Mihnea Maruta (PressOne): We are about relevance, not breaking-news

Newcomer online publication PressOne has sought to gain an advantage over traditional media by not trying to cover the full range of events and instead focusing on relevant issues that matter to the audience. Editor in chief Mihnea Maruta told Business Review about the palpable sense of opportunity within the PressOne newsroom.

Oana Vasiliu

When did you start your journalistic career and where? What kind of subjects did you cover?

I started working at the well-known weekly investigative magazine NU (No), which was founded in February 1990 in Cluj-Napoca, with the former team of Napoca Universitara students’ magazine. I worked there from autumn of 1990 until the last edition of the magazine, in December 1993. At its peak the circulation was over 97,000 copies – which nowadays is history – nationwide, particularly in the big cities. It wasn’t anything like today; we didn’t have particular domains assigned. It was more like this: you took the train to Bucharest and you had to return to Cluj with with a good story, because back then people consumed print media, they waited in line to buy magazines, so all you had to do was to write a story. My biggest achievement was an interview with Corneliu Coposu, the founding leader of the Christian Democratic National Peasants’ Party after the Romanian revolution, which is still a reference for me today.

How is Romanian journalism nowadays?

To simplify the discussion, I will only refer to newspapers – online and those which are still in print. True journalism is still done on paper or at websites where former print journalists work. I say this because the lessons offered by a print magazine or newspaper are the best journalism school that can exist. When it comes to TV, TV news, the situation is different, due to the ownership – some have political support, while others are owned by former Romanian secret service officers, and are used as political instruments to further political or business ends, according to the owner’s will. Unfortunately, this also happens in most print media teams.

What do you read from the Romanian press?

I can’t name an entire publication, although I open the news portals daily, but I prefer several journalists who write on these portals – it’s more about the person than about the news itself. Also, besides news, I read those doing another kind of journalism, like Casa Jurnalistului, Dilema Veche and Decat o Revista. But again, I skim them; I don’t read them in their entirety.

How would you describe investigative journalism in Romania today? Is it still practiced?

Yes, but again, it’s done only in some oases. Emilia Sercan, Catalin Tolontan (Gazeta Sporturilor), Vlad Ursulean (Casa Jurnalistului), Ovidiu Vanghelie (Euractiv), Liviu Avram (Adevarul), George Lacatus (Digi 24) – again, individuals, not publications or editorial teams, who work in various places.

How about the investigative journalism you do at www.pressone.ro?

Thanks to our status and the freedom we have as journalists, we try to produce an investigative article at least once a week. If the subject is worth it, I can wait two weeks until the journalist finishes his/her article, and he/she can work only on that subject – a “luxury” that not many journalists have right now. This is why the team presents a good piece, worth reading, from both perspectives: quality investigative journalism and the impact the article has for the domain. Plagiarism by public figures, the misuse of public funds, the cartel who bought thousands of hectares from Piatra Craiului National Park and the story behind the Untold music festival are just some investigations we have conducted.

We really try to innovate in this domain. It isn’t sufficient enough to come up with a sheet of 30,000 characters and publish it, because the readers want something else – they read the international press, they read international investigations and know how new technologies can be integrated within a text in order to make it more appealing, they even expect a new angle or perspective on a subject. I believe that journalism is now going into a very personal zone, owing to blogs, and I try to motivate my team to come up with stories that matter at a personal level.

How did you come up with the idea of PressOne?

This is an old idea of mine, which I had had in mind for some time. Our website is being financed by Don Lothrop, an American who has been coming to Romania for more than ten years now, as he has several businesses and investments here, as well as philanthropic activity. At the beginning, we met for another online project, and I told him that I was interested in founding a high-profile national online publication. Then I wrote the actual concept of PressOne, which is about relevance, not breaking news, he liked it and this is how we created it. Currently, we are in an ideal situation in which I can read and edit all the texts and talk with the entire team about their subjects – and the feedback is very much appreciated, taking into consideration the fact that at a newspaper, you don’t have much time to explain or even teach some journalistic lessons.

Currently, PressOne is fully funded by Don Lothrop. What will happen when the financing is cut or reduced?

I don’t know and I don’t want to think about it in these terms. The investor is someone with great experience in business, particularly in financing Silicon Valley startups, and PressOne is considered another startup. Furthermore, we want to build a community and, at some point, this community will be “in charge” of this media product. Or he might sell the portal. Until then, I prefer to truly enjoy the freedom we have now and the fact that you can choose your own subjects, your own itinerary and write about unusual, tender subjects. What can I confirm is that we don’t know in which direction journalism is going nowadays or which is a business model to follow in this area – internationally speaking.

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