First independent news agency in Moldova shuts down, citing financial crisis

BASA-press, the first independent news agency in Moldova, founded in 1992, recently announced that it would shut down because of financial problems.

BASA-press manager Sergiu Ipatii told Mediafax that the move had nothing to do with the changing political climate in the country.

In the last few years, the company had a new owner and was accused by some analysts of losing its independence in favor of a more pro-Communist line.

Many of the journalists who founded BASA went on to work for Radio Free Europe (both in Chisinau and in Prague), the British Broadcasting Corporation office in Chisinau, and various other news agencies and media organizations in the country.

In the 1990s, the agency had become a notorious provider of independent news and laid the groundwork for journalistic standards in the country.