Broadcasting in the Soviet Union news and television news was provided almost entirely by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, commonly known as TASS until 1991. Under the rule of Emperor Nikolai II, the first broadcasting system began in 1904, and evolved into TASS in 1925. TASS still exists today, transformed into the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS). It occupies a Joseph Stalin-era building in Moscow, characterised by a bas-relief sculpture above the main entrance. However, much like its counterparts in cinema and the press, it has suffered since the break-up of Soviet Union. ITAR now broadcasts domestic news, while TASS reports the
Ghana News Agency and deleted any international news critical of the Ghanaian leadership immediately, thus preventing such news from reaching the country's newspapers and radio stations. Until the rise of the Pan African News Agency, the GNA was considered one of the most efficient news agencies in Africa, spreading what Nkrumah called the "clear ideology of the African Revolution" and contributing to "African and Ghanaian emancipation." Initially operating as a government department, the agency became a state corporation on the day Ghana was declared a republic, in 1960. While in general the Ghanaian media are hailed as relatively free, in 2001 still the