The Information Process
“Desmond covers the field substantially, and the scholarship seems superb. The bibliography is excellent. I know of no other book which attacks this topic, the growth of man's information gathering and disseminating mechanisms, in quite this way, and I agree with the treatment.”—Leslie G. Moeller, John F. Murray, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa
This comprehensive survey of world news reporting has a new focus and detailed presentation that make it a unique contribution to communications history. The content ranges from the invention of the alphabet, paper and ink, and the printing press to the perfection of the mass communication system. Supplementing a description of how news was gathered and disseminated through the centuries is a detailed account of the great advances that came in the nineteenth century. These advances relate to the growth of newspaper enterprises; the development of telegraph, cable, telephone, and wireless; the creation of news agencies; and the appearance of photography. This book assembles in a coherent form facts little known or found elsewhere only in diverse places.