The wire news serivce

When thinking of the definition of a wire news service, thoughts will immediately gravitate towards the telegraph. It is true that wire news organizations did use the telegraph and send news over the wire, but that is obviously not the case now due to technological advancements.    

Wire news services became prominent during that era and have evolved over the years. Two of the main wire services are the Associated Press and Reuters. 

The beginnings of the Associated Press were formed in 1846 when five New York newspapers formed a cooperative to collaborate on some stories. The papers realized that it would cheaper and more effective on all of them to put their resources together for stories on the Civil War and Mexican-American War. 

Their partnership was called the New York Associated Press. They also created another organization called the Harbor News Association to collectively receive news from overseas and Europe. Eventually, those two merged. Later, the New York Associated Press merged with the Associated Press, formerly known as the Western Associated Press. The conjunction resulted in the current Associated Press. 

The Associated Press is also known for writing AP Style Books for proper journalism writing. The first one was released in 1951 as a short handbook for all AP writers and eventually expanded to widespread use as the journalists' language. 

Nowadays, the Associated Press has deals with thousands of print, television and radio news stations to share their news stories. 

Since the Associated Press has so many reporters, the organization covers a wide variety of topics that it is useful for smaller market news groups to use their stories. AP was become well-known for its short prose and sentences that get straight to the point. 

While the Associated Press bases most of its efforts in the United States and some parts of North America, Reuters puts most of its effort toward Britain and the commonwealth. 

Reuters was founded in Britain in 1851 as a news service that relied upon telegraphs and the occasional carrier pigeon. This came around the time of the successful submarine telegraph that would help transmit news across long distances. 

In the 1800's, Reuters had expanded to South America and Far East Asia. Then in 1865, Reuters became the first European news organization to announce the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 

By the 1960's and 1970's, Reuters was widely acclaimed for its financial and stock coverage. 

During the 1980's the company became publicly traded, but as a safety net to ensure unbiased news they implemented a maximum of 15% control in its constitution. In the 2000's, Reuters merged with Thomson Group PLC to become Thomson Reuters. 

In conclusion, the main wire service organizations are still critical in the news reporting industry. While they may not use telegraphs as a way to spread their information, they use television, print and radio. 

The Associated Press and Reuters both have large databases of video, news coverage and photos for their partners to use to enhance unbiased news coverage. 

The goal of both organizations is to stay unbiased when reporting the news, which is critical to the ability of informed debate and for people to make up their minds on an issue to enhance the marketplace of ideas.

My top 5 news sources

 

 To Begin

There are many options for staying up to date with the news. News sources usually cater towards a specific age, gender, political belief, etc. in order to have a solid base and consistent viewership. Growing up, I had parents and family members who were set in conservative political beliefs and that initially influenced my decisions on where to read my news. As I have aged though, I have widened my net of news sources.

AP

   

My first go-to for news is AP or the Associated Press. I use this outlet because it usually gives unbiased news on a wide range of topics that is solely the true facts. Also, the majority of print, television and radio stations  will use some stories and information from the Associated Press, so ultimately I choose to go directly to the source. Additionally, the stories are usually relatively short and to the point, which is convenient for on-the-go. 

BBC

The BBC or British Broadcasting Corporation is based in the United Kingdom which can be effective for reading the news. The BBC is normally my go to for international news because in my experience U.S. news organizations focus more on internal news and information, while the BBC seems to have a more worldly approach. Also, the BBC provides an outsider's look into U.S. politics, policy issues, and news which can help me to see through the internal bias in the prominent U.S. news organizations. Lastly, the BBC helps give me insight into another country's (the United Kingdom's) news and issues.

ESPN

ESPN or Entertainment and Sports Programming Network reports on the latest sports news. I typically keep up with ESPN because I am an avid sports fan. ESPN is in my opinion the most in depth and up to date when it comes to the analyzation of sports. Also, ESPN contains the best database for finding out all of your sports needs as they report on almost all relevant sports, even some international sports. In addition, ESPN+, which is an add on to ESPN, further improves my sports news needs with more articles and analysis while also providing documentaries. 

WSLS 10

WSLS10 is my favorite local, hometown news television station in Roanoke, Virginia that is in association with NBC. On WSLS10, I can easily find some of the biggest international and national stories that are also found on FOX News and CNN. But the main purpose of using WSLS10 is to learn about my state and local news as they have a large presence in the area and can easily report all of the needed local relevant information.  In addition to regular news, you can easily find out the local collegiate and high school sports updates and weather updates. 

FOX NEWS

I grew up in a relatively conservative household, so we watched a lot of FOX News and that has trickled down to my tastes in where I get my news. FOX News is great for continual news coverage as it is constantly on air 24/7 to provide any news or updates. On the other hand, FOX News typically only reports news in a way that aligns with their right wing point of view as it is its demographic that continues to watch and support the network.