Saudi Press Agency (SPA)

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s official state news agency. Established in 1971 during the reign of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, it is the national news agency and the official entity responsible for news in the Kingdom. SPA remains the central conduit for government communication and information dissemination, both domestically and abroad. It publishes news in six languages: Arabic, English, French, Russian, Chinese and Persian.

Media assets

News agency: SPA

Ownership and governance

SPA operates under the Saudi state’s media authorities and is organisationally linked to the Minister of Media. By a Council of Ministers decision in 2012, SPA was converted into an independent public body. Its 2023 regulation states that the agency has independent legal personality and financial and administrative autonomy as a public authority, while remaining organisationally linked to the Minister of Media. In practice, this status does not amount to editorial or operational independence from the executive.

SPA’s board of directors is chaired by the Minister of Media, currently Salman bin Yousuf Al-Dosari. This governance structure ensures close alignment with Saudi Arabia’s official information policy and state messaging priorities.

As of mid-2026, Hassan bin Mohammed Al-Asmari was identified in public official sources as SPA’s president or acting president. Saudi Arabia’s National Platform lists Hassan Mohammed Alasmary as President of Saudi Press Agency, while SPA news items in 2026 describe him as Acting President. Dr Fahd bin Hassan Al-Aqran, who previously headed SPA, had left the agency by September 2024 and was appointed to the Shura Council. In practice, SPA functions as a state-controlled body with no structural editorial autonomy from the executive, and its strategic direction and editorial agenda are set in accordance with national information policy.

Source of funding and budget

SPA is financed by the Saudi state. Its public-authority status provides for financial autonomy and an independent budget under state arrangements, but no publicly available data details the precise size of SPA’s budget or its financial performance. Based on SMM-retained interviews conducted in May 2024 with journalists familiar with Saudi media operations, the agency’s funding is stable and embedded within the state’s annual media and communication expenditure. The lack of agency-specific financial disclosure is consistent with the limited transparency typical of Saudi Arabia’s government-run media entities.

Editorial independence

SPA functions as the official voice of the Saudi government. Its output, ranging from royal decrees and Cabinet decisions to diplomatic communiqués, domestic news, economic coverage, Vision 2030 material, cultural reporting and sports news, is overwhelmingly shaped by government priorities. The agency plays a dual role: it relays official state information to the public and sets the editorial tone for other Saudi media outlets, supplying the authoritative wording, headlines and coverage cues that other media follow.

There is no legal statute, regulatory framework or external oversight mechanism in Saudi Arabia that guarantees the editorial independence of SPA. The agency is therefore widely regarded as an instrument of official state communication rather than an independent journalistic institution.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that SPA has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026.

The agency has, however, pursued digital and capacity-building modernisation. In 2024, SPA launched and inaugurated the SPA Academy for News Training, a specialised training initiative designed to develop journalistic and media-technology skills, transfer professional knowledge and support the news industry through local and international partnerships. The academy’s activities have included training linked to modern news-production tools and media-technology capacity.

A major digital development during the cycle was the launch of the Saudi Photo Platform in June 2025. The platform gives users access to verified SPA images under a Creative Commons licence and is intended to expand global access to SPA’s visual archive, support reuse of official visual content and strengthen the Kingdom’s digital visual presence.

SPA has also expanded multilingual digital news services and deepened cross-border agency cooperation. In December 2025, SPA signed a memorandum of understanding with Syria’s official news agency SANA to develop collaboration in journalism, news exchange, technical cooperation and media services; the Saudi Cabinet approved the agreement in April 2026.

These developments reflect investment in digital distribution, visual archives, training, multilingual services and international agency cooperation. However, they do not establish a public framework governing the use of AI in SPA’s editorial production, verification, translation, attribution, synthetic-media labelling, content disclosure or human editorial oversight.

Classification rationale

SPA is classified State-Controlled (SC), a classification maintained from prior SMM cycles. It is the Kingdom’s official news agency, organisationally linked to the Minister of Media, governed by a board chaired by the Minister of Media, led by senior officials appointed through state structures and funded through public resources. Its editorial output is dictated by government priorities, it sets the official line for other outlets, and no statutory or independent mechanism safeguards its editorial autonomy. Its formal status as an independent public body does not alter these determinants, which keep SPA firmly in the SC category.

June 2026