by Frank The Bunny » Thu May 28, 2009 8:13 am
TASS
The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (Russian: Телеграфное агентство Советского Союза, Telegrafnoye agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza; abbr. TASS), was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It had a monopoly on official state information which was delivered in the form of TASS Report (Russian: Сообщение ТАСС, Soobshcheniye TASS).
It was established on 25 July 1925 by decree of the Soviet Union Supreme Soviet's presidium. Tass was created from the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA), the first state news agency in Soviet Russia. The agency was frequently infiltrated by the Soviet intelligence and security agencies, the NKVD and GRU. Many of its employees also voluntarily served as information sources of intelligence to the NKVD (later, the KGB).