The Power of News: The History of Reuters, 1849-1989

In 1851 Julius Reuter moved from Berlin to London where he and his staff of one office boy set up the telegraph office that was to evolve into one of the most powerful news agencies in the world. For over a century, Reuters, as it came to be named, was the news agency of the British Empire, committed to providing "truth in news" and doing so quickly, two standards of reporting that it maintains to this very day. And for over 150 years, Reuters has been a part of the great revolution in world communications, from the days of overland and undersea telegraphs, to modern computer links and satellites. In The Power of News, Donald Read presents the history of this communications giant, from its beginnings in 1851 to the company's decision to go public in 1984. Read shows how the completion of the world's first transatlantic cable in July 1866 launched Reuters into a new era of cable communication, bringing news to the world more quickly than ever. News of Lincoln's election as President in 1861 had taken eight days to reach London, while news of Grant's 1869 victory took only one day. Read also reveals how Reuters profited greatly from its wartime reports, from the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, to the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, to the momentous 1914 telegram (