TASR Ended 2016 with Surplus of Over €136,000
Bratislava, March 16 (TASR) – The News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) ended 2016 with a surplus of €136,512, as its revenues of €5,278,253 topped the agency’s expenditures of €5,141,741, according to a report on TASR’s activities in the second half of 2016 that the agency’s general director Jaroslav Reznik presented to members of Parliament’s media committee on Thursday.
TASR’s profit reached €72,290 for the whole of 2016, according to the report, which was taken on board by the committee members.
Meanwhile, aggregate expenditures for the latter half of last year stood at €2,598,106, while revenues reached €2,403,882.
TASR released a total of 142,525 multimedia stories last year, 78,229 of which were written stories, with 53,517 photographs, 4,478 videos and 6,301 audio recordings.
Reznik singled out TASR as the only full-fledged news agency in Slovakia that provides news coverage for other media and the public. “In the post-truth era of limitless space belonging to social media and at a time of purchased media and opinions, the public-service TASR acts as a cornerstone of credibility and factual information that enables people freely to create their opinions,” said Reznik, rejecting doubts regarding TASR’s independence.
“TASR’s news reporting has been free and independent. It hasn’t been inclined or disinclined towards any political, economic, religious, ethnic or other interest group. It’s provided objective, well-balanced and topical information on goings-on in Slovakia and abroad,” he stated, adding that TASR has delivered on its legally prescribed obligations.
Regarding TASR’s financial performance last year, Reznik highlighted the increase in revenues in the media sector. “No news organisation has cancelled its subscription to TASR’s services due to dissatisfaction with their quality, but some electronic media have ended their operations,” he said.
Reznik also made mention of the three-day meeting in September 2016 of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and EANA’s general meeting, which took place at TASR’s invitation.
“Never before in the history of the independent Slovakia have so many media leaders visited Bratislava. Directors of and delegations from 30 major news agencies came here,” said Reznik, specifically mentioning such giants as Germany’s DPA, the United States’ Associated Press, Sweden’s TT, Spain’s EFE, France’s AFP, Austria’s APA and Russia’s TASS.
Reznik also praised TASR’s development and continuous testing of SomeCan, a tool for working with Facebook and Twitter. “It sorts, divides according to categories and searches profiles and statuses within a single environment, thus helping journalists in their work. It’s a unique system. It’s a daily tool for a journalist’s work that will make it possible to speed up reporting on latest events,” he said, also highlighting the teraz.sk and tablet.tv websites.
