Press statement of Realitatea Media Group and IPN News Agency

Through this press statement, we announce the acquisition of IPN News Agency by Realitatea Media Group. This decision is the expression of the will of IPN founder Valeriu Vasilică and Realitatea founder Dumitru Țîra, aimed at boosting the development and modernization of IPN News Agency, an exemplary media institution, a benchmark of journalistic independence and equidistance, with a history of 20 years.

Dumitru Țîra

I’m glad that Mr. Valeriu Vasilică chose us for this proposal and, of course, I’m enthusiastic about this opportunity. I believe that IPN News Agency is among the few truly independent media outlets in the media market of the Republic of Moldova and we guarantee that this approach will remain unwavering. The editorial policy of IPN Agency will remain categorically the same - a guarantor of freedom of expression and opinions, open to all those who need inform themselves and communicate publicly.

As in the case of Realitatea media group, together with our colleagues, we will contribute with all our knowledge and capabilities of business management Our effort will be to modernize and develop the Agency, technologize and expand it through new products and services, in order to ensure the public utility character of the institution. The main objectives are the correct and rapid informing of society, the ensuring of the Agency’s sustainability, in order to ensure editorial freedom and the development of the institution. Our mission is to defend democracy and is related to the modernization of the Republic of Moldova and ensuring of social cohesion, so that everyone understands that regardless of nationality or language spoken – everyone is a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, with rights and obligations to contribute to the development of the country.

IPN Agency will be further developed as a distinct media institution. Even though it will be part of Realitatea conglomerate of media platforms and services and will benefit from the common infrastructure and technical support, IPN Agency will not be integrated into the organizational chart of Realitatea and will remain a separate entity.

In the next three months, a supervisory board will be constituted, and Mr. Valeriu Vasilică himself will be one of the five members of the board. Mr. Vasilică will continue his duties within the Agency, and Mrs. Elena Erhan will continue her mission as editor-in-chief, while the team of journalists will be strengthened and completed. In the immediate period, we will select a professional, who will take over the current and operational administration of the Agency, who will make common cause with the entire team in the development of the institution.

As the most accurate and credible source of information for media outlets, state institutions and international organizations, I invite you all into this world of accurate and truthful information.

Valeriu Vasilică:

For every person, an age comes when they have to give up the place from which important decisions are taken to younger professionals, especially in difficult times like today. These are hard times for society, for the journalistic guild and, especially, for the press agency as an institution.

Almost 20 years ago, the independent IPN Agency, whose team had the experience of another 7 years as a municipal public news agency, was to be the 13th news agency existing at that time. Today there are only two independent generalist agencies. The reasons for this state of affairs are multiple and are both subjective and objective. It is a subject that has long deserved special discussions and decisions, perhaps cardinal for the media space of the Republic of Moldova, respectively, for the space of Moldovan society.

It seems, however, that neither society nor the political class in our country has really felt the role and the need for correct, equidistant, multilateral information, which, in many cases, the press agencies can provide as a priority. At least that’s what happens in the civilized world.

Both circumstances forced me to put IPN News Agency under the umbrella of a press group, with activities in various fields, with an economic and professional potential capable of ensuring the continuity of IPN’s economic resilience and editorial policy. The agreement was reached only after Realitatea Press Group confirmed the commitment and scheduled actions aimed at ensuring the maintenance of the Agency’s independent editorial policy in the future.

I’m very grateful to the members of IPN’s team who have ensured the “information conveyor” during all these years, no matter how demanding it was, but also the very collegial atmosphere that helped us overcome all the difficulties.

I thank a lot our subscribers that honored us with their trust, choosing us as a source of information. Namely our subscribers have formed and maintained our editorial policy as it is.

Gratitude in this regard goes especially to the subscribers from among media outlets from outside the Republic of Moldova, foreign embassies and representative offices of international organizations, most of whom have subscribed throughout the entire period of IPN’s existence. This category of subscribers, large enough to determine the quality of the general list of subscribers, unlike many internal actors, needed credible information for taking important decisions. We also give them assurances in this way regarding the continuity, but also the strengthening of the Agency’s independent status.

We are especially grateful to a number of donors that, over the years, have entrusted us with projects, but have not interfered in our work in any way. I’m referring in particular to the projects carried out and in the process of being carried out with the support of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation, the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova, Soros Foundation Moldova, the Embassy of the United States of America, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Embassy of the Czech Republic, but also other international organizations.

Bows also to the general public who has always had an interest in returning to www.ipn.md website, to our social media pages, to follow our news, analyses, debates and interviews.

Many happy returns, IPN Agency, in a new version, modernized and faithful to professional journalism!

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IPN is an independent news agency, founded in 2005. Our mission is to deliver to our readers useful and reliable news in a prompt manner. In this process, we focus on the diversity and pluralism of information sources; the mandatory balance of official and alternative points of view; the analytical character of an important part of the information product. The news is produced in three languages: Romanian, Russian and English.

Realitatea Media Group is a free and public utility media institution, with a strong emphasis on the role and informative and educational character, communicating with its audience in Romanian, Russian and English. Realitatea Media Group was founded in 2014 on the initiative of seven journalists and currently operates RLIVE TV, the online platforms realitatea.md, bani.md, rupor.md, moldovalive.md, cancan.md and the largest live broadcasting platform rlive.md.