Telegraph. The Birth of News and the Cherry Blossoms

Cherry trees will blossom earlier this year in Japan

In 1935 Nikos Kazantzakis travels by steamer to Japan. When the ship enters the Sea of Japan he describes the following scene: The steward with his white gloves passes by and hands out the day's radio telegraphic bulletin. I take it eagerly, as if the land were sick, and I watch the tenths of its fever every day on the bulletin: "Tokyo. - The weather station announces that the cherry blossoms will bloom faster in late March, because we've had early heat."

Kazantzakis wonders why the Japanese are so interested and telegraphing about the cherry blossoms. What surprises us is the eagerness with which the writer waits for the telegraphic dispatch to catch up on the news of the day on board. It took the ship 40 days to get from Piraeus to Japan, yet the news comes to the passengers daily via the telegraph. It is a revolution brought about by telegraphy in the mid-19th century. For the first time, the transmission of information was freed from its means of transport, allowing the creation of modern journalism.

The first news agencies

The most immediate result was the birth of the news agency. In 1846, the Associated Press (AP) was founded to take advantage of the speed of the telegraph. Reuters is founded in 1851. Newspapers were no longer based on fragmentary sources, but on a centralised and organised network of information transmission.

It is no coincidence that the first Greek newspaper (printed in Vienna, 1812-1836) was called “Hellenic Telegraph”.

Democratic information and a new style

The social impact was profound. The telegraph made information more democratic, allowing a wider audience to have access to timely and accurate news. Citizens became better informed about world events, which influenced public opinion and political participation.

Morse and Vail's invention created a new literary style, journalism. The standardization of language in news reporting arose due to the high cost of telegraphic transmissions, leading to more concise, objective and fact-based journalism. The reporter was separated from the storyteller.

The speed of information also brought challenges, such as the need to verify news, an issue that remains relevant today. However, what is certain is that the telegraph was the foundation of the globalization of information. Even trivial, for us, information, such as that the cherry trees will bloom earlier this year in Japan.

Photos:

1. The front page of the newspaper “Hellenic Telegraph”, 2/1/1813.
2. Nikos Kazantzakis with his wife Eleni in Pisa in 1951.
3. Cover of the newspaper "Imerissios Telegrafos". A special column on the front page contains news from abroad arriving by telegram. Athens, 1880.
4. Telegram containing a press release with developments in the Asia Minor Campaign. August 1922.