From the 1960s until the early 1980s, Walter Cronkite was often cited as “the most trusted man in America.” For almost nineteen years he anchored the CBS Evening News and grew a reputation for straight reporting, incisive interviews and journalistic integrity. Along with Chet Huntly and David Brinkley on NBC and Peter Jennings on ABC as well as others, Cronkite presided over an era when people turned to broadcast television news for a fair, objective and honest presentation of daily events including politics. When Walter said “that’s the way it is” people accepted that as a fair and unbiased statement.
In those years, editorial opinions were largely absent on broadcast news services and confined to the editorial pages in newspapers. Yes, there were liberal newspapers and conservative newspapers, but those opinion options were primarily limited to the prescribed editorial page of the publications.
Not anymore. Many of our media outlets are defined by their political leanings—i.e. Fox news is conservative, CNN is liberal and the traditional networks are all biased–at least in the minds of those who are highly politicized and deep into political wrangling.
In spite of those opinions, we each have our favorite channels that we watch faithfully every night and depend on to let us know what is happening in the world. But, still, some people are a little edgy and try to find a source which represents their viewpoint and opinion.
What many people don’t realize is that NBC, CNN, FOX, ABC and CBS plus our newspapers and other online news sources all get the majority of their news from the wire services which present a wide plethora of news stories without a political bias. And, the wire services do it with little fanfare or a desire for recognition other than to be listed as a source.
The folks at your favorite news outlet draw primarily on the following historic news services for their information: the Associated Press and Reuters, along with lesser known AFP and EFE. Here is some basic information on these four news services
The Associated Press (https://apnews.com) was formed in May 1846 by five daily newspapers in New York City to share the cost of transmitting news of the Mexican–American War. It is a not-for-profit news agency and operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association that produces news reports that are distributed to its members, i.e. newspapers and broadcasters. Over the years, AP has earned 58 Pulitzer Prizes, including 35 for photography. It is also known for publishing the widely used AP Stylebook.
The news collected by the AP is published and republished by more than 1,300 newspapers and broadcasters in English, Spanish, and Arabic. The AP operates 248 news bureaus in 99 countries. It also operates the AP Radio Network (https://apnews.com/hub/news-radio), which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. As part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, most member news organizations grant automatic permission for the AP to distribute their local news reports.
Reuters (https://www.reuters.com) was founded in London in 1851, by Paul Julius Reuter, who immigrated to the United Kingdom from the German city of Aachen. Reuter opened the agency’s first office to transmit stock news to Paris using a new telegraph cable. Before that, he used carrier pigeons.
From 1858 the Reuter Agency became the main supplier of information to all the major London newspapers, including the Times. The credibility and timeliness of the information conveyed contributed to Reuter’s growing authority and popularity. Today the Reuters agency has over 14 thousand employees in 91 countries around the world, including about 2.5 thousand journalists, photojournalists, and videographers.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) (https://www.facebook.com/AFPnewsenglish) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C., and news bureaus in 151 countries in 201 locations.
Agencia EFE, S.A. (https://efe.com/en) is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia news agency in the Spanish language and the world’s fourth largest wire service. EFE distributes around three million news items per year, thanks to its 3,000 journalists from 60 nationalities, operating 24 hours per day from more than 180 cities in 120 countries.
So, the next time you watch the evening news or peruse your local newspaper, be aware that thousands of reporters around the world are supplying much of the content through the various wire services often without a mention or attribution. And, if you want news updates throughout the day and night, those links operate 24 hours a day and don’t require you to wait for the newspaper to be delivered or the evening news to take to the air.
PLEASE NOTE: All of the links listed in this article are to English-language sites.
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