Novosti
Encyclopedia
Russian International News Agency (RIA Novosti) (in ) is a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n state-owned
State media
State media or state-owned media is media for mass communication which is ultimately controlled and/or funded by the state. These news outlets may be the sole media outlet or may exist in competition with privately-controlled media.-Overview:...

 news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...

 based in the capital Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Overview

The agency publishes news and information about social-political, economic, scientific and financial subjects on the Internet and via e-mail in the main European languages, as well as in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

. It has a correspondent network in the Russian Federation, CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...

 and over 40 non-CIS countries. Its clients include the presidential administration, Russian government, Federation Council, State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

, leading ministries and government departments, administrations of Russian regions, representatives of Russian and foreign business communities, diplomatic missions, and public organizations.

The current editor-in-chief and general director of the agency is Svetlana Mironyuk
Svetlana Mironyuk
Svetlana Mironyuk is a Russian media executive, a graduate of Moscow State University. She is head and editor-in-chief of the RIA Novosti news agency, having been appointed chair of the board in 2003 and director general in 2004. She has overseen the organization's modernization.Mironyuk is a...

.

History

RIA Novosti’s history dates back to June 24, 1941, when by a resolution of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars
Government of the Soviet Union
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was the de jure government comprising the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union from 1946 until 1991....

 and the Communist Party Central Committee, “On the Establishment and Tasks of the Soviet Information Bureau”, the Soviet Information Bureau
Soviet Information Bureau
Soviet Information Bureau , commonly known as Sovinformburo ) was a leading Soviet news agency in 1941 - 1961. It was established on June 24, 1941, shortly after the opening of the Eastern Front of World War II by a directive of Sovnarkom and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the...

 (Sovinformburo) was set up under the USSR Council of People’s Commissars and the Central Committee. Its main task was to oversee work to cover international, military events and the events of the country’s domestic life in periodicals and on the radio (from October 14, 1941, to March 3, 1942, was based in Kuibyshev – modern-day Samara).

The bureau’s main task was to compile reports on the situation on the frontline of the war, work on the home front, and the partisan movement for the radio, newspapers and magazines. Sovinformburo directed the activity of the All-Slavonic Committee, Anti-Nazi Committee of Soviet Women, Anti-Nazi Committee of the Soviet Youth, Anti-Nazi Committee of Soviet Scientists, and the Jewish Anti-Nazi Committee. In 1944, a special bureau on propaganda for foreign countries was set up as part of Sovinformburo.

Through 1,171 newspapers, 523 magazines and 18 radio stations in 23 countries, Soviet embassies abroad, friendship societies, trade unions, women’s, youth and scientific organizations, Sovinformburo informed readers and listeners about the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazism and in the post-war years about the main areas of Soviet domestic and foreign policies.

Sovinformburo heads: A.S. Shcherbakov
Aleksandr Shcherbakov
Aleksandr Sergueyevich Shcherbakov , was a founding member of the Soviet Writers' Union, along with Maxim Gorky. Following the latter's death in 1936, Shcherbakov was transferred from his role as First Secretary to the lower role of Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee where he reported...

 (from 1941 to 1945), S. A. Lozovsky
Solomon Lozovsky
Solomon Lozovsky was a prominent Bolshevik revolutionary, a high official in various parts of the Soviet government, including as a Presidium member of the All-Union Central Council of Soviet Trade Unions, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party, a member of the Supreme Soviet, a deputy...

 (from 1945 to 1948), Y.S. Khavinson, D.A. Polikarpov.

In 1961, the Novosti Press Agency (APN) succeeded Sovinformburo. It became the leading information and press body of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 public organizations. The constituent conference was held on February 21, 1961. The conference of representatives of Soviet public organizations adopted a decision to create a press agency of public organizations named Novosti. The agency’s guiding body was the Council of the Agency’s Founders.

The APN founders were the USSR Journalists Union, USSR Writers Union, Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and the Znaniye Society. On April 3, 1961, the Agency charter was adopted. Under its charter, APN’s aim was “to contribute to mutual understanding, trust and friendship among peoples in every possible way by broadly publishing accurate information about the USSR abroad and familiarizing the Soviet public with the life of the peoples of foreign countries.” APN’s motto was “Information for Peace, for the Friendship of Nations”. APN had bureaus in over 120 countries. The Agency published 60 illustrated newspapers and magazines in 45 languages with a one-time circulation of 4.3 million copies. With the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies, APN published the newspaper, Moscow News, which in September 1990 became an independent publication. APN Publishing House put out over 200 books and booklets with a total annual circulation of 20 million copies. In 1989, a TV center opened in APN. Later, it was transformed into the TV-Novosti TV company.

APN heads: Boris Burkov (1961-1970), Ivan Udaltsov (1970- 1975), Lev Tolkunov (1975-1983), Pavel Naumov (1983-1986), Valentin Falin (1986-1988), Albert Vlasov (1988-1990).

By a decree of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, “On the Establishment of the Information Agency Novosti,” the Information Agency Novosti (IAN) succeeded APN on July 27, 1990. “To provide information support for the USSR’s state domestic and foreign policies and proceeding from the interests of the democratization of the mass media,” the Novosti Press Agency was renamed the Information Agency Novosti (IAN). IAN’s tasks remained the same - preparing and publishing printed, TV and radio materials in the USSR and abroad; studying public opinion on Soviet foreign and domestic policies in the USSR and abroad.” A computer databank was created in the Agency. Initially, it contained over 250,000 documents. In 1991, the Infonews hotline started operating in the Agency. IAN had bureaus in 120 countries. It published 13 illustrated magazines and newspapers. The chairman of the IAN Board was Albert Ivanovich Vlasov.

Russian Federation

The Russian Information Agency Novosti was created in September 1991 on the basis of IAN and the Russian Information Agency. By a decree of the Russian president dated August 22, 1991, RIA Novosti was placed within the competence of the Press and Information Ministry. RIA Novosti had about 80 bureaus and news offices abroad, over 1,500 subscribers in CIS countries and about a hundred in non-CIS countries. In 1993, by a decree of the Russian president of September 15, 1993 “On the Russian Information Agency Novosti”, RIA Novosti became a state news-analytical agency. RIA Novosti’s radio channel - RIA-Radio worked in 1996. In August 1997, the TV channel Kultura was set up on the basis of the RIA TV channel under the sponsorship of the VGTRK TV and radio broadcasting company. By a decree of the Russian president, “On Improving the Work of the State Electronic Media,” the VGTRK information holding was created in May 1998, which RIA Novosti joined.

In May 1998, the Agency was renamed the Russian Information Agency Vesti. As a mass media body, it retained the name of RIA Novosti.

External links

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