Tass and Russian News Agencies

Origins

The Wolff and Reuters news agencies were both operating in Russia by the middle of the nineteenth century, sending chiefly business news. The first foreign news telegram appeared in Russian newspapers in 1856. A decade later, the Tsarist government authorized the operation of the Russian Telegraph Agency (RTA) as the country's first news agency, though it lasted but three years, and Wolff continued to dominate the provision of foreign news in the major Russian newspapers. In 1871 an International Telegraph Agency (MTA) was formed in St. Petersburg, then the country's capital city. It held a monopoly on provision of foreign news to that city and Moscow. Five years later a private agency—though one with a government subsidy so that it would send official news to the foreign press—was formed as the Agence Générale Russe. In 1882, the Northern Telegraph Agency (STA) began operating, also with a government subsidy, though it closed down about a decade later. Finally, a new Imperial RTA appeared in 1895, again privately held but with a government subsidy. It soon [Page 1375]signed an exchange agreement with the Havas news agency.

The inception of what became TASS dates to mid-1902. In an attempt to broaden world knowledge of developments in Russia, a Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA) was formed in St. Petersburg in 1902, becoming the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency (SPTA) in 1904. This time, the new agency was created as an official government news source, subordinate to the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, and the interior. Its stated purpose was “to distribute political, financial, economic, trade, and other information of public interest within the country and abroad.…” The new entity soon signed exchange agreements with the major European agencies, effectively terminating any privately owned competition within Russia.

Seized by Bolsheviks in the late-1917 revolution, the PTA was soon redefined to become the central information agency of the new Soviet Union. Western news agency personnel were ejected from the country. A year later PTA and the Sovnarkom Press Bureau were merged to become the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA). ROSTA was both a news and propaganda agency during the civil war, printing newspapers and thousands of propaganda posters. Its focus was almost entirely domestic at this point, though it developed formal ties with the United Press in 1922, the Associated Press three years later, and the major European news agencies. In mid-1925, it was renamed the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union or TASS.

On June 24, 1941 (two days after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union), the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo) was created under the central government to oversee coverage of international, military, and domestic events in print and on radio. Three years later, a special bureau on propaganda for foreign countries was made a part of Sovinformburo. In early 1961, the Novosti Press Agency succeeded Sovinformburo, becoming the leading information and press body for Soviet government organizations. Novosti soon had bureaus in over 120 countries and published 60 illustrated newspapers and magazines in 45 languages with a combined circulation of more than 4 million copies. In 1989, a TV center opened, becoming the TV-Novosti television company. In mid-1990, the Information Agency Novosti (IAN) took over these tasks with bureaus in 120 countries. IAN also published 13 illustrated magazines and newspapers.

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