ABSTRACT
The primary function of news agencies or ‘wire services’ is to report ‘the news’. In this they are similar to other news media. But the news agencies traditionally are ‘wholesale media’ in the sense that typically they do not supply news reports directly to the public, but to press, broadcast and cable media which then ‘package’ agency news for ‘retail’ purposes. The nature of the ‘packaging’ will vary according to the news values, priorities, and the alternative news sources available to the different ‘retail’ media. The news agencies therefore tend not to figure so prominently in the public eye as do the ‘retail’ media which to varying degrees feed off the agencies. A new category of ‘retail’ client is the commercial data-base, several of which now carry news-agency files, although some agencies may require that such files should be at least 24 hours old in order to protect their usefulness to ‘retail’ news media. In many countries, the services of the major transnational news agencies are distributed indirectly to ‘retail’ media by national news agencies. The agencies also serve non-media clients, of which the most significant are the banks, brokerage houses and other financial institutions who subscribe to general, economic, financial and commodity news services. Such non-media clients account for over 90 per cent of the revenue accruing to Reuters each year, but for substantially less in the case of the other major agencies.
