The first highway of information is

The first highway of information is the telegraph, the earliest system to send messages swiftly over long distances by electrical signal.

Newssheets carried news but travelled at the slow pace of physical delivery, not as a fast information highway.

Films came much later and served entertainment and record, not the rapid point-to-point relay of messages.

The Internet is the modern information highway but arrived long after the telegraph opened long-distance electrical communication.

The telegraph collapsed distance, letting news cross continents in minutes.

It set the stage for the electronic communication that followed.