Interfax becomes the most frequently cited Russian news agency in foreign and domestic media in H1, 2015

Interfax continued to lead news agencies working in Russia by number of citations in leading foreign and Russian mass media outlets in the first half of 2015, according to a study based on an analysis of publications available in Factiva, the world‘s largest database of international media, as well as SCAN (System for Comprehensive Analysis of News).

Interfax leads the rating of Russia‘s three top news agencies by citations in international mass media outlets based on an analysis of publications in the Factiva archive, which contains thousands of leading news and business sources from 200 countries.

In the category of leading international news agencies, Interfax led RIA Novosti and TASS by number of citations in all sources except French media.

Interfax was cited 465 times in the English language newswires of leading international news agency Reuters in the first half of 2015, while RIA Novosti and TASS were cited 342 and 222 times respectively, the Factiva archive shows.

In the English language newswires of Dow Jones, Factiva data show, Interfax was cited 725 times, while TASS and RIA Novosti were cited, respectively, 140 and 99 times.

German agency DPA (German language) cited Interfax 438 times in the first half of this year, while citing TASS 132 times and RIA Novosti 24 times.

Factiva shows that in the period from January 1 to June 30, 2015, Interfax was cited 1,708 times by the BBC English language radio station (RIA - 1049; TASS - 641); 122 times by France Presse (French language) (RIA - 156; TASS - 89); 240 times by Spanish agency EFE (RIA - 103; TASS - 34); 287 times by Italian agency ANSA (TASS - 189; RIA - 55); 143 times by China‘s Xinhua News Agency (English language) (TASS - 129; RIA - 72).

US Newspapers in the English language cited Interfax 563 times in the first half of 2015, while citing TASS 402 times and RIA Novosti 234 times, according to the Factiva archive.

UK Newspapers cited Interfax 152 times, TASS 95 times and RIA Novosti 74 times, according to Factiva data.

There is a similar picture in the German media (not including news agencies), which cited Interfax 763 times, TASS 567 times and RIA Novosti 166 times.

The French media (excluding news agencies) cited RIA Novosti 89 times in the first half of 2015, TASS 83 times and Interfax 79 times, according to Factiva.

The study of how often Russia‘s three leading news agencies were cited in the Russian media was based on the SCAN system, which contains 19,509 sources. In order to ensure the objectivity and integrity of data, citations of the agencies in their own information products were excluded. The search also excluded blogs, Internet resources (as not belonging in the category of mass media) and press digests (due to duplication of search results).

By total number of citations in all Russian mass media outlets (4,517 sources) in the first half of 2015, Interfax was first with 98,253. TASS ranked second with 95,891 and RIA Novosti was third with 88,518.

In Russian central and national print media (437 of the most authoritative newspapers and magazines), Interfax was cited 4,512 times, while TASS and RIA Novosti were cited 2,306 and 2,302 times respectively.

In the category of national television and radio broadcasters, which includes Russia‘s 54 leading TV channels and radio stations, Interfax was cited 37,915 times in the first half of 2015, while TASS was cited 35,388 times and RIA Novosti was cited 27,027 times.

In the category of regional print publications in the 19 most densely populated Russian regions, Interfax ranked first in 15: St. Petersburg, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Primorye; Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Khabarovsk territories; and Volgograd, Voronezh, Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions.

TASS led in Krasnodar Territory, as well as in Kemerovo, Saratov and Chelyabinsk regions.