Russia’s TASS news agency celebrates 117th anniversary

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Russia’s TASS news agency turned 117 on Wednesday. The news agency ushered in its anniversary with milestones such as its out-and-out leadership in the citation rate, the launch of its 24/7 Spanish-language newsfeed, the 95th anniversary of TASS’ news photography and the preparation for a new international photo contest News Photo Awards. Changing World. According to the Medialogia company, TASS remains the most cited news agency in the country. The news service has been in the lead on this score for 22 months in a row, starting way back in October 2019. Additionally, in August the tass.ru website was included in the top three media outlets trusted by Russian entrepreneurs, according to IFORS Research that conducted a corresponding study among 1,000 representatives of small and mid-sized businesses. TASS was second in their ratings alongside the websites of leading business editions. Beginning on September 1, TASS’ Spanish-language newsfeed launched its new round-the-clock mode. It is oriented towards Spanish-speaking countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Asian-Pacific region. Plans are in store to further expand the number of foreign-language newsfeeds and its network of correspondents abroad. "The oversaturation of information on today’s media market often makes a consumer - a reader, a viewer, a listener - feel that the times when its search and verification were something requiring a professional approach are now over. However, it quickly became clear that the ever-expanding information stream contains too much junk, that the amount of unreliable news, to put it mildly, is directly related to the total number," says TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov. "So, it is no wonder that nowadays the quality of the news is once again coming to the fore - and definitely for the consumer who values his time. This is why it is so important to us that today TASS is still the agency that people trust. A clear indicator of this is our months-long leadership in the citation rate, but the business community’s focus on our information is just as telling because, as they say, ‘this is news you can work with.’" According to him, at each new stage of its development, launching new newsfeeds, offering multimedia products and services, expanding the technical and technological capabilities of delivering content, TASS aspires to strengthen this trust. "It is important to constantly strive to be one step ahead. This is precisely why we always come to our audience with pertinent projects and the most modern solutions," the head of TASS noted. News photography and contest This year, TASS’ news photography marks its 95th anniversary. Since its inception it became a well-known brand both in the professional community and among aficionados of the art of photography. On September 1, the agency will launch a special project and a movie about the photo desk and its unique creative staff. For instance, the special project will not only feature the grand masters of photojournalism that worked at TASS at different eras: Naum Granovsky, Yevgeny Khaldei, Valentin Mastyukov, Vladimir Musaelyan, Yuri Belinsky but also today’s reporters working at the agency. After the successful News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID international contest for professional photographers dedicated to the fight against the coronavirus infection, TASS decided to hold it annually. This year, the contest will be called Changing World. The different interpretations of this title will allow the authors to offer a broader look at the surrounding world and have a wider approach to finding subjects and topics in the new post-COVID reality. September 1 is considered to be the founding day of TASS, this date became the first working day of the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency founded in 1904 by the decree of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Read more