AO "Media Alternativă"
The Public Association "Media Alternativă" was registered on March 13, 2017, initially led by journalist Natalia Morari, who had hosted several political programs on TV7. The original co-founders included journalists Mariana Rață and Ion Terguță, political analyst Igor Boțan, and TV7 director Cristina Guțu.
Following TV7's rebranding to TV8 in June 2017, the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (now Audiovisual Council) approved the transfer of the station's broadcasting license to the Public Association "Media Alternativă" in December 2017. The association operates as a non-profit organization and is also registered as the founder of "Alternativ Press Group" LLC (established April 25, 2017), which manages TV8's commercial advertising under Natalia Morari's direction.
The current founding members are Igor Boțan (President), Mariana Rață-Vremea, Viorica Tătaru Craițămîndră, and Svetlana Buza. The Board of Directors includes Igor Boțan as President, Nicolae Loghin (Senior Consultant at CICO), Vasile Tofan (Senior Partner at Horizon Capital Investment Fund and Chairman of Purcari Chateau Winery's Non-Executive Board), Maia Metaxa (Director of Moldova's School of Journalism), and Vadim Vieru (lawyer at Promo-LEX Association and former President of the Young Lawyers Association).
The AO Media Alternativa Association is governed by the General Assembly, composed of association members. The main responsibilities of the Assembly are to:
- Appoint members of the Board of Directors;
- Approve the activity plan and report of the Board;
- Elect the President of the Association;
- Make major decisions related to the association's activities (reorganization, joining local or international unions or structures, dissolution).
The activities of AO Media Alternativa are managed by the association's Board of Directors, consisting of 6 members. The Board, by voting, adopts:
- the budget and activity plan for the association, TV8, and the website;
- the activity report of the management of TV8 and tv8.md;
- appoints the television director through a selection process;
- appoints the general producer and Senior Editor on the recommendation of the director;
- adopts the development strategy, policies, and other internal documents of the association.
Key Facts
| Business Form | Commercial / For-profit |
|---|---|
| Legal Form | Public Association/NGO |
Ownership
Media Outlets
Facts
| Founding Year | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Mariana Rață-Vremea 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. Igor Boțan Igor Boțan is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT since 1999. He was elected as the President of the "Media Alternativa" Association in September 2021, following Natalia Morari's resignation from this position due to a scandal involving her revelation that the father of her child is the controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon, who was under criminal investigation. Morari had conducted at least one interview with Platon while they were in a relationship. Boțan holds a Ph.D. in Physical-Mathematical Sciences. Between 1992 and 1994, he served as a consultant in the Political Analysis Department at the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova. From 1994 to 2001, he was a senior coordinator at IFES-Moldova (International Foundation for Electoral Systems). Since 1999, he has been the Director of ADEPT. He has worked as a political analyst and commentator with Radio Free Europe, BBC World Service, and The Economist Intelligence Unit. He is currently a co-author of a political analysis program on Radio Free Europe Moldova, titled "Dincolo de știri" (Beyond the News). 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. Natalia Morari Natalia Morari is a former TV journalist. She first gained prominence following a series of mass protests in Moldova in April 2009. These thousand-strong protests were sparked following the Communist Party’s victory in the parliamentary elections. Morari was among the organisers of these protests. She studied in Moscow, where she also wrote for "Novoe Vremya" about money laundering cases involving high-ranking officials close to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result, she was expelled from Russia and declared persona non grata. In Moldova, Morari moderated programs at several TV channels (Publika TV, TV7). In 2017 she co-founded TV8, where she also hosted political shows. She publicly admitted to having been in an intimate relationship with Chiril Lucinschi, the son of fex-President of Moldova Petru Lucinschi and the former owner of TV8 (successor of TV7) . In 2021, Morari was removed from the list of founding members of the Media Alternativă (Media Alternative) NGO following a scandal. It was revealed that the father of her child was Veaceslav Platon, a controversial businessman under criminal investigation in Moldova, with whom she had conducted at least one interview during their relationship. She subsequently withdrew from the public eye for a brief period but returned in 2022 with new political talk shows on N4 television and later on YouTube. Her political shows were heavily promoted through social media sponsorships, including those paid for by Veaceslav Platon, who announced founding his own political party. In May 2024, Natalia Morari organised a meeting with several opposition party leaders to identify a common candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for October 20, 2024. While a common candidate was not chosen, in July 2024, Natalia Morari announced her intention to run for the presidency of Moldova as an independent candidate. She was registered and voted for by 0.61% of voters. Cristina Guțu Cristina Guțu is a journalist and TV producer. She is the cousin of Natalia Morari and the ex-wife of Iurie Roșca, a controversial politician who previously supported unionist views (advocating for the unification of Moldova with Romania) and was the leader of the Christian-Democratic People's Party. Currently, Roșca is known for promoting Russian narratives and propaganda. Guțu has served as the director at both TV7 and TV8. She also left TV8 following the Morari-Platon scandal. Ion Terguță Ion Terguță is a journalist and media expert with political involvement. He was one of the founders of the NGO Media Alternativa and served as the director of the TV station in 2017. From 2009 to 2016, he was the director of the Moldovan National Representation of the MIR TV Company, a member of the Board of Directors of MIR TV, and the representative of the Moldovan Government in the Board of Trustees of MIR TV (a media structure of the Commonwealth of Independent States). In 2012, in this role, he received the "Drujba" award from the Russian President Vladimir Putin. He renounced the award in 2022 as a protest against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. From 2005 to 2009, Ion Terguță was the director of the DTV channel. Prior to that, he was the deputy director of the Info-Prim news agency and the editor-in-chief of the News Department at ANTENA C radio station. He has also served as the editor-in-chief of the News Department at Radio Moldova International. He has been active in the press since 1993. His political career began with the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) led by former Prime Minister Vlad Filat. Terguță was elected vice president of PLDM in July 2018, after serving as the party’s spokesperson since November 2017. In 2019, he ran in the parliamentary elections on the list of the ACUM Bloc, which consisted of the Dignity and Truth Platform (Platforma DA), led by Andrei Năstase, and the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), led by Maia Sandu, who became President of Moldova in 2020. In 2020, Terguță was elected Secretary General of Platforma DA. In 2021, he ran in the early parliamentary elections on the Platforma DA list but did not secure a seat in either election. Currently, he has no political affiliation. |
| Employees | 116 |
| Contact | str. Calea Orheiului, 28/1 MD-2059 mun. Chișinău Moldova, Republic of marianaratavremea@gmail.com, niculita.sergiu2@gmail.com 022-55-88-88, 0794-34-001, 0798-48-598 |
| Revenue | MDL 37,9 million (2023) /USD 2.2 million (2023) |
|---|---|
| Advertising (in % of total funding) | MDL 16,9 mil (2023) / USD 998 thousand (45% of total revenue) (2023) |
| Executive Board | Svetlana Buza Executive director Vasile Gherman Financial Director Mariana Rață-Vremea Senior editor Liliana Goian General producer |
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