News agencies
There are nine news agencies in Armenia. The oldest state agency Արմենպրես (Armenpress), originally called the Armenian Telegraph Agency, was founded in 1918. In 1991, two private news agencies started to function - Սնարք (Snark) and Նոյյան Տապան (Noyan Tapan), which reported breaking news not burdened by stereotypes of the Soviet journalism. Developing its activities, Noyan Tapan became a peculiar holding, which then started a TV company of the same name, the Noyan Tapan Highlights newspaper in English and also became engaged in a publishing business. As to Snark, it was transformed in 2001, and Արմինֆո (Arminfo news agency) was established on its base. The mid-1990s saw the establishment of Առկա լրատվական գործակաություն (Arka news agency), which found a niche specialising on the publication of economic news. Later in 1999 and 2000, two other agencies Մեդիամաքս (Mediamax) and Դե ֆակտո (De-facto) started to operate.