This book demonstrates how the histories of empires, nations, and large business enterprises are embedded in international communication and media history. In its focus on historical case studies, it shows how the large-scale processes we associate with globalisation, such as ""time-space compression,"" work themselves out in specific local and regional contexts. It also deals with the history of news as an internationally traded commodity. Topics include: International news agencies and their business models; telegraphy and the first global financial crisis; the British Empire and its communication networks; the Spanish-American War in news agency history; Britain, India, China and news coverage of Imperial wars; European news agencies and the Associated Press of America; Canadian Press, Associated Press, and Reuters; wireless versus cable in international communication, and European--news markets and political change.

The book illuminates four closely related strands of communication and media history: information economics; news agency history; communication networks and geopolitical formations and identities; and, the impact of new communications technologies.