Outgoing News Coverage
Problems of information transmission, as they relate to communications facilities, fall into two categories--transmission of newsmen's coverage from within a country and transmission of news agencies' services to subscribers within a country.
Generally speaking, facilities for transmission of news from the capitals and other major cities of most of the nations of the world are available today. They range from the instantaneous capability of leased lines maintained by the major news services throughout much of the world to the relatively slow point-to-point commercial telex or message services which may be the only facility available in some cities, particularly in some parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. These may not always have a direct connection with the destination a correspondent wishes to reach, they may be expensive and, comparatively speaking, they may be slow, but the situation today is many degrees better than it was 20 to 30 years ago.
Of course, when a major news event, whether spontaneous or planned, occurs in a location with limited facilities, they quickly are overtaxed by the large number of reporters, photographers and TV newsmen who arrive on the scene. As a result, the reports of some newspeople may be delayed or never reach their destinations. Temporary crises and better criticism result, but these situations are less frequent today than a few years ago and they will decline in number and frequency as modern communications technology spreads.
News Service Distribution
Transmission of news agencies' service to subscribers within some countries is a more difficult problem, a problem which is technical, economic and political.
Technical still are countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia which have inadequate communications with their neighbors. They may be able to communicate efficiently with distant countries by satellite or cable but have only indirect communications with their neighbors. This makes difficult the exchange of news among such neighbors. Further development of microwave and satellite facilities is the key to this problem. That solution is partly economic as well as technical, of course.
Economics--Even where adequate communications facilities exist, they may be priced beyond the reach of many small newspapers and broadcasters. For example, UPI delivers its news service to Caracas, Venezuela, by satellite. The cost of relaying the service from the ground station near Caracas to subscribers within the city is modest. However, the cost of teletype lines to provincial cities in Venezuela is out of reach of most of the small newspapers in those cities. UPI's rates for service in those cities range from only $100 to $300 a month but the government communications company's charge for a teletype line ranges from $350 to nearly $1,000 per month which is beyond the resources of most such papers. Thus, they must depend on radio teletype transmissions, reception of which in this area is difficult and inefficient.
Similar situations exist in other countries. In still others, ground station charges for satellite reception are economically beyond the reach of small newspapers, broadcasters or news agencies. This means that they must rely on radio teletype delivery, but the cost of such transmission has escalated dramatically in some areas in recent years and they are not nearly as efficient as satellite transmissions.
Political--There are few restrictions on the delivery of news agencies' service in most Western Europe, Latin America and some parts of Asia, although some Latin American nations will not permit foreign agencies to distribute within their countries news which originated there. In some countries, officials monitor incoming news service, with or without the knowledge or permission of the news agencies, and sometimes complain about a story of interest to their governments even before it has been published or broadcast.
In other countries, usually the "authoritarian" regimes, news agencies re not permitted to deliver service direct to individual newspapers and broadcasters but only to an official national agency or government information office. In such cases, the service generally is screened and edited to the taste of the government and only approved news is relayed for publication and broadcast.