AGERPRES projects on 2015, presented to the Senate's Committee for culture and media

The members of the Romanian Senate's Committee for culture and media have talked on Tuesday with the Director General of the AGERPRES National News Agency, Alexandru Giboi about the necessity of altering the legislation regarding the copyright so that the journalist stuff released by AGERPRES be protected.

Senators Tudor Barbu (background, left), Georgica Severin (background, centre) and Emil Marius Pascan (background, right) of the Senate's Committee for culture and media hearing Agerpres director Alexandru Giboi (foreground, profile)
Photo credit: (c) ANGELO BREZOIANU/AGERPRES FLOW

The chair of the committee, the social-democrat Georgica Severin said during talks that thousands of AGERPRES news go on the market annually, yet the source is not quoted.

'We should find the formula by which the news, once delivered by you on the market is really protected (...), a solution that your work's capitalization is real. I believe that somewhere in the legislation area should be worked. (...) There are thousands of news annually, the normal, positive news in particular which see the market, yet anybody quotes you and this is a fact (...) You must be more aggressive through your legal department and I guess the current law gives you the possibility to defend your work,' Severin said.

The AGERPRES Director General reiterated that 'the agency's work is not protected by the copyright law.'

'A rule of the Romanian Press Club used to say that one could take 500 symbols from some news by quoting the source and a link to the respective source, which does not happen. (...) The modification of the copy right law is one hundred percent necessary,' Alexandru Giboi underlined.

He added that a priority of the AGERPRES leadership for 2015...