Though newsgathering is the job of the reporters, all the news that is supplied is not gathered by its reporters, correspondents and special correspondents. Some comes from them and some from retainers or stringers who are not on the regular staff but send news as and when they get it.
The main sources of news are news agencies or wire services. We find their credit lines-Reuters, AP, TASS, AFP, PTI, UNI, etc. with the story or in some newspapers after intro such as ‘reports PTI’.
The wire services have large network of teleprompter circuits connecting hundreds of cities and towns from where their reporters gather news and after processing it deliver to subscribers in their news room at a teleprompter receiver set.
Some important News Agencies of the world are as below:
- Arab News Agency-ANA (Egypt)
- Economic News Service-ENS (Hongkong)
- Eraqi News Agency-INA (Baghdad)
- Indian News & Feature Alliance-INFA
- Indian Press Agency-IPA
- Eastern News Agency-ENA (Bangladesh)
- Novosty Press Agency-NPA (USSR)
- Express News Service-ENS (India)
- Agency National Stamp Association-ANSA (Italy) Agence
- France Presse-AFP (France)
- ADN (Berlin News Agency)
- Associated News Service-ANS
- Associated Press of America-APA
- Associated Press of Pakistan-APP
- Kyodo News Service Japan)
- GGP (Japan)
- Deutsche Presse-Agentur-DPA (Federal Republic of Germany)
- Times of India News Service-TINS (India)
- Tanjug (Yogoslavakia)
- TASS (Soviet Union)
- National News Agency-NNA (India)
- Central News Agency of China—CNAC
- New China News Agency-NCNA
- Pakistan Press International-PPI
- Bangladesh Sangbad (Dacca)
- Polish Press Agency-PAP (Poland)
- Press Trust of India-PTI (India)
- Foreign News and Feature Limited-FNF (India)
- Bulgarian Telegraph Agency-BTA
- British Information Service-BIS (England)
- British Broadcasting Corporation-BBC (UK)
- United Press International-UPI (USA)
- United News of India-UN!
- Reuters (Britain)
- Rastriya Samvad Samiti (Nepal)
- Bhasa (of PTI)
- Univarta (of UNI)
- Samachar (India) etc.
All the above news agencies are serving the various newspapers, television and radio stations of the world.
India has two wire services or news agencies-PTI (Press Trust of India) and UNI (United News of India). Both have a language wing UNIVARTA (of UNI) and BHASA (of PTI). There were two multilingual wire services with Hindi as base language-Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharti. During the internal emergency declared in 1975 all the four were merged by the government into Samachar. But the status quo ante was restored and the four agencies again revived by the Janata Government in 1977. Because of poor management and inadequate support from the press, the two language agencies— Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharti have collapsed. Though not yet liquidated they are dead for all practical purposes.
News agencies should not be confused with newspaper agents also called news agents. A news agent sells newspapers and periodicals. Similarly, a name such as Central News Agency can also be confusing. It may not be a news agency but a news agent supplying newspapers and magazines to homes or at their show room.
News agencies or wire services do not sell newspapers but they collect and sell news to newspapers, and other stations. They also have reporters, sub-editors, news editors, special correspondents and foreign correspondents. News agency desk processes copy from reporters and foreign news agencies not for printing but for creeding to suppliers on their teleprompter network. News agency copy is also called creed in the news room.
