World oldest news agency
The world's oldest news agency is the Dutch news agency Haarlems Dagblad, which was founded in 1656. However, the oldest continuously operating news agency is the London-based Reuters, which was founded in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter.
Reuters was originally a telegraph company that provided news to the financial markets, but it soon expanded to provide news to the general public. In 1858, Reuters became the first news agency to transmit news via telegraph, and it quickly became a major source of news for newspapers and other media outlets around the world.
Today, Reuters is a subsidiary of the Thomson Reuters Corporation and is one of the largest and most respected news agencies in the world, providing news and information to a wide range of clients, including newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations, and online news sites.
Here are some key dates in the history of Reuters:
- 1851: Paul Julius Reuter founds Reuters in London.
- 1858: Reuters becomes the first news agency to transmit news via telegraph.
- 1865: Reuters begins to provide news to the general public, in addition to the financial markets.
- 1870s: Reuters expands its operations to Europe and the United States.
- 1900s: Reuters becomes a major source of news for newspapers and other media outlets around the world.
- 1984: Reuters is acquired by the Thomson Corporation.
- 2008: Thomson Reuters merges with the Reuters Group to form the Thomson Reuters Corporation.
Some other notable news agencies that are older than Reuters include:
- The Associated Press (AP), which was founded in 1848 in the United States.
- The Agence France-Presse (AFP), which was founded in 1835 in France.
- The Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), which was founded in 1949 in Germany.
It's worth noting that the concept of a news agency has been around for much longer than these organizations. News agencies have been in operation since ancient times, with the first recorded news agency being the Roman Empire's "Acta Diurna," which was established in 59 BC.