AGERPRES132/Alexandru Muraru: National News Agency's missions go beyond daily news channel

The mission of the National News Agency AGERPRES goes beyond an official news and daily information channel. AGERPRES was a living institutional presence in the life of the nation, says historian Alexandru Muraru, Deputy and honorary adviser to the Prime Minister, a special representative of the Romanian Government for Promoting Memory Policies, Combating Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia. "The agency has undergone many transformations, as has the Romanian press. Romania is part of a wave of pioneering in this regard because at the end of the nineteenth century we had the first national news agency established, which had a dual role - it was no coincidence that it was placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was then called - that of transmitting news abroad about Romania and at the same time broadcasting an accurate, official and fast service of all news of general interest to Romania. The agency has changed over time, and it changed its name again 13 years ago to the name it had for most of its existence, as before it was also called the Telegraphic Agency, the Romanian Agency, RADOR, Rompres, and then it returned to AGERPRES. And I think that this was a good, encouraging, favourable evolution of the agency because, together with other institutions, it managed to overcome the numerous political changes and in the last hundred years the agency has been part of the identity of the Romanian statehood. It is not a big word because there are not many non-political institutions that have this tradition, and here I am referring to the Romanian Academy, to several other cultural institutions, the Royal House, but AGERPRES is part of these institutions that have put the imprint on the Romanian statehood," underscored the historian. He also refered to his recent visit to AGERPRES to see the Agency's historical archive. "I was even more convinced of this because I paid a visit to AGERPRES and for those who would go there, for the political decision-makers, if they would go to the archive, they would also see that this archive is a real treasure of the Romanian state. And I refer now to the more than 4.5 million photos that talk about the entire history of Romania in the past 80, 90 years, from 1927. Today, unfortunately only almost half a million of them are digitized and basically, the public does not have access to them, unfortunately," said Muraru. He underscored that AGERPRES is an extremely respected institution not only in the Romanian public environment but also by the embassies and diplomatic missions in Bucharest and the Western chancelleries. The Romanian official added that the National News Agency is first and foremost "an official and extremely credible news channel, which brings credibility, objectivity in the reporting of national and international events." On the benefits of the technological explosion and the digitalisation of the press in recent years, he said: "These are clear: the speed with which information flows, but not necessarily always correct, the decentralization of information sources - basically, anyone can be a journalist today, anyone who has a Facebook page or a site that, depending on how credible it is, well-made and rich in news, can become a relevant news portal in a short time." He believes that AGERPRES and other similar sites are living proof that the digital press will continue to be successful in Romania after there have been attempts to adapt newspapers from the classic format to online challenges. He pointed out that AGERPRES will have a "very good future" because people will be tempted to look for the real news. "I think it will be a very interesting period for all the media, but in this idea, I think that AGERPRES has a very good future as a channel because people will be more and more tempted to look for real news," said Alexandru Muraru. *** The National News Agency AGERPRES, the first "Romanian, national and autonomous" press agency, celebrates on March 27, 2021, 132 years of activity. Over time, AGERPRES has fulfilled its duty of honour to inform the public correctly and equidistantly, currently maintaining the same mission. The history of the National News Agency AGERPRES begins on March 27, 1889, when P.P. Carp, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the birth certificate of the Romanian Telegraphic Agency, which broadcast in the country an "accurate and fast service of all news of general interest or special." AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Mirela Barbulescu, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia)