The Russian news agency TASS, the country's first unified body for distributing official information, turned 120 on September 1, 2024. TASS originated as the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency, which went live on September 1, 1904.
For its great contribution to the development of Russia’s media and professional achievements the TASS staff was awarded the order For Valorous Labor by Russian Presidential Decree No. 701 of August 17, 2024.
As one of Russia's most cited news agencies, TASS publishes nearly 3,000 news items daily in six languages, alongside about 1,000 photographs and videos from correspondents in Russia and across the globe. This extensive coverage ensures a comprehensive and objective view of current events.
Over 1,700 employees ensure the agency's operation in real time.
Regional information centers in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Pyatigorsk, in addition to 64 offices in Russia’s regions, along with 62 global branches in 57 countries enable TASS to quickly receive and disseminate unbiased information about events in Russia and the world to the widest possible audience.
TASS is the only mass media outlet in the world that has its own news office in space, at the International Space Station. In 2021, the first TASS special correspondent, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, took his post at the ISS, later replaced by Oleg Artemyev, Dmitry Petelin and Oleg Kononenko. On August 22, 2024, Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner took over as TASS’ fifth special correspondent in space.
TASS subscribers, including Russian and foreign media, as well as federal and regional government bodies, foreign diplomatic missions, business structures and public organizations, have access to a wide range of topic-oriented services across 70 news feeds in all official UN languages - English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French.
The audience of tass.ru, which is one of Russia's largest online media platforms, surpassed 132 mln users in 2024. TASS content is available across all social media networks available in Russia, with a follower base surpassing 4.6 million.
TASS’s special projects have earned numerous accolades in prestigious Russian and international journalism and web design competitions. These educational and cultural projects cover a wide range of topics, including history (Without a Tsar at the Head), space exploration (The Light of Distant Planets), music (The Orchestra Man), architecture (High-Level Relations), engineering (The Road of Life), the search for the remains of WWII soldiers still unaccounted for (Fallen Missing), research in the field of artificial intelligence (Science in AI), sports (95 Years of the Dynamo Stadium) and energy infrastructure (The Nuclear Power Age). Also, TASS produces 3D excursions (Platform of the Future - about oil production on the Caspian shelf), and lending and promo projects - Kazan Digital Week, 50th Anniversary of the Baikal-Amur Railroad, New Superheros).
Under the TASS brand, modern media resources and digital projects continue to flourish. These include the information and educational project “This is the Caucasus,” which explores life in the North Caucasus, as well as the youth-oriented project “Newm and TD.” Its animated videos can be found on VKontakte, TikTok and YouTube.
The TASS Mediabank boasts 60 mln pieces of content, including more than 1 million unique historical images going back to the early 20th century and more than 1 million stock photos and videos.
Stock content appeared in the TASS Mediabank in 2023. Thematic stock collections are constantly updated with images by Russian and foreign authors. All of them are available in high quality, while extended rights allow them to be used for any purpose.
TASS is active in the development of information technology, with its key contributions here – platforms for distributing news, analysis and visual content.
The news terminal and mediabank offer users broad technical capabilities in working with large volumes of various data. TASS is also a leader in media marketing, including on its website tass.ru.
TASS press centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Stavropol, Pyatigorsk and Kaliningrad host more than 1,500 media events annually. They are attended by Russian and foreign political leaders, representatives of the largest Russian and foreign companies, as well as prominent figures from the world of culture, science and sports.
TASS hosts major business events, inviting key experts, opinion shapers, top officials and CEOs, scientists and cultural figures to discuss important global and domestic issues.
These include the SPIEF, the CIPR, Innoprom, Russian Industrialist, a series of televised “no ties allowed” evening talk shows and reviews of the day’s main events at the SPIEF, a presentation of the results of the national rating of investment climates in Russia’s regions at the SPIEF, events for the award winners of the All-Russia Exporter of the Year contest in all federal districts of Russia, economic forums in the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Tyumen regions, media forums and educational programs for journalists.
In 2024, TASS was a media partner for around 220 federal events.
TASS has a unique educational center – the Academy of News. Its training programs are designed specifically for journalists, content managers, PR and press service staff.
TASS maintains partnerships with more than 200 media sources from 112 countries.
TASS is actively involved in major global and regional media associations, being a member of the World Media Summit (WMS), the News Agencies World Congress (NAWC), the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), and the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). The agency also collaborates with the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), the Atlantic Federation of African News Agencies (FAAPA) and other regional associations of global news agencies.
TASS Director-General Andrey Kondrashov has chaired the CIS Council of Heads of State-run News Agencies (CIS Information Council) since its creation.
Mikhail Gusman, the First Deputy Director General of TASS, heads the Russian National Committee at the UNESCO International Program for the Development of Communication, and has a seat on the UNESCO Intergovernmental Council on Information and Communications and the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.
TASS established the World Association of Russian Press (WARP) — the only global association of Russian-speaking journalists.
As part of its IT activities, TASS offers the following services:
- Access to photographs, as well as copyrighted content from the TASS Mediabank (on the basis of an agreement);
- Access to information materials, as well as copyrighted content from the TASS Terminal (on the basis of an agreement);
- Publication and distribution of advertisements on its website.