The Saudi Press Agency (SPA; ) is the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It was established in 1970 during the reign of

King Faisal bin Abdulaziz King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by fi ...

, and functions under the country's

Ministry of Media The Ministry of Media () is one of the governmental bodies of Saudi Arabia and part of the cabinet. The main function of the ministry is to regulate the media of Saudi Arabia and the communications between Saudi Arabia and other countries. It ...

History and profile

The agency was established in 1970 as the first national news agency in Saudi Arabia. The agency is also the first news agency in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

region. The main goal of its establishment was to serve as a central body to collect and distribute local and international news in Saudi Arabia and abroad. The SPA is under the responsibility of the

and therefore, its president directly reports to the minister. The SPA provides the newspapers with a guideline, the editorial line, which should be followed in their reports. The Agency publishes news in Arabic, English, French, Chinese, Russian and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. The SPA has offices in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. In late May 2012, the Saudi Council of Ministers made a decision to separate Saudi Television and Radio and Saudi Press Agency (SPA), making both as two independent corporations. Under the May 2012 restructuring, the SPA covers events and issues at national, regional and international levels, especially those related to the Kingdom and contribute to strengthening the journalistic profession in the country. The new arrangement also involves the transformation of the SPA into a Presidency. The president is Dr. Fahd bin Hassan Al Aqran. The Minister of Media acts as the board chairman of the agency. In November 2013, the SPA signed a news exchange agreement with

Anadolu Agency Anadolu Agency (, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As the Empire's capital � ...

, official news agency of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Activities

The agency organized the fourth News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) in Riyadh in 2013.

References

External links

Saudi Press Agency official site
(Arabic, English, Persian, Russian, Chinese)
Archive Repository for Selective Saudi Press Agency News Feeds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saudi Press Agency 1970 establishments in Saudi Arabia Government agencies established in 1970 Mass media in Riyadh Arab news agencies Government agencies of Saudi Arabia Publicly funded broadcasters State media News agencies based in Saudi Arabia

History and profile

Activities

See also

References

External links