling itself “the front page of the Internet,” Reddit hardly comes across as a
news source at first glance. Reddit's appearance is unimpressive, and much of its
content is posted by ordinary individuals with no particular claim to special
credentials or abilities. The site comes up repeatedly, however, in lists, polls, and
discussions pertaining to the world's top news sources. In a 2016 study, 78% of US
users said they relied on Reddit discussion threads for news. 35

Reddit is a social news aggregator, as well as a social discussion website. Reddit

crowdsources news by allowing users to link to news stories reported in other sites.
Users can then post comments and “upvote” stories with particular interest value.
Those stories tend to come from traditional news agencies as well as such web
sources as the Guardian (UK) and the Verge (US). The site is ranked as the 18th
most visited website in the world, down from an earlier position as the 8th most
popular.36

Reddit is based in San Francisco and was established in 2005 by Steve Huffman
and Alexis Ohanian. The site was acquired by Condé Nast in 2006. Then in 2011 it
became a division of Advance Publications, Condé Nast's parent company. As of
2016 it began operating independently with Advance Publications as its largest
shareholder. The name “Reddit” comes from the phrase “read it” (past tense) as in “I
read it on Reddit.”

The site is divided into roughly and sometimes vaguely classified categories called
“subreddits.” Reddit is accessible via an official app, as well as several unofficial
apps using Reddit's API (application programming interface). Linking to a smaller
website from within Reddit has been known, at times, to result in vast amounts of
traffic to that site, resulting in what has become known as the “Reddit effect.” This is
also referred to as the “Reddit kiss of death,” since it can generate more traffic than
such sites can handle.

Conclusion
As is the case with the media in general, the area of global news agencies and news
sources is an area which has been shaken by the revolutionary transition toward
web‐based and mobile forms of media content. Traditionally, before the growth of
television in the latter part of the 20th century, world news had been dominated by
newspapers. The term “paper of record” emerged as a reference to the world's top
newspapers, newspapers which are referred back to later for historical research and
to check legal notices.

Traditional news agencies developed early in the 19th century, primarily to serve
newspapers and the business community. In their daily operations, those news
agencies, such as Reuters and AP, made use of such new media technologies as
the telegraph and the communication satellite, once they became available. By the
1970s and 1980s, television grew in terms of both quality and importance. To some
extent, dominance in world journalism that was previously enjoyed by major
newspapers began to be shared with such important TV networks as the UK‐based
BBC, the US‐based NBC, and later CNN.

All of these technologies – telegraphy, television, satellite communication, plus

others, including the telephone, the teleprinter (e.g. Teletype) machine, and
handheld video recording equipment – revolutionized global newsgathering in their
day. The emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a subset of the Internet in
the early 1990s is of singular importance in that not only did it enhance or modify
newsgathering, but it fundamentally altered every aspect of global news. That
includes the creation of media content as well as its archiving and storage, its
delivery, and its retrieval.

The development of the web also opens up unprecedented avenues for news stories
to be used and reused in multiple ways, and for one news story to generate multiple
revenue streams. In addition, news audience size can be quickly and automatically
gauged through web traffic measurement, and ordinary citizens can become major
players in newsgathering through their involvement in citizen journalism through
social media.