The Value of the Ephemeral: Assessing News Output About Yugoslavia (1998–1999)

Abstract

Producers and vendors of data streams and information flows seek to equate the sometimes competing demands of accuracy, speed, relevance, significance and impact. The ‘modern’ concept of news brokers and news agencies emerged in the mid-nineteenth century. Havas, Paris, in 1832–35, Associated Press, New York, in 1848, and Reuters, London, in 1851 were three of the major players then, as they are today (Agence France Presse succeeding Havas in 1944). The circulation of international news and the role of key news organizations have been studied from many perspectives. Here, we wish to explore issues relating to the information society and the professional concerns of newsagency editors who seek to reconcile the competing demands listed above; in so doing, they inform the debate about news, data, and information.