Gunning for the Media

Friday, Jun. 14, 2002
Romanian journalists' protests over a perceived campaign to limit media criticism gained force this week after parliament's upper house on 6 June approved a new law on the right to reply to charges published in print publications.

The law, which is seen as the latest in a series of measures aimed at countering media charges, gives anyone offended by an article the right to publish an equally visible response in the same publication. Newspapers and magazines that refuse to print the objections face fines of up to 100 million lei (about $3,000). The publication can also be taken to court even if it publishes the response.

The press has protested strongly against the draft, arguing that minister who championed the law, Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu, intends to quash free speech. For his part, Pascu argues that "Romania will be more democratic with this law than without it."

President Ion Iliescu was similarly positive on 7 June, praising the law as a "good" one. He argued that the right to respond is a fundamental right, and that many publications have been acting "undemocratically" by not publishing replies. At the same time, though, he added there was no need for a law on the press, saying that a code of ethics for the media business would be enough.

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Though Iliescu argued that the press, as "the voice of public opinion," would always win in a "war of politicians against the media," he himself launched a harsh attack on the press for "distorting" his statements, suggesting that "a lack of information, lack of culture, or malevolence" could explain what he views as the repeated distortion of his words. His outburst was spurred by repeated questions about the possibility of early elections next year while he was visiting the western Romanian town of Timisoara on 4 June.

Journalists, on the other hand, consider the law to be an attack on free speech and announced that they would appeal it in the Constitutional Court.

Journalists are also up in arms over a recent scandal surrounding a document attributed to the Romanian Supreme Defense Council that called for a plan to be drafted to challenge the press for "harming" the country's image. Initially, the authorities denied all knowledge of the leaked document's existence. However, presidential advisor Ioan Talpes later admitted to have read the document, though he said it had never been discussed by the council. The press considers the document to be "a strategy to combat democracy."

There has also been international criticism of these measures. In a letter addressed to Iliescu and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and dated 30 May, the journalists' organization Reporters sans frontieres protested against the "fierce anti-media campaign," arguing that the campaign "tarnished Romania's image much more than the news stories themselves." The letter also touched a sensitive nerve as it hinted that Romania could, unless the situation improved, fail to achieve one of its basic targets: accession into NATO and the European Union.

Apart from the strong reactions against measures to silence it, the Romanian media seems unaffected: most outlets relentlessly continue to criticize authorities for unjustified spending or questionable decisions.