Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2004 The Romanian Media in Transition Basil D. Georgiadis Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE ROMANIAN MEDIA IN TRANSITION BY MAJOR BASIL D. GEORGIADIS, USAF A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Basil D. Georgiadis on 31 March 2004. _______________ Jonathon Grant Professor Directing Dissertation __________________ Patrick O’Sullivan Committee Member _________________ Nathan Stoltzfus Committee Member _________________ Michael Creswell Committee Member _____________ Matt Childs Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii To my wife Gabriela and my parents Marilyn and Dimitri Basil iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee, Professors Michael Creswell, Matt Childs, Nathan Stoltzfus, and Patrick O’Sullivan. Dr. Jonathon Grant, the dissertation director, was especially helpful in providing focus, organizational suggestions, and the inspiration to finish in three years. Mihaela Almaselu of the American Embassy in Bucharest made numerous contacts for me and research assistants Adriana Bulz and Oana Guth helped with the logistics of maneuvering in the capital. Brigadier General Carl Reddel, USAF (Ret) and his successor Colonel Mark Wells, USAF, of the United States Air Force Academy selected and supported me for this venture and for that I am very grateful. To my wife Gabriela and son Dimitri, thanks for your patience and love during the blitz. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables …………………………………………………………….. vi Abstract …………………………………………………………….. vii CHAPTER I Overview of the Romanian Media in Transition ……………………………. 1 CHAPTER II A Brief History of Communism and the Media Since 1944 …………………….. 19 CHAPTER III A Survey of the Print Media Since 1989 ……………………………………... 32 CHAPTER IV Television, Radio and the Internet Since 1989 …………………………………… 78 CHAPTER V Minorities in the Media …………………………………………………….. 99 CHAPTER VI NGO’s and Civil Society …………………………………………………….. 120 CHAPTER VII Media Laws …………………………………………………………………….. 130 CHAPTER VIII A Comparison with the East Central European and Latin American Media……… 140 CHAPTER IX Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….. 156 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………….. 159 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH …………………………………………………….. 164 v LIST OF TABLES 4.1 Main Media Groups-Printed Press ………………………………. 79 4.2 Main Media Group Incomes ………………………………. 80 4.3 Television Advertising Incomes ………………………………. 80 4.4 Television Commercial Debt to the State ………………………….. 85 vi ABSTRACT The Romanian media has progressed in only a decade and a half since the fall of Communism. Reporters discuss themes about political reform, the elections, corruption, and even political protest. They critically analyze stories asking the basic questions while frequently providing follow-up. The press has liberalized, reflecting pluralistic domestic and international information sources as opposed to the State-controlled media before 1990. The media, along with free elections, transparency of law and government, and a civil society, are important benchmarks for a society that strives to compare favorably with the West, and for that reason deserves examination. Serious problems exist however. A weak economy makes the media susceptible to government manipulation. Legal challenges by the government and businessmen against journalists as defendants, impose hefty fines over libel and slander challenges. Control of state broadcast media by ex-Communist ruling Social Democrats prevents the mass media from contributing to the public dialogue. Social attitudes developed in the twentieth century, negatively shape the reporting of national minority groups which are substantial in Romania and the Balkans. Finally, an authoritarian tradition based on imperial, fascist, and communist rule, has manifested itself in violence towards journalists. The dissertation examines the media within the Communist tradition from 1945- 1989 and followed with a survey of the post-Communist media. A brief history of the national minorities question provides perspective on present day attitudes in the media towards these groups. A survey of NGO’s and other institutions examined progress towards a civil society. In the international context, a comparison of the situation in Romania with countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America revealed similar problems. vii The media has diversified greatly considering the short time frame of this study in post-Communist Romania. Election choices, international structures and non- governmental agencies will continue to influence and change the political and media culture while a weak economy and authoritarian mentality in the government and legal system offer challenges to a developing free press and young democracy in Romania. viii CHAPTER I Overview of the Romanian Media in Transition The Romanian media, once part of the most totalitarian government in Eastern Europe, have changed and liberalized dramatically compared to their 1989 antecedents.1 This study discusses the evolution of the mass media and press freedom from the Communist period to 2004, in the democratic transition. After the failure of Communism and its loss of control of the belief system through terror, political liberalism appeared as a possible path, perhaps the best way, for a country that removed the “socialist” from the Republic of Romania. The country has adopted aspects of political liberalism, with its emphasis on individual rights or freedoms from government control. It claims that it maintains property rights, religious freedom, and freedom of the press.2 As Francis Fukuyama points out, this ideology supports the right of all citizens to have a share of political power in what has emerged as the surviving ideology of the twentieth century. Rightist authoritarianism and Leftist totalitarianism failed to meet the economic needs, political legitimacy or even provide status to the citizens of these countries leaving democracy and the free market as the best and perhaps only alternatives. As Romania emerged from its totalitarian past, it began its transition towards liberalism, a free market economy, and an open media. The Romanian press today is a partially free press that is still constrained by economic, political, and social barriers within a country in transition. Its economic diversification from a state-run command economy to a mixed economy began in the early 1990’s and has had a beneficial effect on the media. The legal code regarding 1 Totalitarian in the sense of the State’s total control of all aspects of human life through the use of police power, mass political parties, and radical ideologies. See Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: The Free Press, 1992), 5-6. 1 media law is still evolving away from its Communist past which emphasized the primacy of the state but does not yet reflect pluralistic, democratic values based in the sovereignty of the people. The mass media is still very much in transition. By way of comparison, the best of the Western European, British and American press reflect biases, make journalistic mistakes, and do not always “get it right.” In general however, there is a greater sense of journalistic integrity that supports open inquiry and admission of error. For example, when the Iraq War of 2003 began, many journalists allowed their governments to influence them regarding the existence of mass weapons of destruction. When the media failed to get proper evidence over time, it began to confront the governments in Great Britain and the United States for proof. While the press from Le Monde, The Guardian, and the New York Times makes mistakes, editors do make clarifications and admit their errors. Though not perfect in any sense, this approach represents responsible journalism and a standard against which Romanian journalists increasingly compare themselves. It is notable that Romanian journalists desire further training from international experts and hold the Western European, British and American press as their standards. In this historical study, the dissertation examined the role and direction of the media in a nascent or transitional democracy. The factors that liberalized the media were the commercialization of the press, steady political support by the liberal opposition for an open media, and a combination of inducements and education by international structures and non-governmental organizations that have worked to create a civic culture supportive of a free press. In the private sector, foreign and domestic corporations have penetrated all sectors of the media and created new markets to provide a pluralism of programming and ideas. Privatization of the media and its commercial integration with international media groups in Europe and the United States have been successful. Politically, the centrist Liberals and Democrats and even the Leftist Social Democrats, encouraged the privatization of the media, which brought tremendous programming diversity to the public. The government has also legislated the repeal of restrictive media laws, removing some of the media-related penal codes that resulted