102 | Mass Media and Historical Change
Many global occurrences in media history during recent years are still in
need of study. Systematically integrating an analysis of media development
into other fields of research would be the most useful approach. In the case of
economic history, for example, one could examine the effects that innovations
like new telegraph lines, and up-to-the-minute stock prices in the newspapers,
have had on commerce. By the same token students of colonial history should
try to discover the significance of the media for both day-to-day and adminis-
trative activity in the colonies. There is also very little known about the origin
and progression of trans-border news. To what extent were the agencies really
responsible for a worldwide homogenisation of news? It is likely that news
items were often chosen selectively and adapted to fit into respective cultural
contexts. International analyses of trans-border reporting by wire services and
newspapers would be very useful in shedding light on this question and on the
work of foreign correspondents.