Press Trust of India : Building a free and fair Press in India

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India’s premier news agency, having a reach as vast as the Indian Railways. It employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India. Collectively, they put out more than 2,000 stories and 200 photographs a day to feed the expansive appetite of the diverse subscribers, who include the mainstream media, the specialised presses, research groups, companies, and government and non-governmental organisations.

PTI correspondents are also based in leading capitals and important business and administrative centres around the world. It also has exchange arrangements with several foreign news agencies to magnify its global news footprint.

Currently, PTI commands 90 per cent of new agency market share in India.

PTI was registered in 1947 and started functioning in 1949. Today, after 60 years of its service, PTI can well and truly take pride in the legacy of its work, and in its contribution towards the building of a free and fair Press in India. On its golden jubilee in 1999, President K R Narayanan said: “We got independence in August 1947. But independence in news and information we got only with the establishment of PTI in 1949. That is the significance of PTI…”

PTI is run by a Board of Directors with the Chairmanship going by rotation at the Annual General Meeting. The day-to-day administration and management of PTI is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (who is also the Editor-in-Chief).