Academic literature on the topic 'ITAR-TASS'

Objectivity in news reporting is one of the most widely discussed topics in journalism, and a number of studies on bias in news have been conducted, but there is little agreement on how to define or measure news bias. Aiming to settle the theoretical and methodological disagreement, the author redefined news bias and applied a new methodology to detect the Russian government’s influence on ITAR-TASS during the Ukraine crisis. A longitudinal content analysis of over 35,000 English-language newswires on the Ukraine crisis published by ITAR-TASS and Interfax clearly showed that ITAR-TASS’ framing of Ukraine was reflecting desirability of pivotal events in the crisis to the Russian government. This result reveals Russia’s strategic use of the state-owned news agency for international propaganda in its ‘hybrid war’, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new approach to news bias.

Using databases simplifies significantly the preparation of journalistic and analytical materials and complements online information search and verification practice. Introducing databases into everyday work of the mass-media results in the rise of the “data-driven journalism”.The authors analyze in brief the most popular foreign and Russian databases being maintained by news agencies (Bloomberg, Dow Jones Risk and Compliance, Interfax, ITAR-TASS) and by other information services (LexisNexis, Integrum, Kartoteka, Factiva, Dun & Bradstreet). Their history is discussed; they are defined by types and classified according to their content and access method (open/closed). In several cases, the database management system specifications are provided. Scenarios for use are given for journalists and analysts, for the latter the practical use is exemplified.Based on the classification they are suggesting, the authors compares the pros and drawbacks in using databases by news agencies (closed information systems) and Internet-based information retrieval systems (open systems) in journalism and analytics.

The problems of national bibliography and publishing statistics are inextricably linked to the legislative support of acquiring and processing mandatory copies (MC) of Russian publications by the coordinating national center. Over a century, the Russian Book Chamber has been such center (in USSR, later in the Russian Federation). It acted as an independent organization until 2014. From 2014 till September 2022, it was affiliated with ITAR-TASS news agency. Today, the Russian Book Chamber is part of the Russian State Library while keeping its traditional functions in bibliographic and statistical control of national publishing products. The authors examine the key problems of these activities caused by retarding federal legislation on mandatory copies against the real-life publishing situation and information needs of our society and government. The number of publishers, though not professional, but some sort of “amateur” ones, is trending upwards, while the circulation of Russian book publications is decreasing year on year. The authors propose to optimize legislation support of publishing through control of publications by academic book publications and periodicals, as well as by those “printed on demand”; through decrease and differentiation of the federal MC sets, re-distribution of these sets for the sake of out-of-the capital library depositories, and timely editing of terminology and obsolescent articles in the law on mandatory copies.

The review of the eleventh issue of the series “Russian Historians of Science and Technology”, published since 2005 under the auspices of the S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IHNST RAS), is presented. It is called “Samarin Alexander Yuryevich: materials for bio-bibliography” (Moscow, 2023) and is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of A.Yu. Samarin, the famous historian of books and book business, bibliographer and librarian, historian of science, organizer of research, Deputy Director General for Scientific Publishing of the Russian State Library, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation. He has also been successfully cooperating with the IHNST RAS for a long time, being concurrently the chief researcher of the Department of Historiography and Source Studies of the History of Science and Technology. The review reveals the main content of this collection, which in a multidimensional and multifaceted way shows the role and place of A.Yu. Samarin in organizational, scientific and educational activities for the benefit of the Russian book culture, as well as introduces readers to little-known details of his life path. Special attention is paid to the diverse author and editorial activities of A.Yu. Samarin (including as editor-in-chief of the Bibliography magazine, which, after the inclusion of the Russian Book Chamber in ITAR-TASS, was published as an independent publication in 2015—2020). It is concluded that the publication of the index is an important milestone in the development of book, library and bibliographic knowledge about the history, current state and prospects of Russian book culture.

Legal deposit (LD) system, which remains to be the main source of formation of the national library-information stock of documents of the Russian Federation, needs further development and improvement. The purpose of this article is to identify the main problems faced by the modern system of LD in the segment of Federal legal deposit copy of printed publications and to consider various solutions. One of the main problems is incomplete delivery (or non-delivery) by manufacturers of the documents of printed publications issued by them, especially in electronic form, although this is required by the current version of the Federal law “On Legal Deposit copy of documents”. Instead of 16 copies, set by the Law, many publishers deliver to the Russian Book Chamber (RBC, ITAR-TASS branch) a smaller number of them, up to one copy. Situation with the delivery of publications produced in small runs is particularly alarming, as well as there are certain difficulties with the delivery of periodicals, including newspapers.General provisions of the Law “On Legal Deposit copy of documents” also apply to the copies of printed publications in electronic form. Their inclusion in the LD has led to significant changes for both document producers and LD recipient organizations. In 2017, only 518 of 5775 Russian publishers sent to the RBC the LD copies of printed publications in electronic form. The total number of electronic copies sent amounted to 24.5 thousand (about 21% of all publications issued in the country in traditional printed form).There are different ways to solve the arisen problems. The libraries-recipient constantly put the question on the need to strengthen the responsibility of manufacturers of documents for the incomplete or undelivered LD. Currently, the Russian State Library (RSL) has developed and published the “Declaration of the RSL on the work with Legal Deposit copy of the printed publication in electronic form”, which explains the most important principles of work with LD of the RSL as the operator of the National Electronic Library. The article considers a number of proposals on improvement of the LD system, in particular, of the RBC, the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Fundamental Library of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences. The author concludes that it is necessary to take effective measures to ensure the complete and timely delivery of documents from their manufacturers and stepwise inclusion in the LD of new documents that exist only in the electronic form.

A comparative content analysis was conducted to determine whether the Russian (ITAR-TASS) and the American (UPI) wire service coverage of President Boris Yeltsin in the April 25, 1993, referendum was balanced and unbiased. Also, the amount of space dedicated to this topic was measured. Study results indicate that ITAR-TASS was more critical of Yeltsin prior to the referendum than UPI, and that there was no statistically important difference between the two wire services in their post referendum coverage. UPI articles were almost 30% longer than the ITAR-TASS articles. Each UPI article was on an average more than 220 words longer than were the ITAR-TASS articles.