Well, I'm not sure why you say telegraph could only convey simple messages, as that was how most major city newspapers got their info from other far off cities starting from at least the time of the Civil War. Sometimes a reporter in the field of battle might send a message on a horse and rider or train to a larger city to then be telegraphed to say New York or Chicago, but telegraph was usually a part of the chain.

For many decades the press services were known as "wire" services for the very reason that they got their info by telegraph wire.

In the early days of telegraph a good operator and receiver could transmit about 15-20 words a minute, depending on if they used some shorthand words. So, a newspaper size story could be transmitted within 15-20 minutes.

By the late 1800s automated teletype machines usually transmitted info for the press services. They were much faster and Western Union usually had dedicated lines for them so they had clear paths between cities. Stock tickers, which have been around since the 1870s, also used dedicated lines and they worked similar to teletype machines.