SWPRS March 2019It is one of the most important aspects
of our media system, and yet hardly known to the public: most of the
international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three
global news agencies based in New York, London and Paris.
The key role played by these agencies
means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same
wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services
use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages
around the world.
A study of the Syria war coverage by
nine leading European newspapers clearly illustrates these issues: 78%
of all articles were based in whole or in part on agency reports, yet 0%
on investigative research. Moreover, 82% of all opinion pieces and
interviews were in favor of a US and NATO intervention, while propaganda
was attributed exclusively to the opposite side.
Introduction: “Something strange”
“How does the newspaper know what it
knows?” The answer to this question is likely to surprise some newspaper
readers: “The main source of information is stories from news agencies.
The almost anonymously operating news agencies are in a way the key to
world events. So what are the names of these agencies, how do they work
and who finances them? To judge how well one is informed about events in
East and West, one should know the answers to these questions.” (Höhne
1977, p. 11)
A Swiss media researcher points out:
“The news agencies are the most important suppliers of material to mass
media. No daily media outlet can manage without them. () So the news
agencies influence our image of the world; above all, we get to know
what they have selected.” (Blum 1995, p. 9)
In view of their essential importance,
it is all the more astonishing that these agencies are hardly known to
the public: “A large part of society is unaware that news agencies exist
at all … In fact, they play an enormously important role in the media
market. But despite this great importance, little attention has been
paid to them in the past.” (Schulten-Jaspers 2013, p. 13)
Even the head of a news agency noted:
“There is something strange about news agencies. They are little known
to the public. Unlike a newspaper, their activity is not so much in the
spotlight, yet they can always be found at the source of the story.”
(Segbers 2007, p. 9) More