Analysis. Press freedom: How does Romania fare?

On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, people assess the state of press freedom around the world, and pay tribute to the journalists, editors and publishers who risk their lives in defense of the public’s right to know. Where does Romania stand?

Romania came 49th in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, unveiled by Reporters Without Borders, up three places from the previous year when it came 52nd. The organization highlighted the main problems of the mass media in Romania: “excessive politicization of the media, corrupt financing mechanisms, editorial policies subordinated to owner interests and intelligence agency infiltration of staff – such has been the impact of the media’s transformation into political propaganda tools, which has been particularly visible in election years, including 2014.”

Freedom House’s freedom of the press report gave Romania a score of 38 in 2016, down from 42 in 2015, categorizing it as a “partly free” country. Some 41 percent of the world’s population has a “partly free” press, 46 percent live in “not free” media environments, and only 13 percent of the world’s population enjoys a “free” press – that is, where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.

The US State Department, in its 2015 Human Rights Report, also profiles Romania in terms of media freedom, and finds it wanting. “Personal and professional threats to journalists undermined media freedom. (…) The law’s restrictions on insulting state insignia; religious defamation; denying the Holocaust; using fascist, racist or xenophobic symbols; commemorating individuals who have committed crimes against mankind; or promoting fascist, racist, or xenophobic ideologies apply to the print and broadcast media as well. While independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without overt restriction, politicians and persons with close ties to politicians and political groups either owned or indirectly controlled numerous media outlets at the national and local levels.”

Local view: moguls set the agenda

Business Review canvassed organizations working towards press freedom and freedom of speech for their input. “Not only are we talking about obvious economic and political interests which are represented by the institutions dominated by the media moguls, but also press manipulation by the secret services,” says Raluca Feher, co-founder of the Frontline Club, which promotes independent journalism and freedom of speech. She underlines that the national media landscape is clearly divided into a majority of obedient voices and very few independent institutions, whose power is limited.

The director of programs at the Center for Independent Journalism, Cristina Lupu, comments that for 17 years now, her organization has been examining press freedom locally. The center annually releases the Romania Media Sustainability Index, an analysis of the local media. “Once again, the discussion tone was grim. Negative trends continue and, usually, have worsened. Everywhere in the world, the press is marked by biased or false news. Financially speaking, journalists and media businesses barely survive. But, there is some good news: in 2016, several new media voices consolidated their position and we also published investigations that impacted the lives of each of us.” Asked by BR to comment upon Romania’s ever improving international media freedom ranking, Razvan Martin, coordinator of the FreeEx Program at ActiveWatch, attributed this to favorable legislation for the freedom of speech. Romania is one of the few European countries where insults and criminal defamation are not punishable. Also, attacks reported by journalists are relatively few, and media outlets aren’t closed down by the authorities. The pressure is more on whistleblowers from public institutions who go to the press rather than those who actually write the news. Martin also underlines the problem of media baron influence: “The Romanian press’s big problem is that moguls use the media for other interests than for public information. Media influence, which sets the public agenda, is in the hands of owners who have often faced political, economic or criminal charges. The editorial policy of these media outlets often ignores the public interest, sacrificing truth for the patron’s interests. So self-censorship is a sine qua non rule of survival in these newsrooms, with any dissent punished.”