Polish Press Agency
The Polish Press Agency is Poland's national news agency, producing and distributing political, economic, social, and cultural news as well as events information.
Polska Agencja Prasowa S.A. was incorporated in 1918 as the Polish Telegraphic Agency. In 1944 following the Soviet entry into German-occupied Poland, the company was taken over by the Polish communists and set up under its current name as the local alternative to the still functioning Polish Telegraphic Agency loyal to the Polish government in exile from 1939 in Paris and London. During the reign of communism in Poland PAP was a government institution and the official communist mouthpiece. In 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism in Europe, the company was reformed and in 1991 the original PTA was finally merged into PAP to form the present day Agency.
For many years the celebrated travel writer Ryszard Kapuściński worked as a field reporter for PAP; his posting as the agency's first Africa correspondent provided the material and inspiration for many of his later writings.
In May 2018 PAP launched an English-language news portal called Thefirstnews.com claiming that foreign media did not portray the country "entirely accurately" and with the goal of reaching "'specific opinion-forming circles' with the help of social media."
