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

Interfax continued to lead news agencies working in Russia by number of citations in leading foreign and Russian mass media outlets in 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 1,005 times in the English language newswires of leading international news agency Reuters in 2015, while RIA Novosti and TASS were cited 803 and 474 times respectively, the Factiva archive shows.

In the English language newswires of Dow Jones, Factiva data show, Interfax was cited 1,315 times, while TASS and RIA Novosti were cited, respectively, 214 and 208 times.

German agency DPA (German language) cited Interfax 862 times last year, while citing TASS 226 times and RIA Novosti 30 times.

Factiva shows that in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2015, Interfax was cited 3,254 times by the BBC English language radio station (RIA - 1,948; TASS - 1,176); 443 times by France Presse (French language) (RIA - 447; TASS - 311); 371 times by Spanish agency EFE (RIA - 185; TASS - 60); 537 times by Italian agency ANSA (TASS - 484; RIA - 148); 206 times by China‘s Xinhua News Agency (English language) (TASS - 197; RIA - 119).

U.S. top newspapers (69 sources) in the English language cited Interfax 479 times in 2015, while citing TASS 353 times and RIA Novosti 196 times, according to the Factiva archive.

UK top newspapers (23 sources) cited Interfax 271 times, TASS 266 times and RIA Novosti 129 times, according to Factiva data.

There is a similar picture in the German media (not including news agencies), which cited Interfax 1,697 times, TASS 1,149 times and RIA Novosti 141 times.

The French media (excluding news agencies) cited RIA Novosti 193 times in the first half of 2015, Interfax 146 times and TASS 55 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 information system, which contains more than 20,000 sources.

In Russian central and national print media (440 of the most authoritative newspapers and magazines), Interfax was cited 10,669 times, while TASS and RIA Novosti were cited 4,765 and 2,421 times respectively.

In the category of national television and radio broadcasters, which includes Russia‘s 61 leading TV channels and radio stations, Interfax was cited 71,635 times in 2015, while TASS was cited 60,704 times and RIA Novosti was cited 60,526 times.

In the category of regional print publications in the 19 most densely populated Russian regions, Interfax ranked first in 16: St. Petersburg, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorye and Khabarovsk territories, Volgograd, Voronezh, Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Samara, Saratov and Sverdlovsk regions.

TASS led in the Krasnodar territory and the Chelyabinsk region. RIA Novosti was the first in the Kemerovo region.