العقل الإلكترونى وتطور الصحافة العالمية المعاصرة ٣_a .. كتاب صحافة الغد

Reducing the number of lines that are reassembled while reducing the amount of supervision necessary on the part of the worker who is pouring the line. The device can also feed a number. Lines to 20 machines without manual intervention.

The benefits that accrue to the newspaper from using this system are:

1- Providing more space for news, because the device gives priority to connecting words rather than space. Experiments have shown that a tighter line results in an increase of one and a half inches in each 12-inch column assembled by hand.

2 - Increasing editorial supervision over the final production, as the program allows for more editing operations to a degree that the process of collecting letters by hand does not allow. One of the results of this is creating better communication between the editorial department and the production department.

In addition to collection hall operations and accounts management, this device can perform services for the editorial hall. Copies of telegrams and copies prepared locally can be entered and stored in the device's memory, and when a copy is edited, a correction tape is inserted into the mind. The mind then produces a clean tape of an edited and exact copy prepared to collect the letters.

Information about the copy or the available space can be stored in its memory. When the copy is collected, the space occupied by the pages becomes clear. The mind, which knows exactly the number of lines of each telegram before adding its letters, reports the remaining space. This notification is renewed whenever news is added. The path of the electronic mind.

The mind produces an unedited copy of the typewriter. The writer can make corrections from this copy, while the mind keeps the original copy on a magnetic tape or cylindrical memory. Then the correction is inserted into the mind and another unedited version emerges. This process is repeated until a copy is produced that the writer is satisfied with. Only then does the device output a tape to the line collecting machines.

The American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) estimates the number of newspapers spread throughout the United States and Canada that use electronic brains at about 140 newspapers. These newspapers range from small daily newspapers such as the Augusta Herald in Georgia (circulation of 21,000 copies), and the Salem News in Massachusetts (circulation of 26,000 copies), to major newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times (circulation of 817,000 copies) and all daily newspapers (the News, Star, Post, and Times). Herald) in Washington.

The Oklahoman newspaper, published in Oklahoma City, says it is a pioneer in this field, and has conducted its first experiment in... The letters were collected electronically on the day of collecting the first of January 1962, and before the middle of this year the process of collecting letters electronically “leaked” on a regular basis to the entire newspaper. On March 5, 1963, this system, which was called the Letter Collection Program, entered the full journalistic production of this newspaper. Around the same time, the Los Angeles Times, the West Palm Beach (Florida) newspaper, and the Post (circulation 39,000 copies) used the electronic device.

The Society of American Newspaper Editors said that today there are three main tasks carried out by electronic minds in newspaper houses:

1 - Production tool for adjusting spacing, connecting words, and distributing production to line casting machines.

2 - A device that collects data to provide appropriate information in terms of quantity and quality regarding the process of publishing the newspaper.

3- A means to facilitate the process of using typewriter characters and the process of display advertisements.

Seventy-six newspapers responded to research by the Society of American Newspaper Editors about the three main uses of their electronic brains in production. 32 newspapers said they use it to prepare classified ads, only 24 newspapers said they use it to adjust spacing and connect words, and 20 newspapers said they use it to obtain production data. The American Newspaper Editors Association feels that the issue is largely based on newspapers getting used to automatic processes first and then expanding the use of the electronic mind according to the ability of these newspapers. These minds are still far from being fully used.

The Oklahoman said that in addition to collecting letters, she uses her device for such work as preparing payrolls, general bills and accounts, statistical reports, subscriber mail records, other accounting work and some inventory statements. In the field of news gathering, the electronic brain was used to prepare tables of election results across the United States, and to store statistical data on some cases heard by criminal courts. The Oklahoman is considering using it to maintain newspaper inventory sheets.

In the Los Angeles Times, the automated process begins when the reporter sits down at his typewriter. While the informant writes down the news he has obtained, a perforated device attached to his IBM electric typewriter produces a perforated tape. The informant's written copy then goes through the normal editing stage, and the copy and tape are then sent to the collection hall. Another strip is perforated for corrections only, and a simple symbol identifies the locations of the corrections in the original copy. This symbol may mean that a word or phrase should be added between the fourth and fifth words in the third line. The correction tape is tightly connected to the original tape that was produced by the laboratory's typewriter, then the two tapes are inserted into the electronic brain, and the device then converts this tape into a tape prepared to operate the font machines after adjusting the spacing, connecting the words, and placing the corrections in the appropriate places. IBM, the largest company in the world that sells electronic brains, provided the largest portion (90%) of these brains to newspapers in the United States and Canada. The newspaper “Kansas City Star” (circulation 332,000) uses what it describes as a “rapid change” system in the process of the electronic mind program, or what they call the priority stop program. The essence of this system is that different departments can use the mind on a priority basis. It may happen, for example, that when the mind is busy preparing payrolls, it receives a signal from the collection hall ordering it to do another work for the collection hall. Within two minutes, the mind begins to produce a tape to collect letters, prepared in terms of controlling spaces and connecting words. When this work is finished, the mind returns to continuing the task of preparing payroll from the point at which it stopped.

The monthly rent for an electronic brain (1620 for IBM), which is the model widely used in the press industry, ranges between $1,190 and $3,800, and its production of lines ranges between 2,000 and 12,000 lines per hour, and its spacing rate ranges from The words reached between 90 and 98%. The company sells this model for between $100,000 and $140,000.

IBM has produced a new model, the IBM 1130, whose monthly rent ranges between $1,200 and $1,600. It produces a number of lines ranging between 10,000 and 12,000 lines per hour, and its accuracy of spacing and word matching reaches 99%, and its selling price ranges between 26,000 and 75,000 dollars. This model is widespread among small newspapers because of its cheap price.

All this development is taking place in various American cities without meeting resistance from the labor unions, such as the resistance that occurred in New York, due to which newspaper workers went on strike for 1,040 consecutive days. These unions had stipulated in their contracts that the maximum production on T.T.S. combination machines would be 375 lines per hour without the electronic mind and 600 lines per hour via the electronic mind. Then the union demanded more guarantees, to which the press institutions did not respond.

American news agencies took advantage of this rare opportunity. The automatic mechanism in the regions provided other regional newspapers that had not yet used these devices with a new type of service. The agencies have equipped their offices with electronic minds that produce their news on precisely spaced tape and send it up: wires to the newspapers participating in this system. These newspapers use perforated tape to connect it directly to the collecting machines. United Press began this new system in September 1964.

Mims Thompson, Director General of the agency, announced the news of the introduction of the new service on September 12. The new method dispenses with the machine operator, T.T.S., who decides to determine the spacing between the lines, and thus greatly increases the speed of the addition process, as this worker will not be required to waste any time in calculating spaces, connecting words, and other tasks required by the machine. This is because the mind at the news agency headquarters does all of these tasks.

The head of the collection machinery department gives the agency a signal, via a transmitter, about the size in which the tape is requested to be collected. This signal passes through the electronic brain that receives it and immediately sends the tape in the required size and font. The agency sends its news to the newspaper using a typewriter - without a tape - as the worker sits in the agency and writes his news on his typewriter, which is connected to the electronic mind. This mind receives orders from newspapers in different sizes. It sends electrical pulses to each newspaper via wires. These pulses are received by a perforating device near the collection machines with a non-perforated tape. It is pierced whenever the agency worker writes his news. Then the tape passes directly to the collecting machine. Near the penetrating device is a typewriter that receives the same news in written form, allowing subscribers to choose.

In order for work not to stop if any damage occurs to the device, the agency has installed another device to support the first, and work is transferred to it immediately if any damage occurs. This is to avoid any interruption in the flow of news. The second machine is usually used for preparing payrolls and other office work.

Thompson said the system had been tested for more than two years by a United Press communications specialist: It now provided a quick and economical service in preparing stock market charts for newspapers.

It also operates three other wire services at present – ​​a sports and racing circuit, a stock exchange charts circuit, and a newspaper circuit.