Russian, Soviet, and CIS History

Encyclopedia of Russian History World Encyclopedia Dictionary of Collective... The Oxford Pocket Dictionary... Further reading

TASS

Encyclopedia of Russian History | 2004 | | Copyright

TASS

TASS, the Telegraph Agency of the USSR, was founded in July 1925 with the goal of centralizing control over the distribution of foreign news in the Soviet Union under the oversight of the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and the Soviet of Peoples' Commissars (Sovnarkom ). Until the collapse of the USSR, TASS remained the single most important supplier of foreign news to the Soviet mass media, a major producer of domestic news, and a key instrument for conveying information and propaganda from the Soviet government to foreign governments and populations. After 1991 TASS became ITAR-TASS (Information Telegraph Agency of Russia), the central information distributor for the Russian Federation.

TASS's predecessor, the Russian Telegraph Agency, or ROSTA, was founded by the Bolsheviks in September 1918 and charged with an array of functions including provision of news reports to the Soviet press, instruction of journalists in training, and supervision of provincial newspapers. ROSTA staff and financial resources were clearly not adequate to these huge tasks and, in fact, the provincial press was run by local initiatives during the civil war. In the winter of 1921 to 1922 the newly created Press Section of the Party Central Committee's Agitprop Department took over supervision of the provincial press and ROSTA was restricted to wire service functions.

TASS never had a monopoly on the collection and distribution of either foreign or domestic news. Until the late 1920s RATAU, the Ukrainian Republic's official wire service, maintained correspondents abroad and engaged in a series of turf wars with ROSTA/TASS over distribution of foreign news in Ukraine. Major newspapers such as Pravda, Izvestia, and Trud (the central labor union newspaper) generally posted several correspondents abroad.

In addition to its public news distribution functions, TASS supplied "Not for Press" information bulletins to Soviet leaders during the late 1920s and most likely for most of Soviet history.

See also: journalism; sovnarkom

bibliography

Hopkins, Mark W. (1970). Mass Media in the Soviet Union. New York: Pegasus Publishing.

Mueller, Julie Kay. (1992). "A New Kind of Newspaper: The Origins and Development of a Soviet Institution, 1921–1928." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California-Berkeley.

Matthew E. Lenoe

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

LENOE, MATTHEW E.. "TASS." Encyclopedia of Russian History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

LENOE, MATTHEW E.. "TASS." Encyclopedia of Russian History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404101353.html

LENOE, MATTHEW E.. "TASS." Encyclopedia of Russian History. 2004. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404101353.html

Learn more about citation styles

TASS

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

TASS (acronym for Telegrafnoye Agentsvo Sovyetskovo Soyuza) News agency of the former Soviet Union. Affiliated with press agencies around the world, it was one of the major news services used by the Western press.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"TASS." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"TASS." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-TASS.html

"TASS." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-TASS.html

Learn more about citation styles

Tass

Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms | 1985 | Copyright

Tass

a heap; a small cup, hence, its contents; a pile.

Examples : tass of the bodies dead, 1386; of brandy, 1818; of cherry brandy, 1859; of corn, 1440; of hay, 1887; of tea, 1825; of wine, 1583.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Tass." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Tass." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301557.html

"Tass." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301557.html

Learn more about citation styles

Tass

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

Tass / täs; tas/ the official news agency of the former Soviet Union, renamed ITAR-Tass in 1992.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Tass." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Tass." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-tass.html

"Tass." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-tass.html

Learn more about citation styles

tass

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

tass cup, small goblet. XV. — (O)F. tasse — Arab. ⃛ass(a) basin — Pers. tast.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

T. F. HOAD. "tass." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "tass." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-tass.html

T. F. HOAD. "tass." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-tass.html

Learn more about citation styles

Tass

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

Tass the official news agency of the former Soviet Union, renamed ITAR-Tass in 1992.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tass." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tass." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Tass.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tass." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Tass.html

Learn more about citation styles

tass

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

tass •alas, Alsace, amass, ass, Bass, chasse, crass, crevasse, en masse, gas, Hamas, lass, mass, morass, sass, tarantass, tass, wrasse •Díaz • Phidias • palliasse •materfamilias, paterfamilias •Asturias • Aphrodisias • Trias •Donbas • Vargas • Ofgas • biogas •teargas • jackass • Hellas • Ulfilas •Stanislas • Candlemas • landmass •Martinmas • biomass • Childermas •Esdras • Mithras • hippocras •sassafras • demitasse • gravitas

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"tass." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"tass." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-tass.html

"tass." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-tass.html

Learn more about citation styles

Tass

Tass (tæs) Telegrafnoye Agentstvo Sovetskovo Soyuza (Russian news agency)

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "Tass." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "Tass." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O25-Tass.html

Learn more about citation styles

TASS

TASS Transport Aircraft Servicing Specialist (in the RAF)

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "TASS." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "TASS." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O25-TASS.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Hack in the USSR; taking dictation, clipping Kissinger's columns, feigning... Magazine article from: The Washington Monthly; 6/1/1991
	British mine union chiefs seek aid from the Soviets; 'I make no apologies,'... Newspaper article from: The Oil Daily; 11/21/1984
	Sputnik: the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 50 years ago this month shocked... Magazine article from: The New American; 10/1/2007