Technologies

Wirephoto

Also Known As Telephotography

Photojournalism

Citation Formats

General Reference

Film and Media Atlas. "Wirephoto." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/wirephoto.

APA Style

Film and Media Atlas. (n.d.). Wirephoto. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/wirephoto

BibTeX

@misc{filmandmediaatlas-wirephoto,
  author = {Film and Media Atlas},
  title = {Wirephoto},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/wirephoto},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A system for transmitting photographs over telegraph, telephone or radio lines by converting the image into an electrical signal and reconstructing it at the receiving end, letting a newspaper publish a photograph from across the country or the ocean within hours instead of days. Edouard Belin's Belinographe of 1913 laid the technical groundwork, and the Associated Press's commercial Wirephoto network, launched in 1935, made same-day photo transmission a standard part of wire-service news reporting.

Facts

Introduced Year

1935 1

1935 marks the Associated Press's commercial Wirephoto service; Edouard Belin's Belinographe of 1913 laid the technical groundwork, and AT&T and Western Union ran competing systems in the 1920s and 1930s.

Cross-Tradition Connections