TASS and Russian News Agencies

TASS, or Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union (translated from Telegrafnoye Agentstvo Sovyetskoyo Soyouza), is a Russian news agency that was [Page 1603]prominent during the Soviet Union’s Cold War with the United States and its allies. Its history goes back to the days of telegraphic news, but it has remained a propaganda distributor during its approximately century in existence. Lesser known is Rossiya Segodnya, created from two dissolved media operations that Russia President Vladimir Putin could use as a propaganda distributor. News agencies have a lot of influence because they distribute news to media outlets. They are especially useful to news outlets that cannot send correspondents to distant locations. For Russia, the news agencies are a way to get news to the media without having ...