United News Transfer Agency (Pulacan)
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 The iconic logo of the NCTC, used in some form since the 1960s | |
 NCTC's headquarters in Mohembo, Pulacan | |
Native name | Nechicoliztli Cepanca Tlanemacaliztli Cacahuaniliyotl (Nahuatl) |
|---|---|
| State-owned | |
| Industry | News agency |
| Founded | March 22, 1916 |
| Headquarters | Mmila Borobongwe 15, Mohembo , |
Number of locations | 83 offices, correspondents and bureaus in other countries (2024) |
Area served | Global Nahuasphere (primary market) |
| Services | Media |
Number of employees | 1260 |
The United News Transfer Agency (Nahuatl: Nechicoliztli Cepanca Tlanemacaliztli Cacahuaniliyotl), also known by its local initials NCTC, is an international news agency headquartered in Pulacan. It is the primary such agency in Pulacan, as well as the wider Nahua-speaking world. Founded in 1916, it is also one of the oldest newswire services still in operation. It employs around 1260 employees and numerous freelancers, including correspondents at 83 locations across the globe. The NCTC has a unique structure among news agencies; organized as a non-profit network of non-profit calpolleh, it is funded primarily through government funding. Though it is ostensibly a state-funded service, the NCTC functions as a public utility, with numerous rules and regulations established to ensure its editorial independence from government control. Additionally, the NCTC's member media companies voluntarily participate in the staffing and operating of the agency. Its role is seen as making news and information as widely available as possible. NCTC cooperates with 150 news media companies in Pulacan and abroad. In addition to publishing in Nahuatl, the primary language of publication, NCTC produces content in numerous languages, including SePala.
History
Upon its independence from the Heron Empire in 1907, control of the nascent electric telegraph network passed from colonial administrators to the national government. Initially, the network was retained solely for military logistics purposes, as it had been used during the colonial era. Throughout the 1910s, however, numerous calpolleh approached the government, seeking permission to use the telegraph network for business purposes. Pulacan's often rugged terrain made the telegraph advantageous, but also presented obstacles to installation. As such, the Secretariat of the Interior (which managed the postal system at the time) was tasked with expanding the network. In 1912, management and operation of installed civilian lines was spun off under the National Telegraph Agency.
The following year, a consortium of 15 journalistic organizations formed the Journalists' Telegraphy Association to serve as a united organization to interface with the Telegraph Agency. Three years later, the Interior Secretariat, the Telegraph Agency, and the Journalists' Telegraphy Association agreed to reform the latter into a state-funded entity known as the News Telegraphy Association to remove any financial barrier for media services to subscribe to the service, with the intent of maximizing potential access to the information for distribution. Starting with the 1926 general election, the Association became the first Pulatec news service to monitor and collect the election process in every jurisdiction in the country. The Association was put to the test during the Great Kayatman War (1927–1931), when significant portions of the network were destroyed by MaZanzi invasion and sabotage. In spite of wartime privations, the Association rallied to provide a crucial source of information on the war effort. Controversy arose after war's end; it was discovered that agents of the Pulatec government's nascent intelligence community had fed disinformation about the war effort to NCTC staff. The Association was restructured into the United News Telegraph Agency in 1935.
The NCTC adopted Telex in the 1960s, both for communication between offices and with outside news media. The decade also saw numerous NCTC reporters cover the Third Uhlangan Civil War in modern-day Phansi Uhlanga. Initially appearing friendly to foreign journalists, the Cuhonhicah settler government engaged in a propaganda campaign in order to obscure its war crimes. Reporters would be embedded with select military units at the Cuhonhicah leadership's discretion; it was eventually revealed that the units selected were specially appointed to engage in either staged or highly-regulated encounters as a performance. In the meantime, media personnel attempting to learn more about the conflict beyond the bounds of state approval were subject to mistreatment. 15 correspondents of the NCTC ultimately died during the war, either as casualties near areas of fighting or, more commonly, at the hands of security forces. NCTC reporters would receive particularly brutal handling from the Tlaloc Battalions, formations of extremist Pulatec foreign volunteers. These military units, initially created as internal security forces, quickly devolved into acting as mobile terror squads. In September 1967, the NCTC became the first major news agency to report on the genocide known as the Hasanya. Initially uncovering the Tlaloc Battalions' orders to massacre civilians, further investigation revealed the Cuhonhicah régime's central role in planning and executing the genocide, information almost unknown outside the country up to that point. This scoop earned the NCTC worldwide praise and a newfound major market in Zacapican, where it had previously struggled to generate subscriptions. The agency's dedication to making available as much information about the war as possible set them apart from domestic news media; the latter was less willing to break stories that would tarnish the war effort.
The organization adopted its present name in 1983, as the role of the telegraph had significantly diminished in the NCTC's function since the time of its founding. In the 21st century, the NCTC has gained new prominence on the Internet. Web portals, both in Nahua and in other languages, rely on NCTC to provide breaking news directly. As such, NCTC web articles are among the top 5 most-engaged-with news sites on Nahua-language social media.