ARTICLE: Profs Gissler and Topping quoted about age of telegrams
The following story quotes Prof. Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and Seymour Topping, his predecessor.
The Baltimore Sun
February 4, 2006
Telegrams’ fate - STOP
Western Union sent its final message last week, and fans say something romantic is being lost
By Stephen Kiehl
Sun Reporter
EXCERPT: But for many, the telegram holds an appeal that has never waned. As a formality, the Pulitzer Prize Board has continued to send telegrams to the Pulitzer winners each year, even though the winners first get the news through phone calls.
“In the age of lickety-split Internet traffic, it’s a charming, old-fashioned way of informing people,” said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.
Asked what the board would do this year, he said, “We’ll cross that telephonic bridge when we come to it.”
EXCERPT: Seymour Topping, who covered China for the Associated Press, said that after news conferences in Beijing he would race by rickshaw to the cable office to be the first to get the news out.
