EANA turns 70, highlighting decades of backing national news agencies across Europe
The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) celebrates on Friday its 70th anniversary, a time during which it has supported national news agencies across Europe, the media alliance said in a statement.
Seventy years ago today, on 21 August 1956, European news agencies came together in Strasbourg to establish the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). What began as a forum for cooperation among a handful of European agencies has grown into a network of 33 member organisations representing 33 countries and over 670 million people, from Helsinki to Nicosia, from Lisbon to Baku.
Seven decades later, the principles that inspired EANA's founding remain at the heart of its mission: to safeguard the common interests of member agencies, to ensure they can operate as providers of unbiased news, and to uphold press freedom as a cornerstone of democratic societies.
The Alliance exists not as an institution unto itself, but as a collective platform where European news agencies share knowledge, coordinate responses to common threats, and advocate jointly for the conditions that allow independent news agency journalism to flourish.
Each member agency brings unique national expertise while contributing to a shared European standard of factual reporting.
'Our members are what makes our organisation strong,' said Alexandru Ion Giboi, EANA Secretary General. 'Every individual member agency strengthens the whole. In an era when independent journalism faces mounting pressure from multiple directions, our unity is more important than ever, and our diversity is what makes us stronger.'
'As we mark 70 years, we recognise that the challenges have evolved, but the overall purpose of our organisation has not changed,' Alexandru Giboi also said. 'Our member news agencies continue to provide the verified information that citizens need to make informed decisions. That responsibility has only grown more consequential with time.'
The news agency landscape in 2026 bears little resemblance to the world of 1956, yet our core mission remains the same, the EANA statement reads. What has shifted dramatically, though, is the environment in which member agencies operate.
AI-generated content, automated amplification networks, and coordinated manipulation campaigns have made false information cheaper and faster to produce than ever before. News agencies are now facing industrial-scale disinformation operations designed to undermine public trust in verified reporting. Our most valuable tool in this fight for truth is our journalism.
'Seventy years ago, in Strasbourg, European news agencies started EANA with a clear idea in mind: that verified information serves the public interest, regardless of national borders. Today, as we celebrate seven decades of cooperation, that idea remains more relevant than ever,' said Stefano De Alessandri, President of EANA and CEO of ANSA.
'EANA means 70 years of solidarity, cooperation, and a common voice for news agencies across Europe. For AGERPRES, being part of EANA has meant, over these years, institutional development, access to European know-how and best practices, but also real solidarity in difficult moments - whether concerning the economic challenges facing the sector or the need to adapt quickly to technological change. This network of mutual support among national agencies is the most valuable legacy of these 70 years,' declared Claudia Nicolae, member of the EANA Board and Director General of AGERPRES.
According to Aimilios Perdikaris, member of the EANA Board and media and communications executive at ANA-MPA, 'EANA brings news agencies and their people together and represents their interests, strengthening their voice while promoting news exchange, innovation and high journalistic standards at a time of major technological change and new challenges, like the daily fight against disinformation. Our Alliance and our members should play an even stronger role in safeguarding reliable information and shaping the future of news agencies, which are a cornerstone of our democratic societies.' AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Codrut Balu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)
The content of the www.agerpres.ro website has the exclusive purpose of public informing.
All the information published on this website by AGERPRES is protected by relevant legal dispositions.
It is forbidden to copy, reproduce, recompile, decompile, distribute, publish, display, modify, create derived components or products or full services, as well as any exploitation of the site's content.
Details in the section Terms of Use. If you are interested in picking up AGERPRES news items, please contact the Marketing Department – marketing@agerpres.ro.
The use of the Comments section entails your obligation to respect the AGERPRES terms and conditions in regards to the publishing of comments on the www.agerpres.ro.
Other news in category
Macelaru:If we discover great talents at end of competition, we will have fulfilled one of our missions
The George Enescu International Competition is one of the most important classical music competitions in Europe and a benchmark for the emergence of new generations of performers, stated President Nicusor Dan in a message read by Diana Punga, a State Counselor within the Presidential Administration. The message was conveyed during the conference marking the op
Romania-tracked bearded vulture Boev, flagship of EU conservation effort, killed by poison in Bulgaria
'Milvus' Bird and Nature Protection Group in Targu Mures announced on Thursday that the bearded vulture (lammergeier) Boev, part of the European conservation programme 'Bearded Vulture LIFE', was found dead in Bulgaria, alongside four black vultures, two griffon vultures and a raven, all killed by poisoning. 'Boev, one of the greatest succe
Romania, Serbia agree on Danube-flow monitoring, advance cross-border road, rail and river transport projects
Romania and Serbia agreed on Friday to maintain a joint mechanism for consultation and information exchange on Danube water flows, amid persistently low river levels affecting both countries, acting Transport and Infrastructure Minister Radu Miruta said after talks in Timisoara with Serbian Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Aleksandra Sofronijevic.
Bolojan: PNL parliamentary groups, mandated to support adoption of public sector pay bill
The National Liberal Party (PNL) parliamentary groups have been mandated to support the adoption of the public sector pay bill, party leader and interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced on Friday. At the end of a meeting of the party's Political Bureau, Bolojan said the PNL parliamentary groups had been mandated to support, during the extraordinary pa
Posada Rock Festival in Campulung Muscel celebrates 40 years with anniversary edition
The anniversary edition of the Posada Rock Festival will take place from August 28 to 30 at the municipal stadium in Campulung Muscel. Romania's oldest open-air rock festival is marking 40 years since its first edition, held in Campulung Muscel in 1986. Over the three days of the festival, devoted fans will be treated to an exceptional line-
Large glass recycling factory opens in Buzau on EUR 7.4 million investment
A factory with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year, one of the largest investments in glass recycling in the region, of a value of approximately EUR 7.4 million has opened in Buzau. According to the investor, the project is a milestone for the circular economy infrastructure and one of the most important recent investments in the development of glass recyclin
Oradea-Debrecen cultural ties showcased as Flower Carnival floats arrive in Romania
The Hungarian Cultural Days are being held in Oradea from August 20 to 22, and to mark the occasion four floats from the Flower Carnival in Debrecen, Oradea's sister city, arrived in Union Square on Friday. The floats had taken part the previous day in the traditional Flower Carnival, one of the most important events marking Hungary's national day, bef
Code Orange heatwave warning, in force in half Romania on Friday, to scale back to six counties on Saturday
The Code Orange heatwave warning, in force on Friday across more than half of the country, will be scaled back on Saturday and will cover the counties of Mehedinti, Dolj, Olt, Teleorman, Botosani and Iasi. According to the new warnings issued by the National Meteorological Administration (ANM), between 10:00 on 22 August and 10:00 on 23 August, the six countie
President Nicusor Dan to lead Romania's delegation to UN General Assembly high-level segment
President Nicusor Dan will lead Romania's delegation to the high-level segment of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), to be held in New York, the Presidential Administration announced on Friday. The central theme of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly will be 'Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nation
Romania - U.S. trade exchanges top USD 7.8 bln in 2025
Romania's trade exchanges with the United States exceeded USD 7.8 billion in 2025, continuing the upward trend of recent years, the Romanian Embassy in Washington said on Thursday in a Facebook post. The Embassy noted that Romanian exports to the U.S. reached USD 5 billion, compared with USD 3.4 billion in 2021, while imports totalled USD 2.8 billion, givi
Worldwide-acclaimed soprano Ileana Cotrubas dead at 87
Soprano Ileana Cotrubas has died at the age of 87, the Bucharest National Opera announced on Thursday. In a Facebook statement, the institution said it 'mourns the passing of Ileana Cotrubas, one of the most important Romanian voices of the 20th century and a landmark of the international operatic stage.'
Tech startup rolls out Romanian tool measuring websites' AI-readability and recommendability
Tech startup Human AI Labs has launched Blind Spot, a Romanian tool designed to assess whether websites are ready for the next stage of online search, in which artificial intelligence systems increasingly extract, summarize and recommend information directly to users rather than simply displaying links. According to the company, the platform evaluates a websit
Transport Minister says Romania's rail system currently twice as bad as a decade ago
Acting Transport Minister Radu Miruta said on Thursday in Buzau that Romania's rail system is currently 'twice as bad' as it was a decade ago, blaming the decline on the absence of a coherent, long-term maintenance plan for railway infrastructure. 'Compared with the last ten years, the situation now is twice as bad as it was then. This also sho
MApN: Naval Forces EOD team neutralized a marine drone in the Neptun Deep platform area
The Ministry of National Defence announced on Thursday that a marine drone discovered near the Neptun Deep platform in the Black Sea had been completely neutralized by a Romanian Naval Forces EOD team. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Defence to AGERPRES on Thursday, the analysis of data downloaded from the F-16 aircraft tracking sys