News agency

[1] All three began with and continue to operate on a basic philosophy of providing a single objective news feed to all subscribers.

Jonathan Fenby explains the philosophy: To achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality.

Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources.

Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.

[3] In 1865, Reuter and Wolff signed agreements with Havas's sons, forming a cartel designating exclusive reporting zones for each of their agencies within Europe.

The development of the telegraph in the 1850s led to the creation of strong national agencies in England, Germany, Austria and the United States.

In the United States, the judgment in Inter Ocean Publishing v. Associated Press facilitated competition by requiring agencies to accept all newspapers wishing to join.

Reuters had been weakened by war censorship, which promoted the creation of newspaper cooperatives in the Commonwealth and national agencies in Asia, two of its strong areas.

In 1924, Benito Mussolini placed Agenzia Stefani under the direction of Manlio Morgagni, who expanded the agency's reach significantly both within Italy and abroad.

[7] The German Press Agency (dpa) in Germany was founded as a co-operative in Goslar on 18 August 1949 and became a limited liability company in 1951.

They provide these articles in bulk electronically through wire services (originally they used telegraphy; today they frequently use the Internet).