Agerpres is the oldest Romanian news agency, established in 1889 by Petre P. Carp, the foreign minister at the time. In its early days, it was named Telegraph Agency of Romania or Romanian Agency. In 1926, the Romanian parliament reorganized the agency, changing its name to RADOR. In 1949, it became Agerpres. Its name changed yet again in 1990 to Rompres, to finally return to its Agerpres name in 2008.
Media assets
News agency: Agerpres
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Agerpres was created through the Agerpres law of 2003 as an autonomous public institution of national interest. According to this law, the agency is led by a Council of Directors managed by a general director that has the rank of state secretary. The general director is nominated by the Prime Minister and appointed by Parliament’s vote. The general director of Agerpres has a five-year mandate.
Source of funding and budget
Agerpres is fully funded from the state budget. In 2022, it operates with a budget of RON 27.8m (US$ 6.9m), according to a financial report released by the agency. More than 90% of that came from a state subsidy.
Editorial independence
Agerpres is closely controlled by the state authorities mainly through the general director of the agency. The agency operates as a state body. In 2018, for example, after a series of massive street protests against the Romanian government, Agerpres gave all the photos and videos they produced to the authorities to help them identify the protesters. The request for the photos and video was made by an advisor to the minister of interior who after two months was appointed head of Agerpres.
Although the Agerpres law states that Agerpres is an “editorially independent” public institution, “under the control of Parliament,” the agency is literally operated as a state information department, its director following strict orders from state authorities.
There is no independent oversight mechanism to validate the independence of Agerpres.
October 2023