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
Sputnik (news agency) Spanish, Polish, Serbian, and several others. The websites also house over 800 hours of radio broadcasting material each day and its newswire service runs around the clock. RIA Novosti was Russia's international news agency until 2013, and it continues to be the name of a state-operated domestic Russian-language news agency. On December 9, 2013, RIA Novosti was reorganized into a new Russian international news agency Rossiya Segodnya. Dmitry Kiselev, an anchorman of the Russia-1 channel was appointed to be the first president of the new agency. Sputnik was launched on 10 November 2014 by Rossiya Segodnya, an agency owned and