Romania Political Orientation
Government
Government Type: Parliamentary Republic with a semi-presidential regime.
Leader: President Klaus Iohannis (second term as of 21 December 2019)
Prime Minister: Nicolae Ciucă
Political Party: The National Liberal Party (PNL)
Political Position: Center-Right
Press Freedom
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: 76.02 – Mostly Free
World Press Freedom Rank: Romania 53/180
Reporters without Borders are concerned about the declining media freedom and transparency in Romania as they cited, “The government’s vision of journalism and freedom of expression encourages censorship and self-censorship.”
Media Ownership and Government Analysis
The media of Romania consists of public and private TV and radio stations. According to NationMaster’s Romania media stats, the public broadcasters operates approximately 100 private national, regional, and local stations. State-owned public radio broadcasters operate 4 national networks and more than 100 private radio stations. The government funds the public broadcasters. Radio and TV is the preferred source of information in Romania. TVR is the public TV broadcaster, and Radio Romania is the public radio broadcaster. A Freedom House 2021 report states that the media in Romania is free; however, they also identify the problem of key outlets controlled by “businessmen with political interests”; therefore, coverage is “highly distorted by their owners’ priorities.”
The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) is an anti-corruption agency that investigates and prosecutes corruption-related offenses of businesses and politicians. In 2018, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis fired the agency’s head, Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, citing constitutional law as justification.
In general, private media is sustained through advertising and controlled by a few conglomerates such as PPF Group N.V.- (Pro TV) through Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) owned by Petr Kellner, who died in 2021. Others include Intact Media Group owned by Dan Voiculescu (Realitatea TV, Antena 3), and RCS & RDS, (Digi24) România TV, and B1 owned by Zoltán Teszari. Print media consist mainly of lifestyle periodicals. The three main players are Ringier Romania, Libertatea through Adevarul Holding, and Burda Romania (German).
The state does not provide direct subsidies to the media sector; however, Romanian Media outlets are dependent on political advertising. For example, Romania’s main political parties spend “more than half of their state allocated funds for press and propaganda,” which is a concern for significant pro-Government bias. In summary, the Government of Romania has a powerful media influence.
Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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