Agerpres is the oldest Romanian news agency. It was established in 1889 by Petre P. Carp, the foreign minister then. Originally, it was named the Telegraph Agency of Romania or Romanian Agency. In 1926, the Romanian parliament reorganized the agency and changed its name to RADOR. In 1949, it became Agerpres. After that, the name was changed to Rompres in 1990, and it returned to its original name, Agerpres, in 2008.
Media assets
News agency: Agerpres
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Agerpres was established by the 2003 Agerpres law as an autonomous public institution of national interest. According to this law, the agency is governed by a Board of Directors overseen by a general director who holds the rank of state secretary. The general director is appointed by the Prime Minister and approved by a vote in Parliament. The general director of Agerpres serves a five-year term.
Source of funding and budget
Agerpres is almost entirely funded by the state budget. In 2022, it operated with a budget of RON 27.8m (€5.7m), according to a financial report released by the agency. More than 90% of the budget came from a state subsidy.
Editorial independence
Agerpres is heavily controlled by the state authorities, primarily through the agency’s general director. The agency functions as a state body. For instance, in 2018, following a series of large street protests against the Romanian government, Agerpres provided all the photos and videos they had taken to the authorities to assist in identifying the protesters. The request for the images and videos was made by an advisor to the minister of interior, who was later appointed as the head of Agerpres after two months.
The Agerpres law states that Agerpres is an “editorially independent” public institution “under the control of Parliament.” However, according to local journalists and experts interviewed for this report in March 2023 and May 2024, the agency is actually operated as a state information department, with its director strictly following orders from state authorities.
No independent oversight mechanism validating Agerpres’ editorial independence has been identified during the latest round of research for this report.
August 2024