The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

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 ...

founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a

Federal State Unitary Enterprise A unitary enterprise () is a government-owned corporation in Russia and some other post-Soviet states. Unitary enterprises are business entities that have no ownership rights to the assets that they use in their operations. This form is possible ...

, owned by the

government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

. Headquartered in Moscow, it has 70 offices in Russia and in the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

(CIS), "along with 56 global branches in 53 countries". In the Soviet period, it was named the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union () and was the central agency of the

Soviet government The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

for news collection and distribution for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, it was renamed Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS) () in 1992, but reverted to the simpler TASS name in 2014. Currently, on a daily basis TASS is "publishing nearly 3,000 news items in six languages and about 700 photographs and videos from correspondents in Russia and across the world".

History

1902: TTA, SPTA, PTA, ROSTA

The origin of TASS dates back to December 1902 when it began operations as the Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA, Torgovo-Telegrafnoe Agentstvo) under the Ministry of Finance, with Torgovo-Promyshlennaya Gazeta's staff being the main supplier of journalists. As the demand for non-business news began during the first battles of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

in February 1904, the agency changed its name to the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency (SPTA). As there was no change of headquarters and almost no change in its staff and function, it was a mere rebranding. In August 1914, one day after

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

was renamed Petrograd, SPTA was renamed the Petrograd Telegraph Agency (PTA). It was seized by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

in November 1917 and by December was renamed as the Central Information Agency of the Soviet Russian

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

. On 7 September 1918, the presidium renamed PTA and the Press bureau into the Russian Telegraph Agency ( ROSTA), which became "the central information agency of the whole Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic".

1925: TASS

On July 10, 1925, the ''Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (Телеграфное агентство Советского Союза, Telegrafnoye agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza, TASS)'' was established by a decree of the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislativ ...

, and took over the duties of the ROSTA as the country's central information agency. TASS enjoyed "exclusive right to gather and distribute information outside the Soviet Union, as well as the right to distribute foreign and domestic information within the Soviet Union, and manage the news agencies of the Soviet republics". Official state information was delivered as the ''TASS Report'' (, ''Soobshchyeniye TASS''). TASS included affiliated news agencies in all 14 (in 1940–56, 15) Soviet republics in addition to Russia: RATAU (

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, now

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of Independence BelTA The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA (, , БелТА) is the state-owned national news agency of the Republic of Belarus. It operates in Russian, Belarusian, English, German, Spanish, Polish and Chinese languages. Since 2018, the dire ...

(

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

), ETA (

Estonian SSR The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

), Latinform (

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

, now

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 ...

ELTA ELTA is a Lithuanian news agency based in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. In a day, it receives about 5,000 news articles and produces about 300 articles in Lithuanian, Russian, and English. ELTA cooperates with foreign news agencies such as R ...

(

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

), ATEM (

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...

, now

Moldpres The state news agency Moldpres is a non-budgetary, self-financing organization founded by the government of the Republic of Moldova. Overview According to its official website, Moldpress has three main activities: disseminating news stories, p ...

Armenpress Armenpress (Armenian Press; ) is the oldest and the main state news agency in Armenia. History and profile Armenpress was founded on 18 December 1918 by the government of the First Republic of Armenia as the Armenian Telegraph Agency (Հայաս ...

(

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

), Gruzinform (

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

), Azerinform (

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

, now AZERTAC), UzTAG (

Uzbek SSR The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist P ...

, now UzA), KazTAG ( Kazakh SSR, now Kazinform), KyrTAG (

Kyrgyz SSR The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR), also known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz SSR), KySSR or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirgiz SSR), was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of ...

, now

Kabar The Kabars (), also known as Qavars (Qabars) or Khavars, were Khazar rebels who joined Magyar tribes and the Rus' Khaganate confederations in the 9th century CE. Sources The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII is the principal source of the Kaba ...

), Turkmeninform (

Turkmen SSR The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Turkmenistan, the Turkmen SSR, TuSSR, Turkmenistan, or Turkmenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union located in Soviet Central Asia, ...

, now TDH) and TajikTA (

Tajik SSR The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan, the Tajik SSR, TaSSR, or simply Tajikistan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1929 to 1991 in Central Asia. The Tajik Re ...

, now Khovar). Over the history other affiliates existed, e.g. KarelfinTAG for the short-lived

Karelo-Finnish SSR The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR), also called Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 31 March 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR on 16 July 1956 ...

(1940–56). In addition to producing reports for general consumption, TASS produced packages of content for non-public use. Western news reports and potentially embarrassing domestic news would be compiled daily into a collection known as "White Tass", and particularly sensitive news would be compiled into a smaller collection known as "Red Tass". These collections were made available only to top journalists and political leaders, respectively. In 1961,

Ria Novosti RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...

was created to supplement TASS, mainly in foreign reporting and human-interest stories. After 1971, TASS was elevated to the status of State Committee at the

Government of the Soviet Union The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, All-Union Supreme Soviet. It ...

. The agency was frequently used as a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

by the Soviet intelligence agencies, such as the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

(later

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

) and Main Intelligence Directorate, with TASS employees serving as

informants An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

abroad. In 1959, Alexander Alexeyev was dispatched to Cuba on a fact-finding mission, ostensibly working for TASS. Former

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

professor James David Atkinson stated that TASS was an "effective propaganda medium" but that it concentrated "more heavily on espionage than on other activities." TASS frequently served as a vector for Soviet

active measures Active measures () is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, b ...

1992: ITAR-TASS

In January 1992, following the

, a

Presidential Decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...

signed by

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

re-defined the status of TASS and renamed it the ''Information Telegraph Agency of Russia''. In May 1994, the

Russian Government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

adopted a resolution "''On approval of the Charter of the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia''", under which it operates as a central government news agency. The TASS acronym was, by this point, well-recognized around the world and so was retained after being redefined as the ''Telegraph agency of communication and messages'' (). The agency as a whole was referred to as "ITAR-TASS". In September 2014, the agency reverted to its former name as the ''Russian News Agency TASS''.

Organization

TASS is registered as a

, owned by the

Government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

. Headquartered in Moscow, TASS has 70 offices in Russia and in the

(CIS), as well as 68 bureaus around the world.

TASS press center

TASS multi-media press center is a communication floor in the heart of Moscow. Every year it hosts some 300 events featuring high-ranking Russian officials, foreign heads of state, leaders of main political parties, representatives of the world of arts and culture, scientists and sporting personalities as well as managers of Russian and foreign business enterprises. TASS press centers also operate in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. TASS is a media partner of high-profile conferences, forums and exhibitions in Russia and abroad. The agency organized the first News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) in 2004.

TASS building

TASS is headquartered in a building in the Soviet

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style built in 1977. In November 2021, an association of Russian architects criticized plans by Moscow city authorities to renovate the building without due regard for the preservation of its historic appearance.

Controversies and criticisms

TASS has been cited as a source of

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

as part of Russian influence operations.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

* On 27 February 2022, "under the circumstances of the new media regulation enforced by the Russian government, which is heavily restricting media freedom", the

European Alliance of News Agencies The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) is a federation of news agencies in Europe. The organisation was founded on 21 August 1956 and is based in Bern at the seat of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency (sda). EANA's predecessor Agences Alliées ...

(EANA) unanimously decided to suspend TASS as "not being able to provide unbiased news", pending an exclusion decision. * In March 2022,

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (stylized as gettyimages) is a visual media company and supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three mark ...

, after "monitoring Russian state news agency TASS closely since Russia's invasion of Ukraine" decided to end its partnership with TASS for what it said was violating editorial policy. examples of propagation of disinformation in relation to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

are as follows: * TASS quoted Vyacheslav Volodin's false claim that Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

fled

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

following the invasion. Zelenskyy used social media to post statements, videos and photos to counter this Russian disinformation. * TASS made unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine was making a nuclear

dirty bomb A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with ...

Directors of TASS

*M. Fedorov (1902–1904) *Pavel Miller (1904–1906) *S. S. Trubachev (1906-1907) *Alexander Gris (1907—1910) *O.-F. I. Lamkert (1910–1917) * Leonid Stark (1917–1918) * Lev Sosnovsky (1918–1919) *

Platon Kerzhentsev Platon Mikhailovich Kerzhentsev (), (real name Lebedev (Ле́бедев), pseudonym V. Kerzhentsev; 4 August 1881 – 2 June 1940) was a Soviet Union, Soviet state and party official, revolutionary, diplomat, journalist, historian, playwri ...

(1919–1921) *Nikolay I. Smirnov (1921) *Iosif Goldenberg (1921–1922) * Jacob Doletzky (1922–1925) *A. A. Yablonsky (1925–1930) * Yakov Khavinson (1937–43) * Nikolai G. Palgunov (1943–60) * Dmitry P. Goryunov (1960–67) * Sergey Lapin (1967–70) * Leonid Zamyatin (1970–78) * Vladimir Khatuntsev (1978–79) * Sergei A. Losev (1979–88) * Leonid Kravchenko (1988–90) * Lev Spiridonov (1990–91) *

Vitaly Ignatenko Vitaly Nikitich Ignatenko (; born 19 April 1941) is a Russian people, Russian journalist and politician who had been the head of ITAR-TASS news agency from 1993 until 2012 and had served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin from 1 ...

(1991–2012) * Sergei Mikhailov (2012–2023) * Andrey Kondrashov (2023–present)

Notable journalists

* Ștefan Foriș, Romanian communist correspondent * Vsevolod Kukushkin, ice hockey and sports correspondent (22 years)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:TASS 1902 establishments in the Russian Empire 1925 establishments in the Soviet Union 1992 establishments in Russia Federal State Unitary Enterprises of Russia News agencies based in Russia Mass media companies of the Soviet Union Companies based in Moscow Mass media companies established in 1902 State media Government-owned companies of Russia Soviet propaganda organizations Subordinate bodies of the Soviet government

History

1902: TTA, SPTA, PTA, ROSTA

1925: TASS

1992: ITAR-TASS

Organization

TASS press center

TASS building

Controversies and criticisms

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Directors of TASS

Notable journalists

See also

Notes

References

External links