Telephone

Development and Diffusion

Telephony's two innovations, combined, helped set it apart from existing communication systems, broadened its usability, and prompted its growing diffusion. First, its use of the voice rather than Morse code for messages created a system that could be used by almost anyone. Second, its development as a switched system allowed for a more private, point-to-point network and permitted more efficient accommodation of multiple occasional users. This allowed for development of an interactive, and broadly public, telecommunication system. Widely established in America and Western Europe by World War I (1914–18), the telephone had a number of broad social and economic impacts. Diffusion continued worldwide, particularly in urban areas, and more widely in the United States as a result of a set of policies promoting the idea of universal service. By World War II (1939–45), the telephone was nearly ubiquitous in urban areas, providing local, long distance, and (expensive) international connections.

The initial impact of the telephone on the practice and profession of journalism was arguably as transformative as that of the telegraph, although developing more slowly and on a different scale. The telegraph transformed the industry; it emphasized timeliness and, through the rise of news agencies, standardized reporting styles. The telephone more slowly transformed the newsroom for it allowed reporters to phone in breaking stories, rather than having to travel back to the paper's home office to write them. While having some impact in terms of saving time (and promoting same-day publication), the greater effect was on the structure and operation of newsgathering. Instead of reporters being solely responsible for every component of a story, from coverage and research to writing final copy, the process was increasingly divided up among specialized workers. A field reporter might gather information, from which a rewrite editor or desk reporter would assemble the story into finished form. While a single person could serve all of these roles, efficiency suggested that the time, energy, and expense of traveling back and forth from the newsroom to story locations could be better served by separating the functions. In addition, the telephone allowed editors and reporters to more quickly reach each other, allowing rapid changes in assignment depending on breaking events. In larger papers, this led to the rise of a city editor, who could track and shift assignments as warranted by the day's events.

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