ZdG decided to present to its readers the team that makes the newspaper appear every Thursday. To avoid accusations of subjectivism, we have agreed that the members of the team will present each other, by drawing lots. Thank you for reading!

Alina Radu is Ziarul de Gardă’s executive director. She is also the director that everyone would like to have. Her outstanding journalistic activity brought her numerous national and international awards, which she treats with a particular modesty. She is a strong, courageous, and wise woman, and with a great sense of humor. For us, Alina is a source of inspiration. She is the one that unites us all in the hardest moments and on the busiest days. She has a piece of advice and a word of encouragement for everyone. Her presence in the newsroom infuses a daily dose of energy. She talks about the beginnings of ZdG as the most beautiful and luminous story of her life. When she speaks, it is only with love and devotion. On a certain occasion, Alina told us that she decided to become a journalist when she was in kindergarten and she began to write newspaper articles while she was a student. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at the State University, and has had numerous trainings abroad. She has been active in this field since 1989. Alina has repeatedly shown that a journalist should always be confident and courageous.
Diana Severin

Aneta Grosu came to Chisinau from Drochia to study journalism and raise rebellions in the journalism world. She was the non-conformist who sued Moldova National Television (TVM) and who said the whole truth to the administrations of the media institutions that did not respect their commitments. In 2004, Aneta Grosu became the co-founder and editor-in-chief of ZdG. Since then, she is the only person in the newsroom who has read all the texts for the last 15 years. It is true that some colleagues also read many of the texts, but out of pleasure and professional interest. Aneta, however, read them from the statutory, but also internal obligation, for the texts to be interesting and the newspaper good. She guided many young people through the thickets of journalism, showing them the shortest path to professional success. She is the one who carefully listens to all those people, who come to the newsroom to share their problems … She likes a fast pace, happy people, and travelling. But most of all she likes to read the newest book of her life – the book of joy, of excitement and of the tricks of her grandson Ștefan.
Alina Radu

Anatolie Eșanu came to Ziarul de Gardă four years ago, initially, for an internship, after which he decided to remain part-time. In the meantime, Anatolie was trying to make the choice between two jobs and in the end, the favorite (ZdG) won this fierce battle. What is Anatolie doing? Well, he is investigating, filming, editing, solving technical problems and he is always looking for THE COMMA. If it is missing, he will lend one of his. If there is one extra, then he takes it and keeps it in his pocket for “rainy days.” It is easy to recognize Anatolie the reporter / cameraman as  he is always being chased away. Luckily, our Anatolie has fast feet. In fact, he is faster than anyone else and due to this fact, we have video images that reveal the world of ‘unmasked’ beggars. The speed of our friend I think is due to the rigorous training in the gym, but also to weekly meetings with friends for a football match. Today, he runs between two jobs, he is both a reporter and a father of a boy. Will the little boy walk in the footsteps of his father, joining the ZdG team? We will come back with details in the next 20 years …
Olga Bulat

If you asked me without whom ZdG would not be the same, I would say – without Victor Moșneag. If you asked me why, I would answer – because Victor is the brain of the newsroom. No news appears on the site without consulting Victor. No Case File appears in the newspaper, without being signed by Victor. There not a day goes by without someone calling the newsroom to say they are looking for Victor, and no visitor leaves without meeting Victor. “I wonder how Victor Moșneag is alive and well,” said a reader of the newspaper one day, referring to the hot subjects that he investigates and the risks he is exposed to while working on his reports. When I told Victor what the readers thought of him, he just gave a smile. And not because he wouldn’t like it, but because he always questions everything he sees and hears Sometimes. I call him Doubting Thomas. It takes time and effort to convince Victor of something. For each statement, he has a reply. For every argument, he has a counterargument. And when you finally manage to convince him, you enjoy the feeling of a battle won. Dropping information bombs is his favorite occupation. “Who wants to make a bombshell,” we hear most often from him in the newsroom. We don’t know how, but he always knows everything before everyone else. He always knows how and where to get information. Who to call and whose opinion to find out. Finally, brilliant news come out, because he’s brilliant too. And this is probably one of the things we colleagues do not doubt when it comes to Victor Moșneag.
Ludmila Bogheanu

Petru was born on the Danube River. He spent his childhood among water lilies, fishermen and the border guard that separated Bessarabia from Romania and Europe. Everything he did later in life was related to his past. Despite the borders, the regimes and limited access to Romanian books he managed to speak a perfect Romanian. Moreover, when he began his career as a journalist on Radio Moldova, during the Soviet era, his spoken Romanian annoyed the whole Glavlit (the compulsory Soviet censorship structure in the press institutions), but Petru Grozavu did not give up, he simply convinced everyone that a mother tongue is unremovable. Petru has written political editorials for ZdG for 15 years. Do you know what that means? To observe non-stop, the political environment in its most pessimistic, selfish and corrupt state, to write about everything and remain lucid. It is hard to observe how flawed things appear, take the power and leave unpunished. Petru Grozavu is the political memory of ZdG and Moldova. He wrote about all the parliaments and governments Moldova had, he knows their weaknesses and vanities. He could write a political encyclopedia. Maybe he would have done it if he had fewer obligations to ZdG and the Danube closer to him.
Alina Radu

For over a year, Diana has been responsible for the news that appears on www.zdg.md, but also on the pages of the printed newspaper. Her arrival brought something new to the newsroom, increasing the value of the ZdG team. She is the one who “tortures” politicians and other officials daily with questions to provide the public with complex and exclusive news. When the people she contacts get caught up in statements or their own lies, Diana laughs like a child, and her laugh is contagious. In addition to being a very good journalist, Diana is also a wonderful colleague – friendly, involving, she’s really cool. You can talk with her endlessly about movies, books and beer. Well, it’s a joke, obviously. You don’t talk about beer with her. Instead, she can tell you about … broccoli – a vegetable she claims to be edible and is her favorite food. Diana also taught us that games are not just for children and that it is not impossible (as we thought) to keep a desk neat. Diana, thank you for choosing us. 
Anatolie Esanu

The person behind the lens remains unseen as a rule. This is the case of  Ecaterina Alexandr, who came to ZdG two years ago and is trying to capture with the camera the most expressive glimpses of everyday life. Moldova’s realities changed her nature and made her more rebellious. She accompanied reporters to the most complicated events, producing reports for large audience. We would like to hear from her one day about what it is like to be on the front line … We would like her to tell us, and also to show us in a large exhibition, how the most impressive moments in the lives of people in this world look like. We know she will succeed, because that’s why she came to ZdG. 
Aneta Grosu

We have no drinking water anymore, we’ve run out of towels, the air conditioner needs to be cleaned, we need a new kettle, the pens are all gone, we want tea, maybe a fan, etc. We address Aliona Cenuşă with all these problems, because she has been the financial manager of ZdG since 2013. Although she is not at the office everyday, because she has a son who requires her attention, Aliona manages to distribute financial resources with dexterity so that everyone is happy. Aliona is also responsible for our holidays and trips abroad and for our salaries, which, in the view of the employees, is her most important task. With the end of the month approaching the salaries are also near and that makes Aliona the most welcomed person in the newsroom. 
Diana Gaţcan

In the Autumn of 2015 Aliona Ciurcă arrived at ZdG. A year before, she graduated from the Moldovan Academy of Economic Studies and was simultaneously studying journalism, as a part-time student at Moldova State University. Her beginning was rather shy, but gradually she became a breakthrough for the newsroom. Now, Aliona’s name is linked to anything that relates to diaspora or ZdG interviews. She doesn’t mind writing news or articles about people; she often manages to reveal the best out of the discussions with them. If you saw on TV or on the internet a small, thin girl, running after former Prime Minister Filip or President Dodon, elbowing their bodyguards out of the way, you should know it was Aliona.
We shouldn’t link Aliona’s name only to journalism. I am revealing here one of her small secrets: she has a sweet tooth. If you ever visit ZdG or have an appointment with Aliona, you can impress her simply with a candy or whatever falls under the word “yummy.” “Food” is her second favourite word, I think it’s the word she has pronounced most often since I have known her. In fact, there is one more, but I don’t think I have to say it. Besides possessing journalistic skills, recently I have noticed Aliona has another enviable ability: she steps into the kitchen exactly when someone is eating something tasty. I think almost everyone in the newsroom gave up in the face of Aliona’s insistence and brought some chocolate for her. 
Victor Moșneag

To get to know Ludmila better you should know that she is a mother, wife, daughter and colleague that millions of people would like to have. Ludmila and I come from Drochia and, incidentally, in childhood and adolescence, despite not being relatives, we had the same last name – Tomac. Ludmila does not know how often, seeing her in the newsroom, I remember my native place and my childhood. She does not know because, at work, there is usually no place and no time for such discussions. 
We all, as colleagues and readers of ZdG, are looking forward to the promotional campaigns, organized by Ludmila. We are looking forward to enjoying together the increased circulation of ZdG as well as the increasing number of readers, who provide stories, written with great kindness. On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of ZdG, Ludmila helped ZdG fulfilling a special dream of a reader. Why should we not continue collecting ZdG readers’ dreams? Let’s become a collection of fulfilled dreams. 
Aneta Grosu

At first Olga chose to become a teacher. She studied philology at the Pedagogical University of Balti. Four years later, she enrolled in the School of Advanced Studies in Journalism and in 2011 she became part of  the ZDG team, a reporter of Social rubric. Since 2015 she is the coordinating editor of the Russian version of the newspaper. She holds five awards in journalism, including the First Prize from the Independent Press Association for Best Reporter in 2013.
She is a romantic, sensitive, creative, idealistic, dedicated and a person of principle. She cherishes her fantasy visions about life and the world. She is very committed to what she does. The world of her dreams is much better and more beautiful than the real one. She is effective and ambitious. If ZdG were a publication that censored freedom of opinion and creation, who knows if Olga would want to remain in ZdG team, in which she has been for 8 years.
Petru Grozavu

Marina Ciobanu has been part of  ZdG team since 2015. For four years she has been creating news, videos and investigations. When I asked her about the investigations, Marina responded, probably from modesty, that “she has never carried out investigations.”
Marina is a universal person. She’s a responsible daughter, a delightful wife, she’s a poet, a writer, a journalist, a colleague who any employee and any team would like to have. Marina tells stories, loves, helps, dreams, rejoices, regrets. In other words, when our colleague Marina Ciobanu came to ZdG, she brought new energy, freshness, quietness and poetry. As she comes from the home town of Alexei Mateevici, she not only fall in love with the Romanian language, but also learned to promote it in the most elegant and responsible manner. She is dedicated, hard-working, unpredictable, passionate, true and sincere. And the child and the artist from her soul makes her very special and extremely enjoyable. After all, Marina remains for me personally a mystery to be discovered.
Daniela Calmîş

Over the years, ZdG has been a true school for dozens of journalists. Some have learned from scratch how to write a news story, and others have improved their skills acquired during theit studying period, evolving daily with ZdG. Half a year ago Vlad Turcanu became a “student-reporter” in our newsroom. He does research (sometimes it takes him too long), talks to sources, takes pictures, asks his colleagues’ advice, and then writes the text guided by the chief editor. He likes social issues, that’s why he wrote about blood donors, cancer patients who were left without the only modern radiotherapy apparatus in the Republic of Moldova, but also about victims of deportations, pensions or historical monuments left in the lurch by authorities. Every Thursday, after his article appears in the newspaper, Vlad publishes it on social media. In his free time, he plays sports. Not chess, but martial arts, specifically Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He says joint dislocations are his specialty, and we take him at his word, we do not want to experiment on our health. 
Anatolie Esanu

Although her name in Latin translation, would mean exigency – Diana Severin is one of the most moderate persons on the ZdG editorial team. Diana started her activity as a reporter this January, after graduating from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at Moldova State University. In particular, Diana’s responsibilities in the newsroom are news preparation, but she is often involved in the creation of larger materials, which appear in the newspaper’ s print edition.  Being dreamy does not reduce her capacity for cool thinking, even though, in some situations, our colleague demonstrates the romantic traits of her nature. Diana is sincere and refined, she is beautiful, she loves red wine and she perceives journalism as a state of being which she includes in the sphere of her main concerns.
Vlad Turcanu

Vitalie Munteanu is the man who cares for the layout of ZdG, including the edition you are reading now. He came to the media in 1992 and, since then, has gathered years of experience. He previously worked in newsrooms such as “Flux” and “Timpul.” His colleagues say that he is one of the first designers in Moldova, who started computer-assisted layout of newspapers. So far, we don’t know much about Vitalie in our newsroom. On the one hand, because he is in the office less than other people and, on the other, because Vitalie is a man of deeds – he comes, he sits at his desk and gets to work. Rarely can you hear his voice in the office – when he needs specifications about a photo or its caption, or about some mistakes that need to be corrected, or when the children call from home and he promises to get back soon.
Sometimes, when someone says a joke Vitalie gets caught and laughs with everyone. But most often he stays with the eyes focused on the computer, arranging text after text, photos, lines, colors, titles and lots of other smaller and bigger things so that ZdG looks flawless.
Aliona Ciurcă

Daniela’s name appeared on the pages of the newspaper most recently as she has been part of the ZdG team since April, but I urge you to keep an eye on this girl because a lot of her articles will make things change in our society. Do you know why? Because Daniela has always wanted to change humanity through her activities. These grand plans come from childhood, when she wanted to become an archaeologist, then a detective. This is how she came to the Faculty of Journalism and then to the Ziarul de Gardă, where, as we say, we encourage “archaeological digs” on such matters as corruption, public money and lack of integrity. One of Daniela’s first and most successful “expeditions” was infiltrating the protesters paid by the former government to “defend the state institutions” in the midst of a political crisis in Chisinau. I am sure you have read the report in which we found out who paid and how the protests of the Democrats were organized. Since then, I understood that this girl, quiet and modest in the newsroom, is an example of courage and perseverance in the field. 
Marina Ciobanu

The ZdG team is much bigger. Five new colleagues joined us only last month. Marina Gorbatovschi and Corina Șeremet graduated the School of Advanced Studies in Journalism and entered ZdG’s editorial board. They had a well defined purpose: to “steal” the job from older reporters and to become, in turn, leading journalists in the Republic of Moldova. 

Nicoleta Braghiș recently joined our team, contributing to the development of the News Department – the one which keeps the zdg.md website alive 24 hours a day. 

Viorica Pistrui is responsible for commas, hyphens and everything related to the accuracy of the language that ZdG reporters use in their materials. 

Diana Marian is the one that listens to the people who call or come to ZdG daily to tell us about their problems. 

Also, although in the printed newspaper they are less visible, the products of our colleagues in the Video Department enjoy a great popularity on social media networks. Andrei Tudor, Igor Ionescu and Viorica Tataru are the ones who take photos, film and edit hundreds of photos and tens of hours of weekly videos. However, our readers make the most important and most numerous “department” of ZdG: over eight thousand subscribers to our print editions and tens of thousands of online followers. Without you, our work would be in vain. Thank you for being with us and we invite you to stay with us for the next 15 years!