Polish Press Agency

Polska Agencja Prasowa S.A. was incorporated in 1918 as the Polish Telegraphic Agency (Polska Agencja Telegraficzna, PAT) which makes it one of the world's oldest wire services. PAT ran 14 news bulletins in several languages. In 1925, it launched a regular newsreel and offered a photo service since the 1930s.

In 1944, following the Soviet entry into German-occupied Poland during World War II, 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. Under the Polish People's Republic, PAP was a government institution and the official communist mouthpiece. In 1990, after the fall of communism in Poland, the company was reformed and in 1991 the original PTA was finally merged into PAP to form the present-day Agency.

PAP has gradually expanded the number of its news desks, journalists and correspondents. In 1993, the agency launched satellite transmission of its services and started online news distribution in 1995. In 2001, it joined the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA). In the early 2000s, on top of its regular international coverage, PAP had field reporters covering the war in Iraq.

Since 2019, PAP owns Detektyw (The Detective) - a popular monthly magazine on crime that the agency has taken over along with the state owned PWR publishing company.

PAP was one of the public media companies affected by the 19 to 20 December 2023 takeover of Polish public media by the recently elected October 15 Coalition. On 27 December 2023, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz placed PAP and other public media bodies into liquidation after Polish president Andrzej Duda vetoed a bill containing funding for public media bodies; the liquidation was not intended to impact PAP's day-to-day running. The decision to put PAP into liquidation was entered into the National Court Register on 29 January 2024.

Polish language services

The Daily News Service is updated on seven-days-a-week basis, 24 hours a day, and offers around 1000 articles everyday, mainly on politics, business, economy, foreign affairs, sports, science and education.

The business service is prepared by a team of 35 financial editors and several dozen reporters, supported by numerous domestic and foreign correspondents. It covers more than 1000 capital market entities and provides over 100 news items a day.

Multimedia

PAP-Photo produces and distributes the Daily Photographic Service that offers around 200-300 photos from across Poland and about 1000 images from around the world thanks to the cooperation with the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), with a large archive of photographs available.

It also provides video content and infographics service in the form of charts, tables, diagrams, maps, 3D animations and interactive graphics.