TASS is Russia’s leading state news agency, and on September 1, 2022, the agency celebrated its 118th anniversary.
TASS is one of the most cited Russian news agencies*, publishing nearly 3,000 news items in six languages and about 700 photographs and videos from correspondents in Russia and across the world daily, forming a complete and objective picture of events. In 2022, more than 2.9 mln items of content in various formats were released across all TASS platforms. Almost 1,900 employees ensure the agency's operation in real time.
Regional information centers in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg, in addition to dozens of offices in Russia’s regions, along with 56 global branches in 53 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. The first TASS special correspondent at the ISS in 2021 was cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, then Oleg Artemyev, who was followed by Dmitry Petelin.
TASS subscribers, including Russian and foreign media, as well as federal and regional government bodies, diplomatic missions of foreign states, business structures and public organizations, have access to a wide range of 70 news feeds and topic-oriented services in all official UN languages - English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French.
The TASS data bank contains tens of millions of documents, which allows the agency to accompany almost any news with comprehensive information about the event.
The agency's main digital product — tass.ru — is one of the largest online media outlets in Russia. In 2022, its audience exceeded 201 million users. The number of unique visitors per month is over 25 million. TASS content is presented on all social networks available in Russia. TASS posts and videos amassed nearly 5 bln views in 2022.
State-of-the-art digital projects and media resources are being developed under the agency’s brand. Among them are the informational and educational project "This is the Caucasus," reporting about people and life in the North Caucasus, and the "Newm" project, aimed at children and teenagers, as well as podcasts on various topics.
Among the most popular pieces are “Kuindzhi okhrip” (Kuindzhi lost his voice) about painting, “Gorod greshnikov” (The City of Sinners) for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky and “Twelve friends of Jung” dedicated to the theory of Carl Gustav Jung’s archetypes.
TASS editorial and partnership special projects, in-depth stories created using 360° video, infographics, motion graphics and other modern formats, won more than 100 awards at professional competitions held in Russia and overseas from 2017 to 2022, among them is the Runet Award, For fidelity to science, MIXX Russia, Digital Communications Awards, European Design Awards, Horizon Interactive Аwards, Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards, Malofiej, Red Dot Design Award, SND Best of Digital, Silver Mercury festival and others. Some of the most popular special projects are "Italia: The Airship Crash Chronicle," "Mercator: It’s a flat, flat world!", "Poltava, Carl!", "Dante's Circles," "It’s your turn, Leonov!", "When Napoleon Came," “May justice be done,” “The Golden Ring of Russia. A special view,” “Live atom. Keeping ahead,” “The life of polar bears,” “In search of sea unicorns,” “A place for achievement: 5 stories of heroes living among us.”
The agency’s employees are frequently honored for international and Russian awards. In 2022, they received nearly 190 prizes.
Mediabank TASS is the largest collection of archive and contemporary photographs and video reports among the CIS information services, numbering 42.6 million pieces of content. It includes contemporary photos and videos by TASS correspondents in Russia and abroad, infographics, archived photographs from the beginning of the 20th century, as well as materials from the agency's partners.
TASS annually holds over 1,500 press events. 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.
Since 2016, TASS has hosted major business events, inviting key experts, opinion shapers, top officials and CEOs, scientists and cultural figures to discuss important global and domestic issues.
TASS.Conferences is the organizer of more than 600 high-profile business events in offline and online formats. Among them are a series of events titled “What SPIEF left behind” and presentation of the National Investment Climate Ranking in Russian federal subjects as part of SPIEF-2022, the business program of the exposition of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation at EEF-2022, the IV Northern Sustainable Development Forum and the Caspian media forum-2022. TASS was also the coordinator of the business program at the II International Construction Championship.
In 2022, the agency was an information partner for nearly 170 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 370 media sources from 134 countries.
TASS takes an active part in the work of major global and regional media associations, being a member of the World Media Summit (WMS), News Agencies World Congress (NAWC), the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), and the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA).
The agency also cooperates with the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), the Atlantic Federation of African News Agencies (FAAPA) and other regional associations of global news agencies.
A TASS representative heads the Russian National Committee of 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’ Director General has chaired the CIS Council of Heads of State News Agencies (CIS Information Council) since its creation.
TASS established the World Association of Russian Press (WARP) — the only global association of Russian-speaking journalists.
* according to Medialogy data for 2022