Film examines wire service's humble beginnings

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Paul Julius Reuter

Journalists as a group seem to enjoy watching how their profession is portrayed on the Big Screen.

During my college days, the student newspaper staff had a party at least once a semester to watch "All The Presidents' Men," the story of Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein's reporting on the Watergate scandal.

Of course, the newsrooms portrayed by Hollywood only exist in Hollywood, but that's what makes it entertainment.

As a longtime fan of Hollywood's Golden Age, there aren't many old movies in circulation about newspapers or journalism that I've not seen at least once -- or so I believed until Tuesday night.

On Turner Classic Movies that night I was pleased to find a journalism bio-pic I've never seen -- a wonderful biographical flick of the life of Julius Reuter, the man who founded the Reuters news service.

In the 1940 film, "A Dispatch from Reuters," Edward G. Robinson portrays Julius Reuter, the man who founded the service bearing his name -- a financial news service -- in 1849.

Reuter's first transmission of news was not solely by radio or telegraph, but by telegraph and carrier pigeon. Reuter had started a career in banking, and saw the need for timely information for those investors who played the stock markets in Europe.

Reuter was the first to use the telegraph for transmission of financial news. The telegraph was in its infancy, and at that time it did not yet reach to all of Europe's financial centers.

Reuter saw a need and filled it -- in this case, German investors needed timely information from other European stock markets. Reuter use a fleet of 45 carrier pigeons to help bridge the gap in telegraph lines to get financial reports from Belgium to Germany. He kicked off his financial stock news service in 1849.

For investors, his service meant information they could use -- Reuter's service beat the financial reports traveling between Brussels and Germany by more than six hours. His service was immediately a success, and he built a reputation on accurate and timely information -- the hallmark of good journalism and newsgathering.

The film was based loosely on the facts surrounding Reuter's career, and Robinson (who is underappreciated today for his non-gangster character acting) does a fine job of conveying Reuter's drive, determination and entrepreneurial spirit.

When the telegraph's development overtakes his need for carrier pigeons, he expands his service from simply market reports to news. With a growing network of agents spread over the financial capitals of Europe, he simply asked his agents to turn their attention to local news. He also hired reporters and was the first to develop the idea of press association, where news would be gathered by a third party that was not a direct employee of that newspaper.

Reuter knew the telegraph was the future of his business, and his maxim was simply "Follow the cable." By 1858, he had offices all over Europe.

By this time, Reuter was living in London and was a naturalized citizen. He successfully managed to get the major newspapers to agree to run his news dispatches in their newspapers. The movie illustrates well how cynical the papers' management are to the idea of placing news from outside sources in their newspapers, but Reuter's track record of reliability and service eventually wins them over.

A competing service is established, and it surpasses Reuter's service by building its own private telegraph line to a shipping port. This allows the upstart company to telegraph news reports coming in by ship from the dock, which gives them several hours advantage over Reuter.

He cleverly devises a way for ships carrying Reuter news dispatches to toss them overboard inside special buoys as the ships passed a landmark along the Irish coast. A crew retrieves the buoy, and the news is transmitted to London via Reuter's privately constructed telegraph line. In the end, Reuter's service gets the news to London seven hours ahead of his competitor.

In the movie, the first dispatch received over this setup was news from the U.S. of the assassination of President Lincoln. The newspapers in London published special editions with the news, only to have Reuter's competitor discount the story as unsubstantiated rumor.

The report of Lincoln's death sends London's financial markets into a free-fall until word is spread that the Reuter report was wrong. Public opinion begins to turn against Reuter, who maintains the accuracy of his information. Seven hours later, the report of Lincoln's assassination is verified and Reuter is vindicated.

In the movie, Robinson (portraying Reuter) is often telling his wife and supporters that his expanding news services are "helping shrink the world" by making news more immediate. It's an interesting statement, considering how much more the world has shrunken thanks to 24/7 cable news, satellites and the Internet.

Reuter's name and news service lives on today as the London-based Reuters Group PLC.

The movie doesn't take too many liberties with the true story of Reuter's career. Several subplots deal with his relationship with his wife and advisors (one of which is a member of parliament). Fortunately they don't detract from a very enjoyable film about this 19th-Century entrepreneur.

If you enjoy old films, you'll find this one worth a look.