section_path: Global news system
section_name: Global news system
paragraph_text: Global news system
  
  In the 20th century, global news coverage was dominated by a combination of the "Big Four" news agencies—Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France Press, and United Press International—representing the Western bloc, and the Communist agencies: TASS from the Soviet Union, and Xinhua from China. Studies of major world events, and analyses of all international news coverage in various newspapers, consistently found that a large majority of news items originated from the four biggest wire services.
  
  Television news agencies include Associated Press Television News, which bought and incorporated World Television News; and Reuters Television. Bloomberg News created in the 1990s, expanded rapidly to become a player in the realm of international news. The Associated Press also maintains a radio network with thousands of subscribers worldwide; it is the sole provider of international news to many small stations.
  
  By some accounts, dating back to the 1940s, the increasing interconnectedness of the news system has accelerated the pace of human history itself.