Wires and Empires

Prof. C. Hayden, discussing the history of International Communication, made a very apt remark: "Communication and empires have a very symbiotic relationship." The more 'wired' an empire, the more powerful it had been. A case point is the British Empire. The invention of telegraph in 1837 provided the British empire a tool crucial for the unification of its vast territories. Control over information enables a political administration to have control over its population. And this what the early communication system did.

The invention of printing press and the telegraph system, which gave birth to news agencies, gave a monopoly of information to earlier colonial powers like England, France and Portugal. However, the early information system had never been used for the public good--at least in colonies; it was used for colonization, reinforcing colonization and economic and commercial purposes.

Like Thussu says that the overhead telegraph installed in Algeria in 1842, proved a decisive aid to the French during the occupation and colonization of Algeria. However, Thussu's, Mattelart's and Hanson's writings show that until the invention of shortwave radio, the United States had been out of competition for global influence. However, the invention of telephone and radio brought it to the world scene which it dominates till date. Till the World War I Britain dominated the cable and the U.S., telephone.

A point, which is missing in all the three texts we read for this class, is that postal service, spying and flow of information had a common origin in early information system. With the passage of time they grew out into three distinct institutions with the information system per se becoming journalism. All the three writers also gloss over the contribution of early rulers in India who, before the invention of cable and of course printing, added speed to the flow of information by enlisting horses. Called Barid (Arabic word for horse) system the Indian rulers had established a well-organized and efficient system of information across the land.

Faizullah Jan