Tass Officials Resign, Urge Reform

MOSCOW —  The top management of Tass news agency submitted its resignation Monday to Vitaly N. Ignatenko, the agency’s new director and a former spokesman for Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Tass said in a statement.

“Understanding the need for a fundamental reorganization, members of the leadership submitted their resignations in keeping with the reform process which favors freedom of speech and democracy, and requires a renewal of leading cadres,” the statement said.

Ignatenko asked the managers to stay in their posts until replacements could be named.

The outgoing leaders suggested that “more effective use” should be made of the potential of the news agency, which they said could become competitive in the news business “thanks to the qualifications of its journalists.”

“It is more necessary than ever that Tass news dispatches should become objective, independent and truthful,” the statement said.