Rise of Tv News Agencies - Final

8/15/2019 Rise of Tv News Agencies - Final

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The Rise Of Television News Agencies

Zuzana Zabkova

MA Dissertation; History of Film & Visual MediaBirkbeck College, London, 2009


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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Dr Chris Paterson, Adrian Wood, Linda Kaye and Dr LukeMcKernan for their guidance and invaluable advice. I am also indebted to allthose who took time to talk to me about their experiences in the earlytelevision agency business; especially Kenneth Warr and Terry Gallacher,

but also John Flewin, Reese Schonfeld, Andrew Ailes, Derek Evans andBrian Madden. My thanks also has to go to Peter Bregman for sharing hisknowledge of the Fox Movietone collection with me and to Alwyn Lindsey,Director of International Archives at Associated Press, for putting me intouch with many of the above.


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Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………...4

Literature Overview………………………………………………………..9

The place of Newsreels in the News Provision Chain…………………..10

Convergence of Newsreels and Television News in the US……………..15

Television News Agencies………………………………………………...23

INS-Telenews…..…………………………………………………...26

CBS Newsfilm..……………………………………………………..33

United Press Movietone..…………………………………………..36

BCINA/Visnews..…………………………………………………...47

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………51


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Introduction

The inspiration for the subject of this dissertation thesis came from

my daily work with the United Press International Television News

(UPITN) collection as the project manager on a major restoration project

undertaken by the Associated Press Film and Video Archive. We had a basic

understanding of the origins and the production context of the films in the

collection; namely that this was the legacy product of a television news

agency operating in the 1970s. As we tried to find out more about the

company and its internal workings, we were struck by the scarcity of

published and company internal literature on an organisation, which after all,

was one of only two major television news agencies at the time. It quickly

became apparent that not only was there very little information on UPITN,

but that the entire television news agency business, in the present and the

past, has largely been left out from the popular and academic discourse. Yet

the analysis and understanding of the development of global newsgathering

networks and their current practices is vital. Television news agencies are

integral to the system of news production that has shaped our common


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visual memory and understanding of contemporary events for over half a

century.1

The histories of news reporting by the major European television

stations and US networks have been written, and much attention has been

paid to the news values that govern their production methods and the

selection of news items for inclusion into news programmes. Yet it is

generally the case that broadcasters do not have the means to station their

own reporters and camera crews in all corners of the world, and have come

to rely on television news agencies to supply filmed news items to them. The

fact that the material made available to television stations has already gone

through a selection process made by their suppliers - the television news

agencies – is often omitted or downplayed in such accounts. One major

attempt to rectify the situation and complete the picture has been made by Dr

Christopher Paterson in his PhD thesis entitled ‘News Production at

Worldwide Television News (WTN): An Analysis of Television News Agency

1 On the APTN website it is claimed that ‘Video captured by AP Television News can be

seen by over half of the world’s population on any given day.’ Even though this figure isnecessarily an estimate and is taken from the company’s promotional literature, it

nevertheless testifies to the global reach and impact of the APTN product.

Anon, ‘APTN Company Overview’, APTN company website, Accessed, 26 th July 2009.

http://www.aptn.com/80256FEE0057BF4E/(httpPages)/43E6D3165367B78280256FF8004A1474?OpenDocument.


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Coverage of Developing Countries’ .2 Paterson builds on the New World

Information and Communications Order debates of the 1970s and early

1980s, and analyses the role of the television news agencies in the

international flow of news with the consequences for the coverage of

developing countries. Although Paterson’s dissertation emphasizes

contemporary production processes within the international television news

agencies, he provided the first exhaustive account of the industry as a whole.

Paterson completed his thesis in 1996 but, by and large, media and

communication scholars did not follow up on his pioneering work, even

though further research and elaboration of the themes introduced are much

needed. It is out of the scope of this work to attempt another such

comprehensive account.3 Paterson writes that the current processes can only

be well understood within two broad contexts: firstly, the political economy

of international television news, and, secondly, the historical development of

these companies and the news distribution system in which they participate.4

The aim here is to elaborate on the latter; the historical development of the

television news agencies and, more precisely, the birth of television news

2 Christopher Andrew Paterson, News Production at Worldwide Television News (WTN): An Analysis of Television News Agency Coverage of Developing Countries, PhD Thesis,

University of Texas, 1996.3 Dr Paterson is now working on a book to bring his PhD Dissertation up to date and

incorporate new research.4 Paterson, 1996, p.102.


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agencies in the late Forties and early Fifties and the consolidation of the

television agency business in the following decade. The focus will be on the

chronology of industrial relations as well as the technological developments

and the accompanying shift in the positioning of the newsfilm within the

established chain of news provision.

A prevalent assumption is that television news agencies are directly

descended from the newsreel companies, and that the big wire agencies were

also instrumental in their formation.5 Upon closer examination, it becomes

apparent that the early development of television news agencies was much

more complex than that. Whilst continuities from the age of the newsreels

are clearly identifiable, these do not necessarily take a commercial form. Of

the dozen or so internationally established newsreel companies, only two

were directly involved in setting up a television news agency. It is therefore

difficult to speak of an industry wide shift from the provision of newsfilm

for the theatrical screen to catering to the television news market. Of the

major news agencies operating in the Fifties, only United Press (UP) and

International News Service (INS) took the bold step to set up a television

division. Reuters did become involved with a television agency at an early

5 For example, Nicholas Pronay implies that the newsreels did not so much fade away

and die as evolve into other forms, namely television news agencies; Nicholas Pronay,

British newsreels in the 1930s: Their Policies and Impact , History vol. 57. no 189,February 1972, p.72.


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Literature Overview

There is no one text that would comprehensively record and analyse

the history of television news agencies. What limited information exists on

the development of television news agencies can usually be found in the

form of brief chapters in books concerning the international news wire

agencies. Another source of information are the biographies of news

cameramen and other industry personnel. These tend to take an anecdotal

form and rarely offer a contextual perspective. Trade magazine and

newspaper articles of the period prove to be invaluable primary sources but

have to be approached with caution, as these would often have been based

on press releases by the companies themselves. Long-term company

archives are rare, as some companies have ceased to exist and others have

undergone many changes in ownership. Therefore, vital documentation, such

as contracts, business strategies and financial reports is hard to come by.

Often, the only document of the early television news agencies is the actual

product; the 16mm film archives. As such, conducting interviews with

people who were active in the industry at the time is a crucial tool for

research into this subject. Unfortunately, many are deceased and a large-

scale oral history project should be undertaken without any further delay.


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Some of the people I spoke to have told me that they had planned to write up

their experience upon their retirement, but not one of them has realised this

intention.

The place of Newsreels in the News Provision Chain

It is not necessary to provide a detailed history of the newsreels

as this has been done extensively elsewhere.6 Newsreels, compared to

television news agencies, are better researched and understood. As such,

what follows is an examination of only those aspects of the newsreels, which

are directly relevant to the rise of television news agencies. One such aspect

is the shift of the core of the newsreel business from Europe to North

America and the concurrent consolidation of newsreels as part of the motion

picture industry. The newsreels originated in Europe with the French Pathé

Journal in 1909, soon followed by newsreels in other European countries.

Whilst originally, the newsreel business was driven and innovated by

European companies, newsreels also quickly took hold in America. By the

mid-1920s, just before the introduction of sound, the newsreel was standard

6 For a listing of key texts on newsreels and Cinemagazines see the BUFVC website,

Accessed, 13h April 2009.http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/oldwebsite/databases/newsreels/learnmore/books.html


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fare in theatres on both sides of the Atlantic. The coming of sound, which

made the newsreels even more popular, tipped the balance toward North

America. As Hollywood studios adopted sound they became the dominant

parent companies of the newsreels, and by the 1930s the newsreel had

become a quintessential American medium.7

The newsreel business was not greatly profitable and generally only

survived if part of a larger concern, or subsidised by corporate or

governmental funds. Yet the Hollywood studios had an interest in sustaining

the newsreels because they were popular, completed the cinema programme,

endowed the owners with prestige, and the competition was offering the

same. The newsreels thus operated within an entertainment environment (the

cinema) where they were not the main attraction. They could not afford to be

challenging, since the exhibitor had to please everyone in the audience.

Another factor contributed to the light-hearted tone of the newsreels; to

maximise profits, distributors offered newsreels cheaper to exhibitors after

the first run. The longer a newsreel ran, the cheaper it became and a

newsreel could be shown for weeks, moving from first class houses to the

cheapest cinema on the high street. Producers thus had to find subjects

7 Luke McKernan, newsreels: Forms and Function, text received from author, London

2009, p.4. The essay is also published in Richard Howells, Robert Matson (Eds.), UsingVisual Evidence, McGraw-Hill Education, London, 2009.


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which were not too date specific, but at the same time had a ‘newsy’ feeling

to them over an extended period of time. They would therefore often resort

to subjects such as fads, fashions, inventions, quirky items, sport, the

movements of royals, etc. Furthermore, the bulky 35mm cameras and sound

equipment were not suited to the filming of immediate action in a

challenging environment. Nevertheless, when positioning the newsreel the

emphasis on entertainment is often overstated. The newsreels had a place

and a role to play in the wider context of news provision. Newsreel

production and distribution methods placed a heavy constraint on the speed

with which newsreels could deliver ‘news’ to cinema audiences. After a

story was shot, the film had to reach one of the assembly points where it

would be developed, edited and bestowed with a commentary. The finished

newsreel then had to be distributed by airplane, train or ship to the

subscribing cinemas. This meant that by the time the newsreel reached the

screen, it had often lost its topicality. Unable to speed up the process or

increase the frequency with which they were issued, the newsreels

acknowledged and exploited their position at the end of the news chain.

Luke McKernan, a newsreel historian, notes that the newsreels often took

their cue from other media that stood at the head of the news chain; the

newspapers and radio. The role of the newsreels was to provide the pictures


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Europe, which for obvious reasons was keener on war news, had an even

greater number of dedicated newsreel theatres than the US.9 After WWII, the

following companies produced and distributed newsreels in the US: Warner-

Pathé (distributed through RKO), Hearst’s News Of The Day (distributed

through MGM), Universal, Paramount, and Fox Movietone. There were also

a number of local services that operated on the fringe of the industry. In

Britain five newsreels dominated the screens; Gaumont-British News, Pathé

Gazette, British Paramount News, British Movietone News and Universal

News. Although these companies stepped into the post-war era with an

optimistic outlook and a boosted confidence, they soon encountered

existential challenges as the environment within which they operated began

to undergo radical changes. Ironically, one such challenge was self-inflicted;

by stepping up their game in the provision of hard news during the war, the

newsreels created new expectations in their audiences that they could not

live up to or chose not to build upon. Ultimately, the parent companies were

first and foremost feature film producers, and the newsreels formed only a

small part of their businesses. The reluctance to embark on a more serious

journalistic path at a time when audiences began to expect it contributed to

9 Raymond Fielding, The American newsreel; A complete History, 1911 –1967 , 2nd Edition, London, Jefferson, N.C.; London : McFarland & Co., 2006, p. 145.


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the decline of the newsreels. Television, of course, later realised the vast

journalistic potential of the newsfilm and exploited it to the maximum.

Convergence of Newsreels and Television News in the US

As WWII ravaged Europe, American dominance of the entertainment

and information industries and the development of associated technologies,

was consolidated. United Kingdom, Germany and other European countries

began developing television technology in the 1930s, but during the war

efforts came to a halt. The US, whilst also downsizing its television ‘project’

during the war, was nevertheless able to continue improving television

technology and establish industrial relations. Post-war Europe was not a

fertile ground for the new medium, but in the US the television boom

quickly set in. Therefore the American market was the first to be confronted

with a demand for newsfilm specifically shot got television and it was here

that the television news agencies came into being. The first decade after the

war was full of upheaval as newsreel producers, news wire agencies,

telecommunication companies and television stations all had to adjust to

new realities. Ways had to be found in which to participate and profit from

the new opportunities. Rapid developments on the television scene caused


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turmoil in the newsreel industry, even though the threat of television was

initially downplayed. In a 1948 trade magazine article, newsreel executives

claimed that television newsreels would wet public appetite for theatrical

newsreels and while television audiences were still relatively small,

television newsreels could not cut into theatre attendance. This view

conflicted sharply with opinions expressed by television men, who professed

that theatrical newsreel operation would soon be made obsolete by television

newsreels.10 Newsreel producers did perceive the magnitude of their

competition, however, and began allying themselves with the television

interests. In 1948, American trade magazines reported a flurry of activity by

newsreel companies in view of the anticipated television boom. Paramount,

it seemed, had the most advanced television plans; the studio had been active

in television since 1939, when Television Productions Inc. was formed,

operating a Hollywood television station. Paramount was involved with a

television station in Chicago and was affiliated with Allen B. DuMont

Laboratories, which run the WABD station in New York.11 In 1948,

Paramount news was lining up a national sponsor for a new ten-minute daily

television newsreel to be produced by the regular Paramount News staff.

10 Doris Sultan, ‘All Newspaper Wire Services Rush Into Television Field’, Boxoffice,

National Executive Edition, January 3, 1948, p.8. Accessed, 16th June 2009,

http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_010348-1/8 11 Ibid, p.8


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The reel was to be released five or six times a week. Negatives would be

flown into New York for processing and the prints would then be dispatched

to television stations. Paramount intended to vary the reels for theatrical and

television audiences in that there was to be more emphasis on dramatic

effects on the theatrical reels.12 Besides supplying newsreel footage to its

own and other television stations, Paramount News experimented with a

system for screening news events from a television receiver in theatres.

Paramount hoped some day to install its television receiving equipment in

other circuit houses.13

Eventually, the scheme was abandoned, presumably

because of the very high costs involved and Paramount did not build on its

early involvement in television news any further. Attempts to get a foothold

in television news by other newsreel producers were equally short lived; in

1948, Universal discussed a tie-up with United Press, a news wire agency,

for a daily television newsreel. But the talks were called off and Universal

began to discuss a daily newsreel with the American Broadcasting Company

(ABC).14 Although Universal maintained some presence in television, it did

not take the shape of a newsfilm syndication service for the television

12 Anon, Paramount and U-I join daily television feed’, Boxoffice, Canadian Edition,February 7 1948, p.16, Accessed, 16th June 2009, http://issuu.com/boxoffice.13 Sultan, January 3, 1948, p.16.14 Doris Sultan, ‘Video newsreel Producers Looking For Sponsors’, Boxoffice, National

Executive Edition, June 19, 1948, p.16, Accessed, 16th June 2009,http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_061948/16 .


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market. Warner Pathé News did not develop any plans for special television

newsreel films and MGM-Hearst’s News Of The Day went only as far as

providing film for the CBS television newsmagazine and documentary

programme See It Now. The March Of Time newsreel managed the transition

to television more successfully, but did not turn to the business of

newsgathering for television either. Rather, The March of Time built upon its

documentary style tradition and in the autumn of 1951 began work on a

television series entitled Crusade in the Pacific. The only two US newsreel

companies to embark on the business of gathering newsfilm for television

were Telenews and Fox Movietone. Both newsreels entered a deal with a

news wire agency; Telenews with INS and Movietone with UP. INS-

Telenews did not survive beyond the Sixties, but the United Press

Movietone (UPMT) television news agency operated under various names

and various owners until the Associated Press bought it up in 1998. As such,

the legacy of UPMT is kept alive to this day in the form of Associated Press

Television News.

After WWII television was ready to take off in the US, with the

Networks coming into their own between 1947 and 1948. The first television

news services were no more than newsreels themselves. In August 1945,

NBC premiered the weekly NBC Tele-Newsreel with film supplied by


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various newsreel companies. A year later, the Esso Newsreel was

introduced, running ten minutes from Monday to Thursday and fifteen

minutes on Sunday.15 Later the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company combined

with Fox Movietone News to produce a ten-minute daily newsreel for NBC

called The Camel News Caravan. CBS also bought footage for its news

programme from a newsreel; Hearst’s News of the Day. The newsreels did

not alter their operations; they merely added television stations to their list of

customers. The formula of sponsored newsreels produced using theatrical

newsreel footage meant that early television newscasts had a distinct

newsreel look with a preponderance of typical newsreel subjects. But

postwar television news coverage improved rapidly, as did the quality of its

picture. Through the 1940s and 1950s, the networks concentrated their news

coverage not on newscasts but on special events; a strength of the young

medium.

In the early Fifties, two events led to a huge television boom in the

US; the first was the laying of high frequency coaxial cable from East to

West with which the spanning of wide areas by television became possible.

This combined video and audio transmission line made direct switches from

coast to coast possible. The networks profited the most from the new coaxial

15 Douglas Gomery, Shared Pleasures, A History Of Movie Presentation In The UnitedStates, University of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin, 1992, p.153.


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cables as independent stations could rarely afford to make use of the

expensive new communication technology. By using coaxial cable, the

networks were now able to transmit news from one end of the country to the

other in an instant. This gave the networks immeasurable advantage in the

speed of delivery of newsfilm over independent television stations, but also

over theatrical newsreels. In realising the vast opportunities that the advent

of the coaxial cable opened up, network executives began to aggressively

expand and evolve their newsgathering and news reporting operations. Self-

sufficiency in domestic newsgathering suddenly became viable for the

networks but made independent stations all the more dependent on a third-

party newsfilm service. The other major development was the lift on the

freeze on new commercial stations in 1952. The FFC could finally provide

enough UHF channels to accommodate more stations. The lifting of the ban

resulted in an explosion in commercial television stations from 97 in 1950 to

429 in 1955.16

Television stations and networks put relatively little effort into

covering day-to-day, routine news until the early Fifties. It is thus difficult to

argue that the new medium arose to fill the audience’s need for more visual

news created by newsreels during the war. Rather, it is striking that

16 Edward Bliss Jr., Now the News, The Story Of Broadcast Journalism, ColumbiaUniversity Press, New York, 1991, p.221.


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television took so long to tap into this demand and to fully exploit the

opportunities for news reporting that the new medium offered. In the

beginning, the few stations on the air seemed more a curiosity than a

competition. Nonetheless, US newspapers bought into television and by

1947 Newspapers owned six of the fifteen stations broadcasting.17 TV grew

rapidly in the early and mid-1950s, presenting newspapers with a competitor

both for advertising revenue and for consumer’s time. As television’s

audience and influence increased, so did print journalist’s respect for their

competitor. A distant dream for the newsreels; television could now break

news ahead of the newspapers. Even if the newsfilm was delayed, television

stations could still bank on the impact that motion pictures would have on

their audiences. Television thus invaded territories hitherto monopolised by

the newsreels, newspapers and radio respectively. The advantage the

newsreels had was that they offered high quality moving pictures. In this

sense, newsreels could still score over television in the Sixties. The

newsreels, in anticipation of colour television, began to film in colour

whenever possible. Various attempts were made to emulate the style of

television news reporting and to evolve the newsreels stylistically through

17 David R. Davies, The Press and Television 1948 – 1960’ in The Postwar Decline Of

American Newspapers, 1945 – 1965, Praeger Publishers, Westport, 2006, p.49, p.50,p.52, p.54.


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the inclusion of talking heads, interviewers and vox pops.18 But it was too

little, too late; newsreels no longer conformed to the fashions and values of

the time and no longer constituted a genuine merit to the public. They

remained tied to the distribution patterns of the cinema circuits and were

thus doomed to be late with news that audiences now expected to see on a

daily basis.

The growth of television also led to a change of practices and norms

in other news outlets. In the US, the promises of colour television prompted

newspapers to begin printing in colour. By the late 1950s half of all

newspapers were printing some spot colour, and one-quarter were printing

full colour, with colour most often used in advertising. Forty to fifty

newspapers were running news photographs in full colour by 1958.

Television also forced newspapers to deliver afternoon editions to reader’s

homes earlier in the day before families began their evening television

viewing. The re-shuffle of positioning of the various media in the news

chain was also reflected in content; since television increasingly beat

newspaper in breaking news, newspapers embraced a more analytical

approach to news reporting. Radio stations began rebuilding programming

around music and talk and magazines changed from general interest to

18 McKernan, 2009, p.8


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specialised interest such as sports.19 Eventually, a curious role reversal took

place; whilst earlier audiences would flock to the cinema to see newsreel

pictures of events they read about in the newspapers, televised news events

now increase viewers’ curiosity about those events, inciting them to buy

newspaper to read about what they had just seen.20

Television News Agencies

Currently, two companies dominate the field of commercial wholesale

of television news images; Reuters Television and AP Television News.

Both companies have their headquarters in London, but AP Television News

is a subsidiary of a US organisation. This represents an interesting

geographical shift of the centre of motion picture newsgathering back to

Europe. Television news agencies came into being in North America in the

late Forties and early Fifties since it was there that the demand for television

newsfilm first arose. The Associated Press was one of the first organisations

to attempt to exploit the new opportunities in the television news market. In

November 1947, AP broadcast a television newsreel of Princess Elizabeth’s

wedding over three stations; CBS in New York, the Philadelphia Inquirer

19 Davies, 2006, p.53-6020 See Davies, 2006, p.53-60 for examples.


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station and on a Baltimore station.21 Although, in an article from November

1947, the stations are said to have secured the film from the ‘Associated

Press Television newsreel Service,’22 there is no further evidence that the AP

actually offered such a service on a regular basis. The Royal Wedding film

seems to have been a ‘one off’ until early 1948, when the AP again

attempted to offer a newsreel service to its member television stations. But

the agency gave up after only about three weeks when it found costs were

enormous.23 Boyd-Barret concluded that the AP put its toe in the water too

soon in the late 1940s.24 Even though it is true that the television boom

really only arrived the 1950s, timing was not the only reason for the failure.

The AP underestimated not only the cost but also the complexities of

running a worldwide motion picture newsgathering operation and wrongly

believed that simply providing its reporters with camera equipment would

do the job. Both UP and INS took a different approach and entered the

21 Sultan, January 3, 1948, p.16.22 Sam Chase,‘Royal Nuptials Tip Video’s Mitt on Future News Coverage’, The

Billboard , November 29, 1947, p.15. Accessed, May 2009,

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ASEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT14&dq=%22Royal+Nuptials+Tip+Video%E2%80%99s+Mitt+on+Future+News+Coverage%22#v=onepage&q=

%22Royal%20Nuptials%20Tip%20Video%E2%80%99s%20Mitt%20on%20Future%20

News%20Coverage%22&f=false 23 Anon, ‘newsreels Flop On Tele, High Costs, Time Lag Are Main Factors, WpixFollows Camel Exit’, The Billboard , Vol. 61, No.7, February 12, 1949, p.15

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=M_YDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&dq=%22newsreels

+Flop+On+Tele%22#v=onepage&q=&f=false 24 Oliver Boyd-Barrett, The International News Agencies, Constable, London,1980, p.p.238.


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television market in partnership with companies which already had

experience in the gathering of motion picture news; United Press tied up

with Fox Movietone and INS with Telenews.25 The rush by the wire services

into the television newsfilm field in the late 1940s was not only motivated

by the opportunities of a new market. Newspapers, which were wary of

tying up with radio when the medium first hit the airwaves, did not want to

miss the boat this time and began setting up or buying out television stations.

Wire services had an interest to keep television stations owned by their

existing customers supplied with filmed news events, even if this did not

prevent them from adding other television stations to their customer base.26

By the mid Fifties, three companies established themselves in the field of

newsfilm syndication; CBS Newsfilm, INS-Telenews and United Press

Movietone. Visnews (formerly BCINA), a British agency, also came onto

the scene at that time. With INS-Telenews faltering in the early Sixties and

CBS Newsfilm operating on a smaller scale, Visnews and UPMT were soon

to become dominant in the field. The competition between these two

companies was fierce and lasted for decades. The Associated Press finally

entered the business successfully in 1994 and, for a brief period, the three

25 Trade press articles from1948 indicate, however, that the UP was already producing its

own newsreel before tying up with Movietone. See; Boxoffice, Canadian Edition,

February 7 1948, p.16 , Boxoffice, National Executive Edition, January 3, 1948, p.8.26 Sultan, January 3, 1948, p.8.


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companies competed in a crowded market. When the Associated Press

bought up WTN (the then latest incarnation of UPMT) in 1998, the industry

was left again with only two major television news agencies; Reuters

Television (formerly Visnews) and AP Television.

INS-Telenews

The prospects of the newsreel business appeared so good in the late

1930s that a new newsreel, Telenews, entered the field. This was a business

enterprise that did not emerge from the movie industry. Announced in 1938,

the venture was a pure and simple investment by a syndicate of New York

business leaders. Paul Felix Warburg, a millionaire banker, and Angier

Biddle Duke, a tobacco magnate, supplied the money and former reporter

and then real estate speculator Alfred A. Burger handled the day-to-day

operations. The chain would be vertically integrated, with its own camera

crews, editors, sound technicians, and distribution staff, as well as a chain of

newsreel theatres. The first Telenews theatre opened in San Francisco on 1st

September 1939. For over twenty years Telenews operated a chain of

thirteen newsreel theatres across the United States and continued to run an

operation to create newsreels for its houses as well as other independent


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theatre operators.27

In the postwar era, Telenews tapped into the emerging

television market with more foresight than its competition. Perhaps, this was

due to the fact that Telenews was not produced by a big Hollywood studio

and the production of newsfilm was actually the company’s main business.

As such, Telenews was more open to pursuing new avenues and finding

ways in which to survive in a fast-changing industry. Already supplying

television stations with its theatrical newsreels, Telenews tied in with INS on

a deal to supply stations with daily newsreel films especially produced for

television in January 1948. INS was owned by William Randolph Hearst

who himself was no stranger to the newsreel business. In 1913, the Hearst

organisation began producing its own newsreel. Joining in 1914 with

William Selig, the movie producer, Hearst provided the reporters to hunt out

exclusives and Selig provided the experience in the moviemaking field.28

The Hearst-Selig News Pictorial was thus a precursor to the successful

scheme of a wire agency collaborating with a newsfilm producer. In 1918,

after several other attempted alliances, Hearst ventured alone and his

newsreel became the internationally acclaimed News Of The Day. Hearst

released his product first through Universal and then MGM. Not missing out

on the opportunities that television afforded, News Of The Day was later

27 Gomery, 1992, p.150, p.151.28 Ibid, p.142.


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released to television stations in a silent version so that the stations could

write their own commentary. Most prominently, Hearst provided film for

Edward R, Murrow’s television documentary series See It Now. News Of

The Day did not feature in the INS-Telenews deal.

In the INS-Telenews collaboration, INS did not film its own

newsreels. The newsreel films were produced and released by Telenews

Productions. INS-Telenews was the first service to offer newsreel motion

pictures to television on a daily basis. A Boxoffice article from January 1948

details the INS-Telenews operation as such: television newsreel negative

was to be flown to New York for processing. Thereafter prints were flown

out to nine regional INS-Telenews offices for distribution. These outlets

were in Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, Denver,

Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle. INS-Telenews also planned to equip these

offices with film processing equipment so that local film could be developed

speedily. All reels were to be printed on both 35mm and 16mm. At the time,

Telenews operated 14 theatres in the US. Some of the 35mm films prepared

for the television newsreels were to be shown in Telenews houses.29

INS-Telenews serviced independent stations but its main customers

were the networks; the DuMont Television Network showed the INS-

29 Sultan, January 3, 1948, p.8.


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Telenews reel but the programme was dropped already in 1949 and the

network itself ceased operating in 1955. From 1948, The Columbia

Broadcasting System (CBS) also carried the INS-Telenews daily newsreel.

CBS distributed the news to all the stations of its chain by coaxial cable, so

that the number of copies needed was reduced. CBS received the bulk of its

footage from the newsfilm provider and within a year the network became

the most important client for INS-Telenews. The American Broadcasting

Company Network (ABC) also relied heavily on INS-Telenews for newsflm.

The ABC contract went beyond the usual syndication pact in that frequently,

ABC supplied the reporter-contact man for stories, while INS-Telenews

provided the camera crew and processing. Under this arrangement, ABC had

the right to first use the film stories to which its men were assigned. INS-

Telenews was then able to issue the film through its normal syndication

channels.30

INS-Telenews made crucial adjustments to its theatrical newsreel in

order to make the product more suitable to the needs of television stations.

Originally, INS-Telenews produced a daily newsreel for its clients. The

format of the television newsreel mirrored that of a theatrical reel. The

newsreel was an entity with opening and closing titles, a predefined

30 Bob Siller, Ted White, Hal Terkel, Television And Radio News, MacMillan Company,New York, 1960, p.189


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selection of stories in a set order, the whole piece overlaid with a

commentary. Such a newsreel could only be used in its entirety and therefore

lacked the flexibility that television stations needed. INS-Telenews first

undertook the step to drop the commentary and the reels were released to the

television stations with scripts to be read by an announcer. If there was a

speech, statement or some other usable sound it was supplied on an optical

track. Since the scripts were more easily prepared than sound commentary

put on the film sound track, this also speeded up the production process and

television stations could receive the reels sooner. The switch from 35mm to

16mm film was another groundbreaking development.16mm cameras were

better suited for television newsgathering than the bulky 35mm equipment

and were also the more economic option. By the mid Fifties many television

stations did not even have equipment compatible with 35mm film. Most

importantly, INS-Telenews altered its service and replaced the newsreel with

single newsfilm clips. Stations would still receive a similar number of stories

as they would in a newsreel (eight to ten items), but now they could easily

eliminate stories they did not want and write their own commentary for the

chosen items. Even if the format and delivery methods may have changed,

television agencies use the system of single story provision to this day.


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Another change was in the content of the syndicated stories; more space was

devoted to foreign items and hard news in general.31

While INS-Telenews was leading United Press-Movietone in the

number of stations subscribing for many years, the newsfilm service fell on

hard times when it lost the CBS-TV business in early 1953. The CBS action

not only took about $7000 a week from the INS-Telenews exchequer, but

the network would also shortly go into competition with a newsfilm

operation of is own.32 In January 1954, INS-Telenews was purchased by

Hearst Enterprises and began to share material with the News Of The Day

series. By then INS-Telenews had some 150 staff cameramen and

stringers.33 It released a daily newsreel five days a week and a weekly sports

edition for US television stations. The daily issues were about 250 meters

long with about 36 to 40 copies being made and 18 of the sports edition.

INS-Telenews offered many items from the United Nations and generally

secured about four times as much film material as it actually used. In view of

its special features, INS-Telenews cost up to four times as much as ordinary

31 This view is supported by two texts from the Fifties: Bob Siller, Ted White, Hal Terkel ,

Television And Radio News, MacMillan Company, New York, 1960, and Peter Baechlin,

Maurice Muller-Strauss, newsreels Across The World , UNESCO, Paris, 1952.32 Billboard May 2, 1953, p.12 Telenews Seeking New Distributor33 Siller, White, Terkel, 1960, p.184.


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newsreels. 34 As the networks built up their national transmission

connections and developed their own newsgathering operations, they were

keen to shed reliance on costly third party syndication services. INS-

Telenews never recovered from losing the CBS contract. In the US, the

market was crowded with the three networks doing most of the

newsgathering themselves. INS-Telenews was left to compete for

independent stations’ contracts with United Press Movietone. As opposed to

its competitor, INS-Telenews failed to develop its business in the now

burgeoning European market. In May 1958, United Press acquired the

Hearst-owned INS and became UPI. The United Press Movietone newsfilm

agency was originally not part of the deal35, but it is possible that Hearst saw

UPMT as the stronger agency of the two and UPMT later became a

subsidiary of UPI. INS-Telenews faded away in the early Sixties. The

UCLA Film & Television Archive holds the INS-Telenews films from 1954

– 1962 as part of the Hearst Metrotone News collection.36 The southern

division of Telenews continued to cover local, national and world events

34 Peter Baechlin, Maurice Muller-Strauss, newsreels Across The World , UNESCO, Paris,

1952, p.66.35 Richard M. Harnett, Billy G. Ferguson,Unipress, United Press International, Coveringthe 20th Century, Fulcrum Publishing, Colorado, 2003, p.183.36 Joshua Amberg, ARSC Study Guide, UCLA Film & Television Archive, Hearst

Metrotone News Collection, Los Angeles, Date Unknown, Accessed, June 2009,

http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/pdfs/FTVStudyGuides/hearst_newsreel.pdf .The pre 1954 INS Telenews archive is held by CinemaArts in the US


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news at a Florida station. This collection is now held at Historic Films

archives in New Jersey.37

CBS Newsfilm

As a television network, the main activity of CBS did not consist of

newsfilm syndication. The CBS Newsfilm division nevertheless has to

feature in any account of early television news agencies, since CBS

Newsfilm became a major player in the domestic market and also syndicated

its newsfilm internationally more aggressively than other US networks. CBS

was not pioneering in newsfilm syndication. In the late Forties, the network

relied heavily on a fledgling agency, INS-Telenews, for film. The contract

was signed to broaden CBS’s own coverage for its daily news programme.

Although INS-Telenews had made adjustments for its television customers,

such as using 16-mm cameras and delivering service daily, there were

discouraging aspects to dependence on a syndicated service. It was felt, that

INS-Telenews, even though it was more flexible than other newsreels, was

still too newsreel-oriented and did not cater to television’s specialised news

37 Anon, Historic Films, Southern Telenews Library (1958-1978), Accessed, June 2009,

http://www.historicfilms.com/library_pages/telenews.html . Due to the wide circulation,

it is likely that parts of the INS-Telenews collection are held in other archives (e.g. theBFI Archive hols a Telenews collection).


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department and would operate in close coordination with news management.

Its assignment staff would work with the news director and program units.

Finally, an exchange agreement was put in place with the BBC and ORTF in

France. The CBS News organisation started on the 15th May 1953 but it was

not until September that it went into syndication with KLZ-TV in Denver as

its first customer. Televisa in Mexico followed shortly as the first

international customer.39 Beyond its daily syndication films, CBS Newsfilm

also offered clientele extensive coverage of sporting events and put out a

weekly 15-minute sports program. Similarly, it issued a weekly 15-minute

news review, and a 30-minute year-end review. The BBC cancelled the CBS

contract as early as 1954 as the service did not add enough to their input to

justify continuation. But ITN, was on the horizon and CBS started

approaching the new UK broadcaster to help setting up their news

organisation. At the beginning ITN was more a customer, with an exchange

partnership envisaged at a later point. Growth by 1960 had been enormous;

CBS Newsfilm was serving every major market in the United States and

thirty-nine clients in twenty-seven countries. There were now staff members

and contract personnel in eight major capital cities outside the United States,

and in six cities within the country. The newly formed CBS News division

39 Ibid, p.117


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had been given special status as an autonomous unit within the CBS

corporate structure.40

United Press Movietone

In the early 20th Century, two American newspaper publishers; E.W.

Scripps and William Randolph Hearst shared a problem – the Associated

Press’ refusal to serve their newspapers. The AP prohibited its customers to

subscribe or provide news to any other service. This rule was enforced when

the AP discontinued service to Scripps newspapers that exchanged news

among themselves. Scripps desperately needed a wire service for his

afternoon papers. He had to have cable news from overseas and a national

news report. Unable to break the AP stranglehold on wire news, Scripps

decided to start a comprehensive service of his own.41 Scripps launched

United Press in 1907. Two years later, Hearst formed INS to compete with

AP and UP. The INS pioneered sensational news coverage and operated on a

smaller scale than the UP and AP. The United Press achieved great standing

and respect during the two World Wars. Although UP became a serious

competitor to the Associated Press, it retained its ‘underdog’ status, not least

40 Ibid, p.5, p.200.41 Harnett, Ferguson, 2003, p.12, p.27, p30.


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because the AP was always the wealthier organisation. Not being owned by

its newspaper members meant that the UP could venture into new media

more readily. The UP was the first major press association to make its

reports available to radio, and took an early plunge in television. From

September 1947, UP offered a daily five-minute still wirephoto show but the

agency was anxious to get started with films. In 1948 UP began discussing

joint production of a television newsreel with various film companies,

Universal and Fox-Movietone amongst them.42 The choice eventually fell on

Fox-Movietone, long foremost in the newsreel field, and the first of the

newsreel companies to enter television.43 Although United Press Movietone

(UPMT) is generally credited as the first television newsfilm agency,44 the

agreement between United Press and Twentieth Century-Fox Movietone to

shoot newsfilm for television stations was only announced on July 13, 1948

– a good six months after the INS-Telenews service was started up. UPMT

nevertheless plays the most significant role in the history of television news

agencies. It too was pioneering and along with INS-Telenews introduced

crucial innovations and procedures that became intrinsic to the business of

motion picture newsgathering. Yet while INS-Telenews faltered in the early

42 Sultan, June 19, 1948, p.16.43 Anon, Paramount and U-I join daily television feed’, Boxoffice, Canadian Edition,

February 7 1948, p.16.44 Boyd-Barrett,1980, p.238.


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Sixties, UPMT grew steadily and became the first television news agency to

operate on a truly international level.

Until the television boom in the early Fifties, the UPMT operation

was low-key with only a handful of domestic clients. Some sources actually

date the beginning of the syndication operation with 1951.45 At first,

production was exclusively in 35mm. From 1952 some stories were shot on

16mm but 35mm footage continued to be the mainstay. Fox-Movietone

continued to produce and distribute its 35mm theatrical newsreel. Peter

Bragman of Movietone News, the archive now holding the entire US

Movietone and UPMT output, says that although the production of newsfilm

for the theatre and television were separate operations, there is some16mm

and 35mm overlap. This would indicate that stories shot for the Fox-

Movietone newsreel would also be supplied to UPMT’s television customers

and vice-versa. The Movietone archive holdings indicate that a general

switch to the 16mm format for the television market happened in 1955. By

1953 UPMT delivered each story as a separate film clip rather than all the

45 e.g. William C. Payette, Just Like Radio, News Develops as TV Staple; ’52 Key Year’,The Billboard , September 20, 1952, p.11.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RhoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11&dq=%22United+Pres

s%22+Fox+Movietone&lr=. Or Anon,’ Fox Is Ending Domestic newsreel; New Format’,

Boxoffice, September 2, 1963, Accessed, May, 2009.http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_090263/8


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stories in the shipment on one reel. 46 That UPMT by this time moved away

from newsreel-style editing is further supported by the fact that the entire

16mm UPMT archive consists of individual stories.47 UPMT quickly

expanded its coverage and processing facilities. The two companies co-

operated so successfully that by 1952 more than half of the television

stations on the air were served by UPMT, receiving 15-25 stories per day -

and a total of 200 minutes of newsfilm a week. 48 The stories were mostly

silent so that the anchor could read the script. Suggested narration was

supplied (3 words to a second) and the shotlist would be teletyped to clients.

The films were supplied without natural sound, apart from important sound

bites such as press conferences. The average film stories run 45 seconds to a

minute or more. The version issued by UPMT was intended as an edited

version. However, clients were entirely free to edit the film further even if

the average length of each story did not leave a great deal of room to

manoeuvre. The change in assignment desk from a newsreel to a news wire

agency was reflected in the subject; The Movietone theatrical newsreel

46 Gene Plotnik, The Story Behind newsreel TV Films’, The Billboard , January 17, 1953,

p.17., Accessed, May 2009.

http://books.google.com/books?id=GQsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17&dq=%22united+pres

s%22+movietone&lr=&as_pt=MAGAZINES.47 Telephone interview with Peter Bragman, Director of Archives at Fox Movietone

News;, 26th June 2009. See also the US Fox Movietone News website;

http://www.movietonews.com/the_fox_movietone_newsreel.html .48 Payette, The Billboard,1952, p.11.


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leaned toward lighter stories, such as animal antics or sports. In political

terms it was conservative, and in the 1950s strongly anti-communist,

supporting McCarthyism. Whilst Movietone would have found it difficult to

sell its reel to theatres in the south if it included stories about desegregation,

the films intended for television could carry controversial subjects such as

civil rights. Compared to the theatrical newsreel the television film also dealt

with more hard news, such as national politics, and with time more

international news.49 The Networks were reluctant to rely on agencies for

their newsfilm due to the fact that they had no control over the assignment

desk and sometime the quality of the newsfilm did not measure up to their

requirements or did not match their style. UPMT therefore supplied mainly

to independent television stations. The agency tried to compete with the

three big television networks. However, CBS, NBC and ABC could all

afford the bill for leasing coaxial cable from coast to coast. UPMT couldn’t

and therefore had to keep relying on airlines, trains and couriers to move its

film; a far slower delivery method. As networks stepped up their own news

gathering activities in the mid Fifties, UPMT could not find enough clients

in the US and had to look for new markets.

49 This view was supported in telephone interviews with Reese Schonfeld, 1956

UPMT

Copyboy & 1973 UPITN Vice President and Managing Editor (May 2009) and PeterBragman of Fox Movietone News Archives (June 2009)


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The UPMT product had already been sold abroad through United

Press foreign offices but the agency was on the look out for a major

European client. By now television stations in Europe were coming on air in

large numbers and Europe was becoming a viable market - especially

Britain, with the BBC leading the field since the end of the war. Up to this

point the BBC had been relying on its own cameramen and briefly on the

CBS syndication service but with the prospect of ITN coming on air in

September 1955, the BBC had to find ways to improve its coverage. UPMT

offered a one-month trial contract free of charge to the BBC. In previous

years, UPMT had relied on the Movietone outlet in the UK, but since the

BBC was worried that the service would be too US oriented and with the

prospect of more European clients coming on board, UPMT established a

permanent office in London. With the UK office UPMT could offer a more

localised service. When the trial service finished in September 1955 the

BBC signed a lucrative contract for seven years and became the company’s

first television client in Europe.50 Soon, other stations wanted a trial service

50 The annual subscription amounted to £153,000. Anon, British BroadcastingCorporation v. Johns (Inspector of Taxes), February – March, 1964, Accessed, July 2009,

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:6GMq1AGY71MJ:oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/new/cas

ebook/cases/Cases%2520Chapter%25205/British%2520Broadcasting%2520Corporation

%2520v%2520Johns.doc+British+Broadcasting+Corporation+v+Johns.doc.&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk


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and by Christmas UPMT had a dozen clients, counting many of the big

stations in Europe. 51

At the beginning UP and Movietone were not in the same building;

the British Movietone head office was at 22 Soho Square, also the location

for Kay Laboratories where all the film was processed. The UP group were

based at the UP headquarters in Bouverie Street. They had a small office on

the second floor with access to the UP wire service. The staff at Bouverie

Street consisted of Richard S. Clark, Kenneth Warr, Martin Bishop, George

Carey, Ian Fawcett and later Kenneth Coyte, but more people had to be

employed soon with more clients and more film to process. A hand-wound

telephone linked the two offices and UPI teleprinter to communicate written

material.52 The United Press Movietone collaboration was modelled on the

US experience; to begin with, Movietone shot in 35mm and the film would

be reduced to 16mm for UPMT. In 1955 the BBC switched to 16mm and the

British UPMT division followed suit. The arrangement was that Movietone

would supply the newsfilm collected though its network of freelancers and

permanent staff of cameramen all around the world. UP would choose what

subject they wanted and these items would be given priority so that a print of

51 Terry Gallacher, UPMT, UPIN, UPITN, Head of Commercial Productions 1964 –

1983, Internet Interview and Email exchange, July 2009.52 Andrew Ailes, 1959 – 1963 UPMT. Copy boy to sub-editor, Subsequently senior postsat Visnews, Telephone conversation and email exchange, May 2009.


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the story would be delivered to the BBC for them to include in their nightly

bulletin. Increasingly, the story leads came from UP. Kenneth Warr explains

that Movietone were used to make features and lacked a sense of

newsworthiness. He gives an example of a rail strike; a Movietone

cameraman was sent to Paddington to cover the story but returned with no

film, saying that nothing was happening and that no one was there. Yet these

were exactly the pictures Warr was after. UP provided the editorial services;

wires, assignment, writers to do the shotlisting and suggested commentary.

UP was also responsible for sales and distribution. UP made an effort to find

freelance cameramen through its worldwide network. Many were equipped

with the 16mm clockwork Bolex camera.53 These cameramen were of

widely varying capability and some were taught on the job. This meant that

they had to spend time alongside a proven cameraman. Guidance came from

the newsreel cameramen who had for years been covering the news without

the aid of a journalist or even detailed written instructions.54 In general, there

was a lot of continuity from newsreel days in staff. Some UPMT editors had

been in the business since the Twenties. They were used to 35mm film and

53 Andrew Ailes, Getting My Feet Wet, Archive Zones, Focal International, London

Date? p.154 Terry Gallacher, 2009.


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location also allowed for faster access to Heathrow, vital for receiving and

dispatching film. Efforts were made to secure further clients over the next

years. As time went by, the television news service required stories that

Movietone would not normally cover. This led to more and more material

being shot specifically for the television service. There was now a certain

amount of friction between the companies since Movietone believed that UP

were asking for more than their entitlement.57 On 30th September 1963, UP

and Movietone divorced. Although UPI-Movietone was succeeding in

making a profit for UPI, with sales in Europe and South America as well as

the United States, Fox executives wanted to get out of the deal because they

felt they were not making enough from it. 58 Prior to this, in 1958, UP had

acquired the Hearst-owned INS and became United Press International –

‘UPI’. After the split from Movietone, UPI set up a corporate entity; UPI-

Newsfilm (UPIN). By agreement UPI-Newsfilm continued to provide some

stories to British Movietone. UPIN took on staff cameramen around the

world, very often former Movietone staff now on the UPI payroll. They

were located in the local UPI Bureau offices, which meant they could easily

be contacted through the wire. Such an arrangement existed in Paris,

Frankfurt and Rome. In the US, there were UPIN offices in New York and

57 Warr, Bath, 200958 Harnett, Ferguson, 2003, p.300.


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Washington with staff crews and in London six staff cameramen were on

hand. The client list continued to expand as stations around the world

commenced broadcasting. In Europe, the client list included, ORTF

(France), WDR Cologne, ZDF and ARD (Germany), RAI (Italy), NOS

(Netherlands) BRT/RTB (Belgium) and the majority of countries of the

Eastern Bloc. By the 1960s most of the Middle East had begun broadcasting

and the majority of them became clients. UPI, having broken away from

Movietone, now believed that it was essential that they teamed up with

another major client. Negotiations took place around Europe but the one that

seemed for some time to be favourite was a German Broadcaster.59

These

negotiations did not come to fruition and the pressure to find a big

client/partner increased when UPIN lost the BBC contract. ITN was the

obvious choice; a big broadcaster already running its own small syndication

business. But it took four years before UPI actually joined with ITN to form

UPITN in June 1967. The company moved away from Denham and joined

up with ITN at their headquarters in the Kingsway. It was not an altogether

happy union but the business grew, and the news agency enjoyed its hey-

days during the Seventies. UPI was plagued by financial difficulties and

embroiled in various scandals that had negative consequences for UPITN. In

59 Kenneth Warr, conversation Bath, May 2009


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the early Eighties, UPI sold off its last shares of UPITN, and the company

name was changed to Worldwide Television News (WTN) soon thereafter.60

BCINA/Visnews

The formation of Visnews, the British television news agency that

came to dominate the field, is closely linked to the history of another agency,

United Press Movietone. The BBC was relying heavily on the UPMT

newsfilm service from 1955 onwards. Whilst the two companies enjoyed a

good relationship, managers at the BBC felt uneasy about depending on an

American company for their newsfilm. Despite UPMT’s effort to provide a

customised service to the BBC by opening a UK office, it was felt that the

material was limited to matters that were mainly of interest to American

clients, which at the time formed UPMT’s main customer base. The BBC

needed films from countries to which Britain had colonial ties. Another

problem was that the films obtained from UPMT had an American ‘slant’ to

them which was undesirable with controversial subjects such as

60 Refer to Paterson, 1996, for an exhaustive account of the UPITN period. The UPITN

archive is held by AP Archive; www.aparchive.com. The UPMT archive is shared

between the British Movietone News archive, http://www.movietone.com/, and FoxMovietone News archive in the US, www.movietonews.com


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McCarthyism.61 Since there was no British agency to turn to, the BBC set

out on a project to counter the American monopoly. A driving force behind

the undertaking director-General of the BBC, Sir Ian Jacob, wanted to

establish a British agency ‘so as not to leave the whole field to the

Americans.’62 It was clear that the BBC could not go it alone and needed a

strong partner. An approach was made to Reuters, a news agency with which

the BBC already stood in a close relationship. Reuters was not willing to

participate and eventually the BBC joined with other television stations in

establishing a television news agency. In February 1957, the British

Commonwealth International Newsfilm Agency (BCINA) was formed by

the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Australian

Broadcasting Commission (ABC). The three stations were joined by the

Rank Organisation, then a major British film production firm, which brought

together the newsreel libraries of Gaumont and Universal, as well as British

Paramount News whose laboratories Rank owned. As opposed to the UPMT

set up where the newsreel producer was responsible for shooting the

newsfilm, the Rank involvement was limited to the use of its laboratories. In

1958, New Zealand Broadcasting (BZNZ) joined BCINA as an investor.

61 Andrew Ailes conversation, May 2009, Also, British Broadcasting Corporation v.

Johns, 196462 British Broadcasting Corporation v. Johns, 1964.


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Kenneth Warr, working for UPMT at the time, remembers that before

the formation of BCINA, BBC asked whether its editors could spend some

days with UPMT to see how an agency worked. No hint of BBC forming its

own television news agency was given and UPMT naively welcomed the

BBC editors and showed them everything they could. Later the formation of

BCINA was suddenly announced.63 UPMT was surprised but confident that

it could cope with any competition. It took two or three years for BCINA to

find its feet. BCINA began by distributing film footage shot by BBC, ABC

(Australia) and CBC crews around the world, but gradually built its own

network of staff and stringer cameramen. Like UPMT, BCINA was also

located in West London for ease of access to Heathrow Airport. Some of the

original staff had been taken from newsreel companies, but former UPMT

people also largely staffed BCINA. The agency could offer much higher

wages than UPMT and many journalists and cameramen came over. Andrew

Ailes, one of the journalists to leave UPMT for BCINA, felt that the agency

was heavily overstaffed when he first joined. But as the television news

business grew in the Sixties and the pressure on agencies increased, BCINA

was in a better situation to meet the demands, due mainly to the solid

63 Kenneth Warr conversation, Bath, May 2009.


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financial backing it enjoyed.64 In 1960 Reuters took an interest and

purchased its first shares in BCINA and later acquired more shares as Rank

withdrew. In 1962 NBC allowed BCINA to access their TV news network

for syndication in the service and two years later BCINA re-branded to

Visnews.

Initially, the operations of Visnews were sufficiently limited for the

BBC to continue to take UPIN (former UPMT) newsfilm. In 1965, the BBC

decided that it did not need the UPIN service any longer. This was a

devastating blow because the lucrative BBC contract covered the entire

agency operation with a profit margin. Since the contract also said that UPIN

would not sign with another UK station at a lower cost (i.e. ITN, which

could not afford to pay as much), the BBC was UPIN’s sole UK customer.65

To make matters worse, when UPMT/UPIN negotiated with the European

stations, the rates were set very low to encourage new clients. When

BCINA/Visnews came into the market, they were obliged to match the UP

rates or fail to enlarge their client list. BCINA’s advantage was the power of

its founder members who probably made it possible for them to even

undercut UPMT/UPIN in some cases. While UPIN had to find new ways to

finance and making a profit out of its newsgathering operation, Visnews

64 Andres Ailes, telephone conversation, May 200965 Warr, Bath upon Avon, May 2009.


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continued to grow. In the Seventies, both UPITN (former UPIN) and

Visnews were going strong and although each agency claimed supremacy

over the other, Visnews was the stronger of the two for many years. Reuters

acquired full control of Visnews in 1992 and in 1993 Visnews changed its

name to Reuters Television.

Conclusion

The origins of television news agencies have received little attention

in academic discourse. The subject is usually dealt with superficially in the

form of brief chapters within works concerning wider areas of research, such

as the histories of news wire agencies. Not only historical facts, such as

dates of events or company histories have been neglected, but also the

context within which they stood. It is important to understand the forces that

were at play and the changes in the market, which advanced the industry. A

re-evaluation of the role that newsreel companies and news wire agencies

played in establishing television news agencies is necessary. Continuities

from the newsreel era can easily be traced in the early television agencies,

mainly in the operational structure, staff and to some degree the in the

product itself. Upon closer examination, however, television news agencies


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established chain of news provision in the Forties and Fifites in America as

well as in Europe. As television news reporting improved in the following

decades, all other news outlets had to adjust to the new realities. Television

news agencies played and continue to play an instrumental part in

establishing television news as one of the most important sources of news.

These are the major themes that emerge out of the examination of an

era that transformed the gathering of motion picture news. This work is

necessarily limited to being an overview of the most important

developments at the beginning of the television agency business. Further in-

depth research is much needed. It is likely, that more primary sources can be

uncovered and further interviews with industry protagonists should be

carried out. Another line of inquiry which should be pursued is the

relationship between US Networks and the television news agencies with a

view to the newsgathering activities of the Networks themselves. In this

account, the main focus has been on developments in North America as this

is where the business first started, but the European television news market

and its early news exchange systems also merit further research. There are

many other aspects of television news agency history which lend themselves

to further research. The history of television news agencies is a fascinating

subject, one that offers plenty of opportunities for pioneering research.


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