Agerpres
Agerpres is the oldest Romanian news agency. It was established in 1889 by Petre P. Carp, who was at the time Romania’s foreign minister. It was originally 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
Ownership and governance
Agerpres was established by the 2003 Agerpres law as an autonomous public institution of national interest. According to this law, governance is entrusted to a Board of Directors, and leadership lies with a general director—who holds the rank of state secretary. This general director is appointed by the Prime Minister and must be approved by a parliamentary vote. The term for this role is five years.
Claudia-Victoria Nicolae has served as General Director of Agerpres since November 2018. . She began her career at the agency in the mid-2000s, working her way up through roles such as political editor and video deputy editor, and even serving as deputy general director before assuming the top leadership position. Between June and November 2018, she also held the position of adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Source of funding and budget
Agerpres is almost entirely funded by the state budget, with vertical dependence on state subsidy. In 2022, the agency operated with a budget of RON 27.8 million (approximately €5.7 million).
Editorial independence
The Agerpres law claims that the agency is an “editorially independent” public entity “under the control of Parliament.” However, numerous local journalists and experts interviewed in March 2023, May 2024 and June 2025 pointed out that, in practice, Agerpres operates much like a state information department, with editorial decisions deeply influenced, if not directed, by state authorities and the general director.
To date, no independent oversight mechanism validating true editorial independence has been identified.
September 2025