American Journalism Historians Association 2000. The Associated Press and AT&T introduced Wirephoto, the transmission of photographs by telephone, in January 1935. For the first time, images could be transmitted as quickly as words. Accelerating a decades-long trend toward the increasing "picturization of news," this decision sparked great controversy over its cost and consequences for newspapers and journalism. The popularity of Wirephoto forced competing news services to develop their own systems.
