>JSH-alive at 16:53, 12 January 2022

2022-01-12T16:53:49Z

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{{Short description|Lithuanian news agency}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Other uses|Elta (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox company
| founded = {{start date and age|1920|03}} in [[Kaunas]]
| hq_location_city = [[Vilnius]]
| hq_location_country = Lithuania
| industry = [[News agency]]
| founder = [[Juozas Eretas]]
| website = {{url|elta.lt}}
| owner = GM Media Invest
}}
'''ELTA''' is a [[Lithuania]]n [[news agency]] based in the Lithuanian capital [[Vilnius]]. In a day, it receives about 5,000 news articles and produces about 300 articles in Lithuanian, Russian, and English. ELTA cooperates with foreign news agencies such as [[Reuters]], [[ITAR-TASS]], [[Deutsche Presse-Agentur|DPA]], [[Polish Press Agency|PAP]], [[Xinhua News Agency|Xinhua]], and others.<ref name=vle/>

==History==
{{Expand Lithuanian|ELTA#Istorija|section=yes|date=January 2022}}
ELTA was founded in March 1920 in [[Kaunas]], the [[temporary capital of Lithuania]], by [[Juozas Eretas]], the first director of the agency, a literature professor, [[publicist]], and public figure of Swiss descent who sought to make the ELTA news wire as efficient and reliable as a "''[[Swiss watch]]''". ELTA was founded based on Lithuanian press bureaus that were established in Switzerland, Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany during [[World War I]]. The agency was owned by the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Lithuania)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]].<ref name=vle/>

Between 1920 and 1940, ELTA cooperated closely with the most prominent foreign agencies – its five [[teleprinter]]s used to send news from [[Reuters]] (UK), [[Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro|DNB]] (Germany), [[Havas]] (France), [[Agenzia Stefani|Stefani]] (Italy) and [[Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union|TASS]] (Soviet Union). ELTA employed correspondents in [[Moscow]] and [[Berlin]]. When Soviet troops [[Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940)|occupied Lithuania]] in 1940, ELTA was incorporated into TASS and relayed news from Moscow. Lithuanians who escaped the Soviet occupation established a free ELTA in Germany. The [[Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania]] (VLIK) published various ELTA bulletins in Lithuanian, German, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese.<ref name=vle/>

When [[Act of March 11|Lithuania declared independence]] in 1990, ELTA also re-established its independence from TASS and its direct contacts with the leading global agencies. In 1996, ELTA was partially sold by the [[government of Lithuania]] (the law required the government to retain at least 35% of the shares). In 2003, [[MG Baltic]] owned 50.86% and [[Achema Group]] owned 6.75% of the shares.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/10097/ |title=Elta likely to be fully private by year's end |author=Baltic News Service |author-link=Baltic News Service |date=20 May 2003 |access-date=4 March 2020 |publisher=The Baltic Times}}</ref> Companies controlled by {{ill|Vitas Tomkus|lt}}, publisher of the daily ''[[Respublika (Lithuanian newspaper)|Respublika]]'', acquired about 60% of ELTA in 2005. In 2006, {{ill|Algirdas Pilvelis|lt}}, publisher of the daily ''[[Lietuvos aidas]]'', acquired 39.51% of shares that were owned by the government.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/68086/leideja-a-pilveli-fntt-priciupo-pries-pat-baigiantis-bylos-senaties-terminui |title=Leidėją A. Pilvelį FNTT pričiupo prieš pat baigiantis bylos senaties terminui |publisher=Alfa.lt |date=6 October 2006 |author=Baltic News Service |author-link=Baltic News Service |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=lt}}</ref> In August 2017, Gitana Markovičienė announced plans to purchase the controlling stake in ELTA and became the new CEO.<ref>{{cite web |date=11 August 2017 |author=Baltic News Service |author-link=Baltic News Service |title=Buyer appointed as CEO of ELTA news agency |url=https://lithuaniatribune.com/buyer-appointed-as-ceo-of-elta-news-agency/ |publisher=The Lithuania Tribune |access-date=4 March 2020 }}</ref> The deal for the purchase of 80% of the shares closed in February 2018. GM Media Invest, owned by Markovičienė, acquired the remaining 20% of shares in January 2020 to become the sole owner of ELTA.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.lrytas.lt/verslas/sekmes-istorijos/2020/01/30/news/-gm-media-invest-isigijo-likusius-20-proc-eltos-akciju-13447171/ |title="GM Media Invest" įsigijo likusius 20 proc. Eltos akcijų |website=Lrytas.lt |date=30 January 2020 |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=lt}}</ref>

==Directors==
ELTA directors were:<ref name=vle>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Domas |last=Šniukas |date=2020-02-26 |orig-year=2004 |url=https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/ELTA-52634 |title=ELTA |encyclopedia=[[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija]] |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras |lang=lt}}</ref>

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* {{ill|Juozas Eretas|lt}} (1920–1922)
* [[Matas Šalčius]] (1922–1923)
* {{ill|Mikas Bagdonas|lt}} (1923)
* [[Magdalena Avietėnaitė]] (1924–1926)
* [[Justas Paleckis]] (1926–1927)
* {{ill|Antanas Jakobas|lt}} (1927–1928)
* [[Edvardas Turauskas]] (1928–1934)
* {{ill|Pranas Dailidė|lt}} (1934–1939)
* {{ill|Valentinas Gustainis|lt}} (1939–1940)
* {{ill|Kostas Korsakas|lt}} (1940)
* Jurgis Griška (1941)
* Aleksejus Jermakovas (1944–1945)
* Andrejus Murachtanovas (1945–1953)
* {{ill|Donatas Roda|lt}} (1953–1978)
* Feliksas Pažūsis (1978–1982)
* Algimantas Mykolas Stankevičius (1982–1989)
* Robertas Grikevičius (1989–1990)
* Rolandas Barysas (1990–1991)
* Vidmantas Putelis (1991)
* Adolfas Gurskis (1992–1993)
* {{ill|Algimantas Semaška|lt}} (1993–1996)
* Kęstutis Jankauskas (1996–2004)
* Raimondas Kurlianskis (2004–2005)
* Rimantas Kanapienis (2005)
* Algis Kalanta (2005–2006)
* Gražina Ramanauskaitė-Tiumenevienė (2007–2015)
* Romas Bubnelis (2015–2017)
* Gitana Markovičienė (since 2017)
}}

==See also==
* [[Eastern Bloc information dissemination]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}}

{{Eastern Bloc media}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Eastern Bloc mass media]]
[[Category:News agencies based in Lithuania]]
[[Category:1920 establishments in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Mass media in Vilnius]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1920]]

ELTA - Revision history

>JSH-alive at 16:53, 12 January 2022