tv8.md

The Public Association "Media Alternativă" was registered on March 13, 2017. The initial leader was journalist Natalia Morari, who hosted several political programs on TV7. The organization's co-founders included journalists Mariana Rață and Ion Terguță, political analyst Igor Botan, and TV7 director Cristina Gutu.

In June 2017, TV7 was rebranded to TV8. In December 2017, the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (now Audiovisual Council) approved the transfer of the broadcasting license to the Public Association "Media Alternativă".

The current founding members of the "Media Alternativă" Public Association are Igor Botan (President), Mariana Rață-Vremea, Viorica Tătaru Craițămîndră, and Svetlana Buza.

Svetlana Buza is one of the founding members and since March 2020, the Executive Director of the Public Association "Media Alternativă".

Previously, she was the administrator of Reforma Art SRL, which held the broadcasting licence for Moldovan TV channel, Jurnal TV. She was also a PR Manager at Jurnal Trust Media, which includes Jurnal TV.

Between 2017-2019, she was the general manager of two shopping centres in Chisinau: "Unic" and "Gemenii".

In August 2023, Svetlana Buza was elected Chairperson of the Competition Committee responsible for selecting the institution that will measure audience and market shares for the period 2024-2029. The committee includes representatives from several television stations and is managed by the Audiovisual Council.

Svetlana Buza and Mariana Rață, a senior editor at TV8, are the founders of the company Independent Trust Media SRL. On July 26, 2024, the company received a broadcasting licence for a new TV station — 1TV — which is expected to produce programs in Russian.

Maria-Emilia Hincu is a journalist who joined TV8 in February 2022 during her first year of university studies at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, State University of Moldova. Since November 2023, she has been the editor-in-chief of tv8.md.

Mariana Rață-Vremea is one of the founding members of the non-profit organisation Media Alternativa, which holds the broadcasting licence for the TV station TV8.

Mariana Rață graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at Moldova State University, with a specialisation in Communication. She is an investigative journalist, TV presenter, and Senior Editor responsible for editorial policy at TV8. She hosts the political talk show "Cutia Neagră" (”The Black Box”) and the investigative program "Cutia Neagră PLUS," both aired on TV8.

She has over 23 years of journalistic experience. She began her career in journalism at the newspaper Jurnal de Chișinău in 2005, where she worked for 8 years. She also hosted a political program on Jurnal TV from 2009 to 2010.

Between 2010 and 2013, she worked as an editor and reporter for several news portals: jurnal.md, union.md, deschide.md, moldovacurata.md. From 2013 to 2016, she was the Deputy Chief Editor at the publication "Ziarul Național." She later worked at the Center for Investigative Journalism, as a journalist and coordinating editor.

In 2017, she cof-ounded the channel TV8.

Additionally, since 2017, she has been the Chairperson of the Board of the Independent Journalism Center in Moldova.

She has won several journalism awards: "Ten Journalists of the Year" (2013), a competition organised by the Independent Journalism Center; "Best Investigative Journalism on Corruption," first place in 2016, second place in 2017, a competition organised by UNDP; shortlisted for the European Press Prize (2017) with the investigation "The Steroid Mafia."

Mariana Rață is an anti-corruption and justice expert, author of several studies on selective justice, in collaboration with Freedom House.

Together with Svetlana Buza (Executive Director of Media Alternativa) and Vasile Gherman (Financial Director of TV8), Mariana Rață is a partner in the company "Independent Trust Media" SRL.

On July 26, 2024, the company received a licence from the Audiovisual Council for a new TV station, 1TV, which is expected to be oriented toward the Russian-speaking audience.