Reuters

Reuters, an international news agency founded in London in 1851 by German Paul Julius Reuter (1816–1899), first served clients in the city of London and on stock exchanges (bourses) in Europe with financial and commercial services. London newspapers became subscribers beginning in 1858. Throughout its existence, while developing a range of products for the media, Reuters financial and commercial services (and from the 1960s, the computer terminals feeding them) were its main moneymaker. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, Reuters’ growth was linked to the expansion of the British empire.

Reuters differed from other international news agencies (e.g., New York Associated Press; France’s Havas agency) in not collecting news from the provinces and limiting its British news collection to the capital, the clearing-house for ...