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Key research themes
1. How did international news agencies adapt and cooperate in interwar Europe amidst geopolitical shifts and technological changes?
This theme explores the changes in news agency cooperation during the interwar period (1918-1939), focusing on how European news agencies responded to the breakdown of pre-WWI global news networks and attempted to reconstruct systems of information exchange in a politically fragmented and technologically evolving context. It highlights the impact of geopolitical deglobalization, rising censorship, and innovations like radio on news distribution and international collaboration, emphasizing the interplay between private business interests and emerging internationalist ambitions within news agencies.
Key finding: The paper finds that the pre-WWI European news agency cartel that allowed rapid international news dissemination disintegrated after the war, causing news circulation within Europe to slow dramatically—from hours to days or... Read more
Key finding: This article shows that during the interwar period, European news agencies shifted from prewar bilateral contracts and dominance by the 'Big Three' (Reuters, Havas, Wolff) toward multilateral, conference-based cooperation... Read more
Key finding: The study details how Wolff Telegraph Bureau became a semi-official instrument of the German government during WWI and the Weimar Republic, illustrating the intertwining of news agency operations and state power in news... Read more
Key finding: This article highlights the interplay between Germany’s semi-official news agency Wolff and government officials in seeking international legal protections for news during the 1927 League of Nations Press Experts Conference.... Read more
2. What challenges and transformations define the historical evolution of news agencies as commercial enterprises and journalistic institutions?
This research theme investigates the dual nature of news agencies as both market actors and institutional guardians of journalism. It covers their innovation, industrialization, syndication practices, and the tension between commercial imperatives and journalistic norms. The theme also addresses the financial, technological, and organizational challenges news agencies faced over time, including balancing objectivity and market demands, adapting to new media ecosystems, and maintaining institutional sustainability in the face of changing audience expectations and technology.
Key finding: Allern argues that editorial priorities of news organizations must be understood as efforts that balance journalistic norms (like objectivity and public service) with commercial market objectives. This dual role shapes news... Read more
Key finding: The article documents how William Saunders pioneered industrialized and syndicated news supply through the Central Press agency and his chain of provincial newspapers. This approach centralized production, distributed... Read more
Key finding: Prenger and Deuze trace how innovation and entrepreneurialism have been constant drivers shaping journalism’s institutional and occupational cultures, from mid-20th-century television journalism to today’s startup ecosystems.... Read more
Key finding: This chapter reveals Brazil’s distinct wire service landscape, where state-owned agencies with limited reach coexist with major media conglomerate agencies that monetize syndication within dominant market positions. It... Read more
3. How are Artificial Intelligence and computer vision influencing news production and the analysis of historical news media?
This theme addresses the cutting-edge integration of AI technologies in contemporary news agencies and historical media analysis. It covers the emergence of fully automated synthetic newsrooms, the opportunities and ethical challenges posed by AI-driven journalism, and the novel application of computer vision methods for studying large historical photographic datasets in news media. These studies exemplify how AI reshapes both the production landscape of news agencies and the methodologies available for media historians.
Key finding: This study identifies and analyzes the first AI-driven synthetic media outlets globally, demonstrating that some newsrooms operate entirely through automated algorithms without human journalists. It finds AI applications... Read more
Key finding: The paper develops novel multimodal AI methods combining computer vision and natural language processing to analyze a large corpus of early 20th-century historical photographs affected by halftone printing degradation. It... Read more