The Baltic News Service (BNS) is the largest
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 ...
operating in the
Baltic States
The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
. Founded in April 1990, by a group of
student
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject.
In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...
s (the founding CEO was
Allan Martinson), it sought to inform
foreign correspondents in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
of developments in the Baltic States'
struggles for independence from the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Within a few months, it had been recognized by numerous
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
sources.
Format and purpose
BNS is a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
for separate organizations in
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
, and
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
.
BNS disseminates news in Russian and English (as well as the domestic languages of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian) via the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and by other means. Subscribers include media, financial, industrial, and government institutions in the Baltic States. BNS also collaborates with
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
, and
Interfax
Interfax () is a Russian news agency. The agency is owned by Interfax News Agency joint-stock company and is headquartered in Moscow.
History
As the first non-governmental channel of political and economic information about the USSR, Interfax ...
.
History
Founded in April 1990 by a group of students, BNS was wholly owned by the
Finnish media group
A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...
Alma Media from 2001 until 2014. In 2003, the BNS publishing company in Estonia, BNS Kirjastus, bought the bankrupt news agency ETA (
Eesti Teadeteagentuur).
In 2013, shareholders decided to
exit the business leading to a chain of sales during the following year.
February/March 2014 saw Estonian ''Uudisvoog OÜ'', a subsidiary company of private capital fund ''Koha Capital OÜ'', purchasing BNS.
It was owned by the Estonian radio media mogul Ilmar Kompus who is also the proprietor of the
Sky Media Group radio stations.
Alma Media myy BNS:n
. Press release by Alma Media Oyj, 3 March 2014. (In Finnish.)
Later, BNS was acquired by Eesti Meedia (now Postimees Group), which is owned by Estonian entrepreneur Margus Linnamäe through investment firm MM Group. In late 2015, BNS was effectively joined by LETA
LETA is the main Latvian news agency. Its headquarters are in Riga. It is owned by Estonian entrepreneur Margus Linnamäe through his company Postimees Group.
History
It was founded as ''Latopress'' in 1919, soon after Latvia became indepe ...
(Latvia's formerly state-owned news agency) when UP Invest (a subsidiary of MM Group) acquired most shares in the Latvian agency.
See also
* Baltic News Network
References
External links
BNS Estonia
BNS Lithuania
BNS Latvia
{{Authority control
1990 establishments in Lithuania
News agencies based in Estonia
Mass media companies of Latvia
Mass media companies of Lithuania
Organizations based in Tallinn
Holding companies of Estonia