TASS was the official news agency of the Soviet Union from 1925 until the country broke apart in 1991. TASS was one of the world’s largest news services. From its headquarters in Moscow, it collected and distributed information throughout the Soviet Union and the world.
TASS was the Russian abbreviation for Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union. At its peak, the agency had several thousand reporters, editors, and photographers in more than 100 countries. It provided reports in six languages—Arabic, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Other countries relied on TASS for news from the Soviet Union, even though the government strictly controlled its coverage.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, TASS was reorganized in Russia and renamed the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR). But because the name TASS was so familiar throughout the world, ITAR news bureaus outside Russia use the name ITAR-TASS (Information Telegraph Agency of Russia-Telegraph Agency of the Sovereign Countries). Each of the other former Soviet republics has at least one news agency of its own.
