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Loading... News over the Wires: The Telegraph and the Flow of Public Information in America, 1844-1897 (Harvard Studies in Business History) (edition 1994)by Menahem Blondheim
Work InformationNews over the Wires: The Telegraph and the Flow of Public Information in America, 1844-1897 by Menahem Blondheim None Loading...
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News over the Wires tells the story of the development of the news wire service as a business operation strategically positioned between the telegraph industry and the press. This unique history of telegraphic news gathering and news flow evaluates the effect of the innovative technology on the evolution of the concept of news and journalistic practices. It also addresses problems of technological innovation and diffusion. Menahem Blondheim's main concern, however, is the development of oligopoly in business and the control revolution in American society. He traces the discovery of timely news as a commodity, presenting a lively and detailed account of the emergence of the New York Associated Press (AP) as the first private sector national monopoly in the United States and Western Union as the first industrial one.The book assembles, in a narrative parade of compelling personalities and colorful episodes, a wide-ranging body of primary sources, many of them previously untapped. It reconstructs the career of AP's maverick manager, Daniel H. Craig, and highlights his achievements as one of the most creative and effective, if least appreciated, of America's great system builders. The Associated Press and Western Union provide a novel perspective on processes of modernization and national integration in America. News over the Wires demonstrates the significance of the monopolistic structure of the news business and its important impact on economic development, on the political process, and on social integration in general. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)071.3Information Journalism And Publishing North America United StatesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Blondheim concentrates more on the organizational structures of the New York Associated Press (and its satellites), and its conflicts with the telegraph companies--particularly Western Union--than anything else, though the organizational explorations necessarily include some examination of the newspapers which were its clients and builders. There's also some telegraphic history, but that's largely concentrated on how those developments impacted the (NY)AP.
There's a heavy emphasis on individuals in this book, which some will consider problematic. Some characters are quite vividly drawn.
This short review has also been published on a dabbler's journal. ( )