Tuesday, September 6 2005: The Media Dinosaurs
Meet the ones that confiscated and parceled the Romanian press
The Media Dinosaurs
By Stefan Cândea and Sorin Ozon, the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism
The scandals that shattered the central press beginning with previous year were weirdly and differently interpreted. There are few who actually know and admit that Romania Libera, Evenimentul Zilei and Adevarul, were episodes of strong interests colliding with important financial stakes behind. Former owners used to fill in double positions, of economic managers and editors, felt they were about to lose their power and they reacted violently. We actually witnessed true power demonstrations, turmoil of media dinosaurs . The engine behind these manifestations is a state of facts kept secret and that we present it in premiere.
Freedom of Press as a Pretext
In the case of Romania Libera, the manager Petre Mihai Bacanu wanted to sell his shares to the German holding WAZ, for a certain amount of money. He didn't get the amount he'd wanted and, beginning with September 2004, he initiated a campaign to publicly lynch the owner of the newspaper. In the end, Bacanu won against WAZ, and the campaign was over by the end of December 2004.
As for Evenimentul Zilei, after having sold his shares to the German holding Bertelsmann, Cornel Nistorescu tried to go on leading the newspaper both as chief editor and economic manager. But Bertelsmann sold all his shares to the Swiss holding Ringier and Nistorescu saw his extremely influential position threatened. Even if all staff were taught to act similarly as in the case of Romania Libera, Nistorescu quit his position as manager of EVZ without making any statements against Ringier, but signing an extremely advantageous contract. At the end of the year, when Ringier appointed another chief editor, the crisis was in bloom. In spite of the fact that Ringier's actions affected only two journalist employed by the newspaper – the manager and the chief editor – at the end of the year more than 30 journalists protested in public, claiming that freedom of press in endangered. All of them resigned from their positions. But most of them returned to their jobs in the following months, realizing they were manipulated to make, this time, the former chief editor look better in the public eyes, after the pattern Nistorescu used a few months before.
In the case of Adevarul though, crisis lasted shorter, all the journalists followed the chief editor and the three deputies when they lost control of the newspaper and resigned. The pretext they hid behind – freedom of press endangered. The few dozens of resigned journalists issued a new newspaper shortly afterwards – Gandul.
The fight for strictly economical benefits of a few old journalists was dressed up to look like a fight for freedom of press and it engaged entire editorial offices. Dozens of journalists were used as cannon fodder. The way in which crisis developed at the above mentioned dailies actually depicts the state of the Romanian media. In '89 they won freedom of press, but shortly afterwards press was taken over by a small group of formers – most of them being former journalists in the communist era. Thus, during the last 15 years, freedom of press has been used and abused so that a few journalists could make a fortune.
Press being “greased” with € 65 million during the last 4 years
What was the stake for having set up such mediated masquerades? Actually it is very simple: a simple journalist, or even a journalist occupying a managing position, makes little money in Romania . According to several trade unions in the field, 70% of the Romanian journalists are paid the minimum economy wage, around € 150. But the leaders of newspapers – some of them shareholders too - had the possibility of controlling at the same time the economical development of the newspaper, which also includes advertising. And we are not talking any advertising here; we are talking public budgeted advertising. Between 2000 and 2004 (and not only during this period), these sort of advertising contracts were signed only if some investigative materials referring to persons connected or members of the PSD Government. According to official records, during the Nastase government, public budgeted advertising cost almost € 65 million. All this tasty pie, together with all private budgeted advertising contracts, was monopolized and shared by the ones which make the top line of our investigation – the media dinosaurs .
The Media Dinosaurs
The dinosaurs are 12 characters that set up media institutions right after the change of the communist regime. They became so powerful that they can even afford to fight foreign press holdings, as in the case of the conflicts between Ringier and WAZ. We have focused only on the 12 dinosaurs – out of which 10 used to be journalists back in the communist press too – and we have tried to see who are the ones that had been decisively influencing the development of the post communist Romanian press. We have followed up mainly written press journalists, because television started to be influential only beginning with 1995. The 12 dinosaurs are only the tip of the iceberg. They have created behavioral patterns both in national and local press. They have formed journalists, young journalists who followed their steps, making the same mistakes as their teachers before them. At the same time, they make up an opinion group, protecting and attacking one another depending on the times and interests, and they managed to monopolize and to share the Romanian public. Not every one of them was happy indeed to answer to an interview which investigates their own person.
Journalists pass from communism to capitalism
We have been focusing on applying a certain research and questioning chart that we handed in to all 12 persons, and in the case when we could not get an interview, we have filled in our investigation with public data and statements. Out of the 12 dinosaurs, we have investigated the evolution of 2 owners of media holdings, Adrian Sirbu and Dan Voiculescu that shall be referred to separately. We shall also refer separately to the most important manager of the national news agency Rompres – Neagu Udroiu, as well as to the politician – journalist Corneliu Vadim Tudor. There is left a group of 8 journalists, having many important aspects in common. The first thing they have in common is the journalistic activity they developed under the communist regime, and we have here both Udroiu and Vadim. They were journalists at a time when you had to become a member of the Communist Party in order to be permitted to be a journalist, or you had to attend “professional” training with the “Stefan Gheorghiu” activists' school. Back in those times, written press was nothing but an instrument of communist propaganda.
If you think that a manager of a Romanian daily newspaper is just a talented journalist that writes articles all day long and coordinates an editorial team, well then think again. Well, the dinosaurs share their time between their editorial tasks and many other business activities. Some of those are related to media. Others have nothing to do with journalistic activities. Another thing the dinosaurs have in common is their other business activities, paralleling the editorial activity. We talk about media related activities – printing houses, film production, publishing houses, and distribution companies – but in some cases, we are also talking about business activities with no relation to media whatsoever – advertising, bookkeeping, travel agencies, oil industry, alcohol distribution, restaurants, etc. And finally, most of the journalists had all along connections with different suspect businessmen, who financed their editorial projects so that they themselves wouldn't been bothered by eventual journalistic investigations.
Ion Cristoiu
He makes his debut in 1968 in “Viata Studenteasca”, while he is still studying philosophy. In 1971 he can chose between an academic career and a journalistic career with “Viata Studenteasca”. He interrupts his journalistic career for a while, but he returns in 1974, when he is appointed assisting chief editor of “Viata Studenteasca” and of “Amfiteatru”. In 1979 he is appointed assisting chief editor of the cultural department of “Scanteia Tineretului”. At this time he is coordinating the “Secventa” and the “Tineretul” supplements. In 1986 he is punished by his superiors and he is appointed in the agriculture department, a department considered to be “the Siberia of the Romanian written press”. In 1987 he manages to get himself appointed as chief editor of the “Teatru” magazine, where he is still working at the time of the Revolution. The period between 1981 and 1987 is considered by Cristoiu to be the time when he was freer because he manages to issue in Secventa some articles that manage to escape censorship. “There was an air hard to grasp. Art meant being capable of writing good articles that could escape censorship, but the problems were caused by the one that you wrote or didn't write about. The biggest problem of all was that we had to follow up a number of clichés. Before 1989, the school of journalism wasn't interesting at all because there were arid topics that you had to write about.”
After the Revolution, he takes seriously the request made by the Culture Minister, Mr. Plesu that all persons having worked with the former regime should resign from their positions. He is the only one who does that. In January 17, 1990 he is asked by his former student and colleague Nistorescu to set up the magazine Expres. In parallel, still in January 1990, he sets up the first private newspaper – Observator. He becomes the chief editor of Expres and he also creates Zig - Zag in hiding, while the latter sells up to 600 thousand copies. He resigns from Zig-Zag, which has become increasingly acid with the government of the time and which is afterwards bought by the former communists gathered around Iliescu, and suddenly brought to silence by the new chief editor Adrian Paunescu.
„In April 1990 I was rendered sick because I had written about a possible mistress of Iliescu, who had accompanied him in an official trip abroad. I was given an injection and I spent some time in the hospital. My time there was like some sort of a pilgrimage, different people proposing me to work together on a newspaper. Carciog proposed me to become a shareholder of the Expres holding.” Therefore, in 1992, “Evenimentul Zilei”, a revolutionary newspaper for the Romanian press at the time, was born. “We have introduced the facts to a press that had only opinions.” After having left “Evenimentul Zilei”, Cristoiu supported the editorial teams of the dailies “National”, “Cotidianul”, “Azi” and “Monitorul de Bucharest”.
Besides the shares he owned within the Expres holding, Ion Cristoiu is a shareholder of another three companies: the Focus publishing house (that also operates a radio license), the Evenimentul Romanesc publishing house and the Ion Cristoiu publishing house. The latter, where he owns shares of ROL 300 million, was registered in 1999 and records some special shareholders. From all 5 shareholders, besides Cristoiu, another important shareholder is Sorin Ovidiu Vintu and his former business partners: Dan Andronic and Gheorghe Ratiu (the former head of Direction 1 of the former Securiate). Meanwhile, the relationships between Vintu and Cristoiu got colder. Vintu has declared publicly that he was a loser in this association, and Cristoiu also retorted publicly mentioning all book titles that had been published. Vintu reoriented his investment in mass media to more visible fields and hiding under other shareholders name, as least visible as possible.
Petre Mihai Bacanu
Ha makes his debut when he graduates high school, in a Braila local newspaper, back in 1959. He works for a student's magazine in Galati - Amfiteatru . Beginning with 1970, he is working with Romania Libera that he doesn't leave but for a short time he spends in jail. Why? Because at the end of 1988, he issues an illegal newspaper, Romania , and, in January 1989, everybody involved in issuing the newspaper are arrested. His colleagues are sentenced to 3 months in prison; he remains imprisoned until December 22. He gets in charge with the Romania Libera, and forces privatization 3 months after the Revolution. He adopts a new formula – several small groups, made up of 20 people, and could join in one larger public company. “We had association contract no 1; we were the first private company in Romania .” Several attacks on the government follow up and therefore the Control Committee headed by Horia Neamtu gets to investigate the newspaper. The investigation produces a thick brief, where shareholders of the newspaper, and especially Bacanu, are charged with fraud and mainly with abusive privatization of the newspaper. Attracting Romania Libera on the government of the time is in stake.
As other business activities are concerned, Bacanu declared: “I have no other business activities and neither do the rest of the managers.” And still, we found his name on the shareholders and administrators list for 5 companies: Aflux Publiprod, film production, together with, among other, Bogdan Ficeac and Serban Bubenek Turconi (former counselor of the Bucharest mayor, former president of the Deputies Chamber as representing PNTCD); Libera SA, food producing company where he is the chairman and R Company owns shares together with another 4 companies from Italy and Romania; Perfect Press, with no declared object of activity, a company made up of a Romanian company and a Dutch company, where Bacanu is the only administrator; the R Company which issues Romania Libera and where he appears to be the president whose mandate expired in February 2004; Rodipet, the former public company for distribution, now owned by the Awdi brothers, American citizens of Lebanese origin, where Bacanu shows as administrator beginning with the second half of 2004.
Cornel Nistorescu
“I don't want to answer to any question because of the relationship I have with CRJI not because of the idea itself” declared Nistorescu when we asked for an interview. Still we found out that he is a journalist beginning with 1974, when he graduated the Philology in Cluj. He is an editor and assisting chief editor of Viata Studenteasca and the Amfiteatru magazine, between 1974 and 1980. He promotes to Scanteia Tineretului and between 1985 and 1989 he writes for the Flacara magazine, when he also makes several trips abroad for his articles, which is quite a difficult thing to do at that time.
Cornel Nistorescu, the former journalist of the Flacara magazine, has been rising fulminating as a business man during the last 15 years. He owns shares with 10 Romanian companies that have different activity objects and that bring important earning, after having sold the shares he had owned with the Expres holding, the company issuing Evenimentul Zilei.
Alfa Cont, another important company where he owns 60 % of the shares, and which deals in monitoring mass media advertising. Expresiv SA, where he owns only 7 % of the shares and where he is the Chairman of the Board, is a company working in the advertising field and also operating a radio license (Radio Total). Through Expresiv, Nistorescu owns the companies Bernis Art (in Timisoara ) and Expresiv Consulting in Bucharest (activities related to operating radio license but also paying the salaries of the personnel of Evenimentul Zilei, until he left the holding).
Nistorescu is also the administrator of the company Info Presa Romana (which deals in publishing books), owned by the Expres holding and JMC Investments from Cyprus . The latter is also holding some shares with Amerinvest, a company created in 2004 and dealing with real estate administration.
Nistorescu owns 3 % of the radio station Europa FM (through the company Europe Development International Romania).
There is also an important pack of shares with several important advertising companies. Nistorescu owns beginning with 1994, 10% of the shares of TBWA Bucharest, a company also owning other threes advertising companies: Optimum Media Direction, Mediwise and Tequila Romania , all set up between 2000 and 2005. It is also worth mentioning that Nistorescu was the one managing the Evenimentul Zilei from both economic and editorial point of view at the same time, including selling advertising space, most of the times attracting directly investors and receiving a share of the profit. TBWA is an international brand, a well known advertising agency.
We have to mention the fact that in October 2004, a large part of Nistorescu's shares were put on sale and bough by two entities that now own 90% of the Expresiv holding: the FSLI Petrom trade union and an off-shore from Cyprus, Comac Ltd. These two companies lead us to Liviu Luca, the new mogul of the Romanian press (he bought, through his trade union or through Petrom Service, Realitatea TV, Radio Total, Ziua, Gardianul and Averea). Secondly, these companies lead us to Sorin Ovidiu Vintu. As they wrote in “Curentul” in 2002, Comac Ltd showed up as a mysterious shareholder to a new player of the capital market (G M Invest) since 2002, a few months after Gelsor was suspended from CNVM and declared bankrupted. After being a dead company, G M Invest rapidly gets to the top of the first 10, in a chart made by Bucharest Stock Exchange House. The Boarder of Directors of G M Invest, as well as the auditors, comes from the former employees of the dead Gelsor. Comac Ltd also appears to own shares with the Ziua Publishing House, a company owned by Petrom Service, and with Comservil, a company managed by Gheorghe Ratiu (former colonel of the communist Security, associated with Sorin Ovidiu Vintu) the one that had set up all the Gelsor structure for Vintu.
Sorin Rosca Stanescu
He made his debut as a journalist in 1970 with the magazine Amfiteatru, while he is attending the Law School . “I started to work as a journalist, because I had to ear a living. I was always in the investigative team since the beginning.” During the communist era, the journalistic investigations couldn't look into delicate matters. Rosca gives us an example of what one could investigate: “we made an investigation in the world of the prostitutes, on what the latter thought to be art”. In 1972 he is already working with Viata Studenteasca. He then works for Informatia Bucurestiului. In 1987 he decides to give up to his party membership, and after pressure having been put on him, he reconsiders the decision and he gets to work together with Horia Tabacu for the social department. Rosca Stanescu has publicly admitted that he used to be a collaborator of the former communist Security, at least when it came to the foreign students studying in Bucharest .
After 1990, he issues Libertatea based on the structure of the former communist newspaper Informatia Bucurestiului. He takes part in the editorial team work for Romania Libera, the first private newspaper in Romania and he sets up there an investigation department. He is given free hand with respect to hiring personnel so he is given the nick name “The Godfather”. He coordinates in 1993 the issuing of another newspaper, Ultimul Cuvant, which dies soon after being launched on the market. He takes part in creating Evenimentul Zilei under the coordination of Ion Cristoiu, for whom he hires personnel in the parking place of the Casa Scanteii (hundreds of people would queue to get a job with the new newspaper) and he gets close to the nickname of “The Godfather”. Mihai Bacanu from Romania Libera proposes him to issue together the newspaper Ziua, but because of financial difficulties, the newspaper is launched on the market by the following shareholders: 50% for the businessman Dinu Patriciu, 48% for Romania Libera and 2% for the Godfather. Shortly afterwards, Romania Libera sells their share to Patriciu, Rosca sells his shares too, and the newspaper is sold to the Petrom Service group. Nowadays, Rosca manages several newspapers: Ziua, Gardianul, Averea and also manages several editorial projects.
“I started from scratch and after 10 years I sell all my shares for € 3 million.”
Rosca indeed started from the position of an editor with Romania Libera, in 1990. He describes in dew words how he began writing in the ‘90s: “several give-away came in and it was really difficult to publish anything thoroughly checked.”
Nowadays he is a successful businessman who manages a part of the media empire financed by the trade union lead by Petrom and Sorin Ovidiu Vintu. Rosca holds shares and manages for 15 companies in Romania . 7 of them are related to the written press. We are talking about Ziua Srl, which shares he sold to Petrom Service and Comac Ltd from Cyprus , but where he still is the chairman through the company Media Protection (business and management consulting) that he owns entirely. He also owns through Media Protection 10% of the shares of Best Media Press, a company issuing the newspaper Gardianul, where the Godfather also became the administrator. He owns shares with the Association of the Press Editors and Distributors, where he is also occupying the position of chairman. The latter company deals with the Access Press Company, a company dealing with selling and distributing press and the Board of Directors also has as members big names of the Romanian media. Rosca also owns shares with the news agency “Rusia la zi”, with the newspaper “Ziua de Constanta” and with the ESOP Omega printing house. Next up there are 8 companies that are not related to the media environment, where he owns shares: alcohol producer (Agricola Alcohol Product SA), chairs producer (Agrochim Impex), agriculture (Agricola SA), restaurants (BO – NA Co 95), trading companies (Ethos Med and Elada Tours), travel agency (Marina Club) and recreational activities (Captain Port Service).
Horia Alexandrescu
He makes his debut in the written press in 1971 with the Sportul newspaper. In 1977 he moves to Scanteia, and in 1989 he starts working for the sport department of Tineretul Liber. He has no problems with the regime, or with the communist press. He still works there at Revolution time. The new team of the newspaper appoints him secretary general of the editorial office. After 3 months he sets up Sport Star, a newspaper that soon dies. In the fall of 1990, Adrian Sirbu calls him to set up together another newspaper, Curierul National. There were 6 journalists, each owning 5 %, while George Constantin Paunescu is appointed manager and chairman and also gets 5 % of the shares. In 92 they all sold their shares to Paunescu, when Sirbu gave the signal because of the unsatisfying financial results. “Nobody had money. I sold my car to buy the shares. Paunescu had an almost worn out Audi 80 and Sirbu had a linen suit that made us all laugh. Paunescu was called in because none of us there knew a thing about free market and economy.”
After the Curierul National, Alexandrescu set up the daily Cronica Romana and the weekly Tara. Finally, he buried all projects and during the last years, he set up the daily Independentul. “Everywhere I was unhappy, I called it quits and I left accompanied by dozens of journalists.” His aspirations to media success are rather low: “I consider the fact that three newspapers I managed never delayed payment of wages or taxes as my most important success.”
The main client of the presidential airplane during the last 15 years owns shares with 5 companies related to the media environment, but he doesn't have respectable business associates. His oldest company is “The Press Group CROM”, dealing with issuing newspapers, but having as main shareholders two gas stations (M&M Oil from Cluj and Cargo Company from Iasi ). More than that, with the main shareholder Cargo Company, 3 out of the 5 individuals holding shares appeared in the press as proven tax dodgers. Another private company is Romanian Media, dealing with publishing books, and owned by Cristian Burci, also owner of Prima TV and implicated in several economic scandals. Horia Alexandrescu is a member of the Board of the Association of the Press Editors and Distributors, where he has as colleagues some other dinosaurs of the Romanian press. Apostrof Press and Consulting Press are two family joint ventures which deal with issuing newspapers.
Dumitru Tinu
Dumitru Tinu started and ended his career as a journalist with the same editorial office – Scanteia – which afterwards became Adevarul. He starts working for Scanteia in 1962, after having graduated the Modern Languages Institute. He works in the external affairs departments and soon becomes an expert. In one article, Nistorescu stated that “Tinu was more than just an ordinary journalist. For at least a decade he was also an expert in Romania 's external affairs. During all those years, he wrote reports, comments and even speeches for the time's personalities.” From the position of an ordinary report, Tinu got to lead the newspaper and for a while he was even the president of the Romanian Press Club. Cristian Tudor Popescu, the one to lead Adevarul and the RPC after Tinu, believes that evolution and change within the editorial office of Adevarul were difficult to achieve because of the communist mentality of the people working there. Out of inertia, the newspaper supported Ion Iliescu. Popescu describes it as a “filthy and embarrassing left winged propaganda newspaper” that he worked so hard to change.
During all this metamorphosis, there took place several crucial moments, such as the privatization, when all the patrimony of the former Scanteia, including the real estates, were taken over by individuals, while the people working in the editorial office “were left only with their pens in hands”. Another crucial moment was the chasing away of the former manager – Darie Novaceanu in 1991. Popescu claims that together with Dumitru Tinu – who “betrayed” the Scanteia cause – started getting stronger and more influential positions within the editorial office and they managed to turn the newspaper into an independent and largely influential newspaper, in spite of all pressure they have been submitted to.
Tinu's private business activities were quite a few, but well done. After his death he left an impressionable fortune for a simple journalist occupying managing positions. Together with some of his Adevarul colleagues, he showed up as a shareholder of an advertising company set up in 1991 – Colosal Import Export. He was also a shareholder of Ecopress Marul de Aur, a company operating the casino “Marul de Aur” on Victoriei Blvd. And at last, Tinu was a member of the Board of Grand Hotel Holding, a company also operating the Marriot Hotel. And besides all these, he was still leading the activity of Adevarul, where, in time, he managed to buy the main pack of shares.
Ovidiu Ioanitoaia
He graduated the Modern Languages Institute and because he receives repartition to be a teacher in a village school, he gets a job with ITB where he is a traffic controller. He gets a job with ITB where he translates documents. He makes his debut in 1967 in the Christmas issue of Sportul, after having sent an article by mail. He works for Sportul until 1971, when he follows his girlfriend in the United States . “I was offered the chance to manage a store, but I had no attraction whatsoever for trading activities, so I returned to Romania after seven months.” At the time, the Security, and even friends and colleagues, found someone going to the USA and coming back more than dubious. For more than a year he is unemployed and he has no right to sign his own articles. In 1973 he is employed by Paunescu to work as a corrector with the Flacara magazine, where he also writes articles but without signing them. A year later, he is employed as a reporter and he works as a reporter until 1985. In 1985, Paunescu is fired from Flacara and gets close surveillance because of his association with Ion Iliescu. At Paunescu's birthday party, Ioanitoaia is being photographed by the Security shaking hand with Paunescu in his house's yard, and that picture gets him fired from Flacara too. At that event, people talked about politics and Ioanitoaia was thought to be part of Iliescu's group. He gets back his job with Sportul after the death of the head of the Press Section, a public organization controlling every move in the Romanian press. He set up two magazines edited by Sportul – Olimpica and Fotbal. At the Revolution he works with Fotbal, and he is well known as a sport journalist. He becomes the spokesperson for the Romanian Football Federation.
He doesn't manage to privatize Sportul, that still belongs to the Sport Ministry and he issues a new newspaper in 1991 – Sportul Romanesc, financed by Mitica Dragomir. In 1997, the newspaper sells 90,000 copies a day. The former Sportul is privatized and is recalled Gazeta Sporturilor, and finally gets to be part of the Dan Voiculescu Holding. Parallel to his work as a reporter, Ioanitoaia began in 1995 his career as a TV presenter with Procesul Etapei on Pro TV. In 1997, the editing office personnel of Sportul Romanesc have a fight with Mitica Dragomir and they all migrate to a new sport newspaper – Pro Sport. The latter is also selling 80,000 copies. The last migration of Ioanitoaia and his group took place in 2003, when they migrate to Gazeta Sporturilor. “I started from scratch 2 newspapers, I formed a team, and I have been working with most of them for 14 years.” Ioanitoaia told us that pressure wasn't that high with this part of the written press, but the financial income was also small. “Sport is a special part of the press; it has not the same political impact.”
Ioanitoaia didn't develop very much as a business man. He owns two publishing houses (Press Star and Sport Net) and two companies acting in the media environment – radio and TV (Press Line and TOI Media Sport).
Mihai Tatulici
He makes his debut in 1966 when he is still a high school pupil, in a Suceava newspaper. In 1968 he writes for the magazine Alma Mater, issued by the Al Ioan Cuza University in Iasi , where he is also appointed chief editor. In 1970 he gets to work with Viata Studenteasca. In 1971, after graduating the University, he is employed by Nicolae Stoian to Viata Studenteasca, as a reporter. “There I have learned what journalism is all about and some of us have survived after 1990 just because they had previously worked with University magazines.” He is appointed editorial office secretary but he is fired in 1979 because he is in the middle of the third divorce and his private life can not be given as an example, and not because of anti-communism activities. He writes scripts for the Sahia studious, issues some books and works for the radio. In 1980 he is employed as a producer with the National Television and he works there until 1989.
At the time of the Revolution he was producing TV shows for the young. He is labeled as a friend of Nicu Ceausescu and he has some problems in the first days after the Revolution. On the 15 th of January he sets up the second channel of the National Television and he is given free hand in organizing it. His first major success is “Veniti cu noi pe programul doi” which records a rating of 46%. Another program he launches is “Revolutia romana in direct”. “After 1993 I got passionate about TV marketing, I got several diplomas in the field issued by the German TV Station ZDF, between 1990 and 1993.” Tatulici sets up the Tele 7 ABC TV Station, but he resigns from that position in 1995, when he moves to Pro TV. “From that moment on I haven't worked at all as an employee. I set up my own companies and I also issued the magazine Privirea.” In 1996 he sets up the Romanian Press Club. At the present, he is programs manager with Realitatea TV.
Tatulici owns a few companies active in the media environment. Thus the Privirea magazine's main shares pack is owned by Tatulici and his wife. It is the same in the case of a film production company (N & T Trading). He owns together with the omnipresent media investor, Sorin Ovidiu Vintu, a television still in the phase of a project (G TV) and Mihai Tatulici Production (the main share holder is Imola). Tatulici is a member of the Board, as well as Rosca Stanescu, of the Publishers and Distributors Group and he invested money in a sweets producing company (MCM Network) and in an association with the holding PRO in the company Mediafest.
Dan Voiculescu
Before the Revolution he works for ICE Dunarea and he was an executive of the controversial trading company Crescent. Right after December 1989 he turns into an important and influential businessman and he is suspected of having stolen Ceausescu's money or Security's money. The Romania Libera has dedicated several articles on this topic. Considering himself calumniated, Voiculescu sues the newspaper and he wins the case. He makes a first tentative to launch media business in 1992 when he issued the weekly Jurnalul de Duminica, at the proposal of Dan Diaconescu and Marius Tuca (who at the time works with Curierul National). They release only a few issues and then they found Jurnalul de Bucuresti at the beginning of 1993. In the summer of 1993, Voiculescu invests money in Jurnalul National, a project supported by Tuca and Diaconescu. At that time, Jurnalul National is the only newspaper owning its own printing house. One by one he launches: Pretul Succesului, Sport 21, Matinal, Radio Romantic, Antena 1, Gazeta Sporturilor (where he manages to get the whole team of Ovidiu Ioanitoaia) and Saptamâna Financiara. Florin Bratescu is appointed as the first manager of Antena 1, as a pay off for his having hidden Voiculescu during the Revolution when he was a wanted man. People like Costica Rotaru (the assisting manager of SIE) and Cozmin Gusa (politician, member of PUR, PSD, PD and PIR).
Voiculescu states that he sees media just as a business opportunity and nothing more.
Besides a strong media group, Voiculescu has also launched several business activities in almost all domains, as well as a political party – The Conservatory Party, the former Humanist Party. His financial empire was the topic of several journalistic investigations.
Adrian Sârbu
Our requests to interview Adrian Sirbu were rejected by the latter. More than that, the press mogul spokesperson stated that Sirbu does not give interviews in general, and she can not even answer any of our questions. Sirbu gad no journalistic activity under the communist regime. He graduated the Theatre and Film Academy , as a film director. He declares to have directed more than a hundred documentaries and short films for the Sahia Film Studious. His colleagues declare that he was a simple camera man that would also earn a living by taking pictures. At the Revolution he is in the middle of all events, very close to all future political actors that were grouped around Ion Iliescu. He managed to record on camera many impressionable scenes, which lead to suspicions that he negotiated his recordings for a financial and social relationships capital that later helped him launch his business. Right after the Revolution he proves to be a really close friend of the Prime Minister, Petre Roman. In 1990 he is appointed chief secretary of the Petre Roman Government and he is also appointed the position of state secretary for Mass –Media within the Ministry of Culture. He seized the potential of all business in the media environment and he sets up together with one of the Paunescu brothers the newspaper Curierul National – the first Romanian private newspaper. He gives up this investment and he focuses on creating the holding Media Pro: he launches the news agency Media fax, the radio station ProFM, the TV station ProTV. In 1998 he buys the Buftea film studious and he turns them into Media Pro Studious. He develops a network of local newspapers, magazines, printing houses and press distribution companies. His holding also founded a school for journalists to serve all internal needs – The Media University, The Pro Institute and The Pro College.
Sirbu has few business activities that are not related to mass media, all the Pro companies gravitating around the media empire Pro. Dozens of companies serve this empire and live on keeping it alive.
Corneliu Vadim Tudor
He gets a job with Romania Libera n 1972, after graduating college. He writes for the social department, signing several permanent columns. “I made an investigation at Tricodava, it was very successful, and all managers were fired after the investigation.” In 1974 he writes for the magazine Magazin, where he is also sued for plagiarism “It was all because of an old secretary general of the editorial office who signed my name on a material that I had only translated. He mixed articles and Paunescu sued me for plagiarism.” In 1975 he stops writing because he serves in the army. He never returns to Magazin, but he works for Agerpres beginning with the end of 1975. He works for more than 14 years for the public news agency until June 1989 when he resigns from his job and from the Communist Party. The Revolution finds him jobless. Together with the writer Eugen Barbu he issues the magazine “Romania Mare” in June 1990. The magazine is launched with the help of a 10,000 dollar loan from another Romanian, at the time living in Germany . After only one year, he also launches the activity of the Romania Mare Party. Beginning with 1992 until 2000, he also publishes in parallel the magazine Politica. In 2004 he issues the first copy of the daily “Tricolorul”. The journalism he adopts is meant to attract political support “I made a party out of a magazine! Can you realize what I can make out of a TV station?”
Vadim has launched in the Romanian press a certain trend of publishing a torrent of scandalous information without checking them out at all. “I asked my people to give me envelopes containing information on thieves, not money” Vadim describes the beginning of his magazine.
Nowadays, Vadim owns shares belonging to only two publishing houses (Romania Mare and Speranta) and to a company dealing in press distribution, Anota Impex.
Udroiu – Rompres
In all the post December history, the Rompres news agency (formerly known as Agerpres) was lead by non-value journalists, whose only concern was to please the political party governing, in spite the fact that it is a public agency, financed with public money. The news agency Rompres had an important role in the evolution of the Romanian press, especially during the first post revolutionary years, prior the birth of private news agencies and the development of local reporters for central radio stations, TV stations and newspapers. In all these years, Rompres was lead and managed by Neagu Udroiu, a journalist with strong communist roots.
Udroiu begins his working activity as a laborer with Vulcan enterprises ad in 1964 he becomes an engineer, after having graduated the Polytechnic Institute while still working for Vulcan. All this activity proposes him as a future journalist and he launches his journalistic career with the help of the Communist Party in 1966. He occupies important positions within the communist propaganda machine: he is manager of the Public Radio station for several years and after that he is appointed manager of Agerpres. Between the two jobs he is granted a scholarship for a year in the United States (World Press Institute, 1973 - 1974). He occupies almost all managing positions within Agerpres, and he is appointed in the end general manager of the agency. He is always at the same time part of the journalists' team who accompanies the Ceausescus in all trips abroad. Meanwhile he publishes several articles, as books, most of them depicting visits abroad. It is clear enough that the position he holds within Agerpres, the closeness with the Ceausescus, and freedom of movement, couldn't have been obtained but in exchange for some important information all for the Security. At the Revolution he is a special reporter on site at UN. This character is appointed as general manager of Rompres in 1990 by Ion Iliescu. He fills in the position until the end of 1996 and he promotes on managing positions the same non-value journalists who willingly served the communist regime.
During the time of president Constantinescu, between 1996 and 2000, Udroiu occupies the position of media manager with the Social Studies Institute. Once president Iliescu is re-elected, Udroiu is appointed Romanian ambassador in Finland . For all the outstanding service he provided for his country. Udroiu could not be contacted for any comments, he still lives in Finland .
A Dinosaur's Portrait
We have sketched the portraits of the main characters of this material, as they revealed themselves from interviews, or even from press releases. Each journalist on our list sees in a different light all the other journalists grouped under the name of media dinosaurs.
Referring to all the journalists who managed to make it through the communist regime and survive in the post 89 press, Ion Cristoiu makes an interesting observation: “All stars among the journalists before 89 didn't make it.” The ones, who set up the basis of the post revolution press, are the low ranking communist press journalists. This is also the pattern adopted by the new Romanian political class, mostly originating from lower rankings of the former PCR and UTC activists. Further more, Cristoiu reproaches to all newspaper managers that they forgot what passion for journalism was. “There is a big problem in them not knowing to stop from getting richer and richer. A journalist should have some saving as an independence warranty and that is it. They accepted bribe from PSD because they had no pride left. Then they all invested the money in own luxury and not in the newspapers. There was no passing from little corner shop to holding.”
Vadim considers that “apart from Cristoiu and Bacanu, no one else can be considered a good journalist”, also adding that “UTC gives birth to monsters. All the youngster magazines produced nothing but activists, Nistorescu and all the others” he said, referring of course to magazines like Viata Studenteasca or Scanteia Tineretului.
Dan Voiculescu, as an owner of media companies, believes that former journalists had all to fulfill a part and that all of them have as common feature dirty cash: “from journalists, they turned into businessmen.” Cristoiu agrees to this too. Voiculescu went on: “They are liars, they were no dissidents, and they are false.” All these lead to three main issues of the press, according to Voiculescu, the politician and media owner: “There are media owners with other goals than the ones previously declared there are managers and opinion leaders that don't need the publicity and we witness blackmailing.”
Bacanu is straight, but only with respect to those journalists that were more than willing to serve under the communist regime: “they should expose themselves. They should stay aside and let the younger ones do the job.” But who is to define that willingness, as long as there is opposite opinion, as that of Ioanitoaia, who believes any activity before revolution not to be relevant: “One had to compromise to earn a living. They all swear Paunescu, but some of the people who had worked with him, became chief editors or even managers.”
Rosca Stanescu considers that he and the others belong to a so – called “the transition generation, the Moor generation.”
Horia Alexandrescu, considered by a large part of commentators to be a journalist writing for the government, no matter what party there is leading”, believes that the dinosaurs can be characterized as follows: “We have passed from an old-style, archaic journalism to modern journalism. We shall always be remembered by history as the ones who got Romanian press up to date. We are the construction generation.” And he concludes: “morality depends on capability and ambition.”
Nistorescu, on the other hand, considers the dinosaurs to be nothing but “the big advertising negotiators”, as he has called them in one of his previous editorials. He talks about Horia Alexandrescu, Sorin Rosca Stanescu, Cristian Tudor Popescu, Adrian Sirbu and “the others” – probably including Mihai Tatulici and Dumitru Tinu. All of the above-mentioned are his Romanian Press Club colleagues.
And still, the most of the negative descriptions referred to the activity of Nistorescu. Rosca Stanescu destroyed him in a few words: “Nistorescu didn't set any newspaper, he didn't build up press. Cristoiu saved his ass”. Cristoiu went further: “Cornel Nistorescu came in with a complex of inferiority, because in my time Evenimentul Zilei used to be a newspaper that could change governments, it was not just an ordinary newspaper. He and his team tried in vain to minimize that.”
In an editorial referring to the crisis from Evenimentul Zilei, Cristian Tudor Popescu wrote: “The managing team of Evenimentul Zilei, together with the manager Cornel Nistorescu, did not join the protesting editors. The man had signed a contract with the owners, and he doesn't want to lose a heap of money. They might be talking about defending the free press values, but stay away from their wallet!” Also referring to the transformation of his former student from journalist into a businessman, Cristoiu writes in 2004; “the filthy rich one, the one who erects a new house, bigger than the House of the Parliament, is to me a case of moral pathology. I seriously doubt it that the owner of the Expresiv holding, a company that during the PSD time beneficiated from one of the most generous advertising contracts, would know anything about the real Romania . One can see Nistorescu's whining to avoid being addressed to one particular TV station: Realitatea TV. Even if Realitatea TV is the same, the owner has changed. And this new owner, Mr. Sorin Ovidiu Vintu, is also Mr. Nistorescu's new business partner. And this happens, right after some time when my inheritor with the Evenimentul Zilei denounced him to the people and to the DA's Office for the FNI business. Sorin Ovidiu Vintu would remember that his partner proceeded as such with another TV station: Prima TV. Prima TV was carefully avoided because the owner was no one but Miron Mitrea, who was feeing Nistorescu with advertisement for wagons and harbor cranes.” And Cristoiu concludes that “Cornel Nistorescu mocked the Evenimentul Zilei that published news such as the one about the raped hen (…) but the raped hen gave birth not only to live chicken but also to all that million dollars fortune from his accounts.” The description made by Cristoiu to Nistorescu can be extended as a general behavior pattern for the dinosaurs. There are many examples of their crossing both ways: in the editorial part from the position of the manager or owner, and in the managerial part, from the position of editorial manager. And they did that not for offering media consummators a good quality product, but to increase their own fortune.
Otherwise, all 12 dinosaurs have each own label in the journalists' world: Sorin Rosca Stanescu and his newspaper were accused of blackmail several times. Horia Alexandrescu was labeled as the journalist of every new government, and the newspapers he managed were considered to be newspapers with a confidential number of issues. Dumitru Tinu was suspected of having business relationships with the controversial Fatih Taher and Viorel Hrebenciuc. Tatulici is still remembered for his uninspired commercials for the pyramidal game Caritas, which bankrupted in the end and damaged hundreds of thousands of Romanians. Voiculescu is always treated as the one who, as a former security worker, managed Ceausescu money. And Sirbu gets into the spotlight due to the huge number of his companies, each of them owing to the public budget. Moreover, Cristoiu accuses Sirbu to have destroyed the press with the help of the news agency Mediafax, which played with information, and let through only some news. When referring to the two national media holdings (belonging to Voiculescu and Sirbu), Rosca is sure that the two holdings are in big financial difficulties, which endangers the editorial independence, and turns them into attack or political instruments. At last, Corneliu Vadim Tudor is labeled in different ways by the journalists on the list, beginning with national clown” and ending with “the head of the recycled security worker”.
Considering all this varying picture of the people creating media in Romania , Bacanu's conclusion stands out: “In Romania things won't change unless my generation disappears biologically.”
The Dinosaurs talk about the Romanian press
Further on there is presented the way in which each subject of the present article sees the evolution of the press during the last 15 years. Their different statements refer to important aspects linked to media business and journalists.
Is Press Business?
Cristian Tudor Popescu considers the press a business activity: “Press is no Academy records, nor cultural magazines. It is business. It can not survive otherwise. But it is special business, not any sort of business. Ones denying the business features do not understand what all is about. Press has to be profitable so that it could be independent. Press is business. But business can also be of two kinds: clean and dirty. It is preferable for one to do a clean business, and one can do that, but present day Romania makes it very difficult. Fantastic pressure comes from everywhere.”
Tatulici believes that “press is no business, if one considers the economic point of view. And that is because of the immoral and incorrect business environment and of the immoral relationships between owners, journalists and politicians. The business is profitable for those owners entering the traffic of influence areas” concludes Tatulici.
Vadim is not a believer either: “press is no business. Some others made a fortune. But they are not just journalists. Press is a dirty business. For example, Tinu earned eight million dollars from press. But there were also fraudulent privatizations with Romania Libera and Adevarul.”
Cristoiu doesn't trust the ones who set up media business activities at the beginning of the ‘90s: “Something's fishy about the ones setting up newspapers right after '89. Where did that idea come from, where was the money from? The former employees of the former structures (security) might have come up with the idea.” Even if he had been in the middle of action, Cristoiu didn't make such big money as some of his former students. “I was naive; I didn't have any partners from the beginning. The owners earn big, not the journalists. But it was also a dark time for a journalist to live on, his position would be really sensitive – there were even cases of threats. Press wasn't business for me, but as an employee I was highly well paid.” Cristoiu describes the environment where first newspapers came to life: “There were two types of newspapers, some which had been suspect privatized, other entirely new. There was little space, and the editorial office, together with al secretaries, lives in one office. While older newspapers had something to work with, we started from scratch.”
Dan Voiculescu, owner of a media holding, declares that “money invested in press is stolen money, money invested for hidden purposes.”
Horia Alexandrescu comes up with an original idea: “It is hard for the press to be business, because paper is expensive and the newspaper can't be sold at the same price of a foreign newspaper.
The only optimistic persons are Rosca and Ioanitoaia, and they both consider that press is a profitable business.
Press and other activities
Cristian Tudor Popescu puts order into things and states that business and press can never be mixed and that he never owned any company. He is just a journalist.
Tatulici believes that business with no connection whatsoever with the press, should not be mixed with the latter. That's a genuine interesting concept to someone who accepted Sorin Ovidiu Vintu as a business partner.
Rosca is a bit ambiguous. “It is usual for media shareholders to also have other business activities. But one shouldn't mix those too much.” His opinion is easy to understand as soon as Rosca‘s collateral business activities belong to the most diversified economic areas.
Bacanu is pretty straight: “Business can not mix with press. My experience taught me that it is wise to have related business activities, and to stay away from other sorts of business activities.”
Horia Alexandrescu avoids giving a straight answer, preferring to describe a situation: “In the beginning people working with media started setting up other business opportunities. Nowadays the process is different, diverse business men want to invest in media.”
Cristoiu shaded a bit the connection between business and press: “press can not mix with other business activities, unless the latter are supported by press.”
In spite of the number of famous journalists working for him and who disagree with their boss, Dan Voiculescu believes that: “it is not good for any newspaper manager to be a politician or an active business man at the same time. Executives working in the media environment shouldn't involve in other business activities.”
Vadim concluded: “Press can mix with no other business, but blackmail.”
Press – special position?
Rosca believes that “press is business, just like any other trading activity, and newspapers that are not successful, are used as offensive or political instruments. Cristoiu and Ioanitoaia agree with this statement.
As usual, Horia Alexandrescu gives a vague and shady answer: “press is a less profitable business activity and raises a lot of problems. When one is an employee, one can leave when things are not the way one likes it.”
Bacanu has a different opinion with respect to this issue: “I believe press to be a special business activity, and the owner should adapt himself to the newspaper's policy, while the latter is decided and directed by the editors.”
The editorial manager deals with advertising contracts too
In spite of being a long time accepted and used activity for immediate immense profit up till the end of 2003, the majority of the one interviewed here are against his system. Tatulici considers that: “From the deontological point of view, the positions of editorial manager and economic manager can be cumulated.” The only issue identified here by the man who created the Romanian Press Club is a pragmatic one: “If the same man looks after both areas of activity, there will be low chances for successful results.” And still, Tatulici shades that a bit more “we have seen clearly that selling advertisements and editorial managing can barely be mixed up, because it is a suspicious association, and relationships with journalists are suspicious. Politicians had no interest in changing anything.”
Cristoiu is sure about one thing and Ioanitoaia agrees with it: “One can not be director, and manager and owner of the newspaper at the same time. As a journalist you lose all freedom.”
In Rosca's opinion, positions can be cumulated: “I coordinate everything, but I have no direct implications whatsoever.”
Horia Alexandrescu sees no deontological issue in mixing the two activities. He believes there to be only one impediment: “You waste 70% of your time on managerial issues.”
Cristian Tudor Popescu also believes that the positions of economical manager and editorial manager can be mixed up. “Why not? It makes perfect sense for the editorial office to have a representative in the Board of Directors. Why having someone from outside telling us what to do with the money we make? Only foreign holdings dealing in more than media and press should have a separate economic management team.”
Effects of the public advertisement contracts
Public advertisement has financed a crumbled media system, with lots of newspapers being launched and giving no readers or impact whatsoever. There are few titles selling more than 100 thousand copies throughout the country with 22 million inhabitants. This divided press is powerless and dependent to the government, an aspect easily to observe during times characterized by drastic political changes and that affect even the most powerful media institutions. This appeared to be a premeditated goal of the former regime, as Cristoiu believes and accuses: “The PSD regime did an awful thing; it chased press away from the free trade. Newspapers managers had less worries about how much they sell, they forgot about the target audience. If you forget about audience, you start lying and playing around.” Cristoiu believes that up till now, press is “financed by the public budget or by low lives, people that have no intention to make business in the media environment.” Considering all these, Cristoiu does not trust any longer the Romanian investor, because he suspects the latter of blackmail.
Cristoiu also adds on the low budget advertisement: “the great number of low circulation newspapers drives the reader crazy. Moreover that means lots of work and low salaries. Because of poor training of the journalists, readers get only the information the government wants them to get.”
Ioanitoaia states that there too many newspapers which have a suspicious life, they hide economic interests and they eat up hundreds of thousand of dollars.
Bacanu also identifies the reason: “the financial controlling institutions never functioned properly. There are groups of interest – political ones that artificially support press. I do not trust these media empires created based on public financing. There are too many TV stations and newspapers on the Romanian market.”
Voiculescu believes that public budgeted advertisement corrupted the press and Horia Alexandrescu adds: “During the last years, advertising agencies controlled the press.”
Cristian Tudor Popescu declares that Adevarul benefited from public budgeted advertisement but this never affected the newspaper's editorial policy. And even if he had wanted to, he couldn't have given up to public budgeted advertisement for fear he might have had to answer to the owners. “The sad thing about it is that I Know cases of well known newspapers that used blackmail to get contracts. We brought professional honesty to public budgeted advertisement” added Popescu.
What did they give back to the journalists?
It is plain clear that dinosaurs benefited from Romanian journalists. But what did they give in return? Tatulici considers that he has trained people: “When at Pro I brought in 150 journalists and some of them turned into big stars. Nevertheless, media market had a lousy evolution and the journalism schools do not train well. The number of journalistic mistakes is higher than anyone could imagine.”
Ioanitoaia believes that a journalism school is needed. “But I do not believe in diplomas for journalists. I created a team which helped me set up two newspapers and a large part of that team is still with me after 14 years.”
Voiculescu is an unhappy manager of journalists: “I offered them training, but despite the fact that we employed 2,000 people, we have no specialists.” Voiculescu considers that the media institutions shouldn't involve in training centers for journalists.
Horia Alexandrescu compares the journalists' training to food: “I fed hundreds of journalists. Romania lacks journalists. There are more court clerks than journalists.”
Adevarul too is also considered to be a true journalism school, in the opinion of Cristian Tudor Popescu. “It is one of the things that justify my very existence. It is a reason of happiness for me that there are no other Romanian newspapers with o many great journalists like Adevarul.”
For or against trade unions
When it comes to a trade union for the journalists, most of the media owners disagree with that. No one wants the over time to be added up, or vacation to be grated every year. And they don't want journalists to break different editorial orders.
Rosca, despite being a member of the Romanian Press Club, states that: “I am for a strong trade union, but the other owners are afraid of that.” Bacanu underlines that: “We need a strong trade union for the journalists.” And still, he also in the Romanian Press Club too, because he perceives it to be functional.
Like any other owner, Voiculescu does not love trade unions: “The idea of a trade union doesn't sound well itself, but I am not against anyone joining such trade unions.” But Nistorescu sees things through different eyes, when three years ago he stated that: “if any journalist working for me joins a trade union, next day he is fired!” According to what Pro journalists say, not even Adrian Sirbu fancies the idea of a trade union; he even tried to make employees see that very clearly.
Cristoiu is for a Law of the Press; while Bacanu is relieved he managed to fight successfully 20 attempts to issue such a law.
Cristian Tudor Popescu is for the idea, by any means: “You can feel the need of strong trade unions for journalists. But here, the Romanian Press Club, which represents all three categories in one organization editors, journalists, owners, has an issue. Besides the Romanian Press Club there has to be another strong union, but there is none.”
*Shooting range
The evolution of the Romanian press is not seen through the same eyes by all 12 journalists, but most of them reckon that in most of the cases, the newspaper tuned into a battlefield and the journalist into a mere tool. We are talking about an era when made up briefs were behind big revelations. Tatulici sees the last 15 years press as a “shooting range” and as containing “all sorts of rule braking”. Voiculescu is warning that Romanian press is still a manipulating tool: “I hope to get the chance to see the press as an information and profit source.”
Rosca claims that Romanian press was better than the country itself, but it is still sick: “We can't talk about a clean press” warns the Godfather, “and serious things still happen in the local press.” But Rosca's conclusion is still optimistic: “The most significant thing is that in general, Romanian press is free by being so diverse and it was the first institution to join the free market economy.”
The Press Cartel
The most dangerous thing at the moment is exactly the fact that press is considered to be free, and it leads to abuses and censorship, as well as to creating taboo concepts. We have pointed put the diversity of the press. But still, we are talking about a suspicious variety, it is what connects the members of the Romanian Press Club, where there have been recorded the media dinosaurs since ‘98. The effect of the RPC on the journalists is the same with the effect FSN (and the followers) had on political life. The members of this cartel of media companies' owners are really close, even if they are so different. There has been functioning a tacit understanding between the owners within RPC and it stipulated that any journalist resigning from a newspaper whose owner is a RPC member, wouldn't have got another job from any other member newspaper owner. Cornel Nistorescu, one of the RPC members till the fall of 2004, declared about the organization where he activated for many profitable years: “The Club was formerly created as an organization of the media owners, but later on it turned into a professional organization.” On several occasions, Nistorescu stated that: “One of the reasons I left the Club was the fact that I didn't see the point in still activating there along side some people who accepted pay offs from the government.” And there is more than that. The respective TV stations and newspapers are accused by the former RPC member to: “living in perfect symbiosis and plying together with the government into this spectacular carnival of the freedom of speech!”
As long as they were a compact group, the owners, the managers, and the few journalists members of RPC, took up the role of national moralizers and opinion builders, monopolizing all television debates.
Trading journalists
Actually, the media dinosaurs appear to be a special group because of their vision on press, because of the way they treated journalists, because of their personal hidden or made up life, because of their partnerships and suspicious business activities they have initiated during the last years. The former communist journalists turned into business men, but the way in which they managed their business in the shadow of their activity of honest journalists, qualifies them for the title of traders.
Promoters of self-censorship
By all the business activities they lead the media dinosaurs acted like the politicians and the business men they criticize in their own newspapers. In most of the cases they used their own advertising agencies to tax the advertisement published by the newspaper, no matter who was the owner. To get their contracts, they used the traffic of influence technique. But in short time, the interests' network of each, lead to internal self censorship and to publishing taboo subjects. The journalists learned fast what self-censorship meant, and that ruined their own reflexes. Most of the journalists have no clue what investigation and critical and objective documentation mean. The media dinosaurs didn't give anything in return to the journalists that helped them make so much money. Actually, they were some sort of a brake in social development. Moreover, during the toughest period media went through, 2000-2004, the dinosaurs kept silent. That was the most profitable period for them all. The few of them, who spoke put, started doing so only after economic settlements with the government didn't stand up and when opportunity of new settlements showed.
DeFormators
The media dinosaurs won't disappear from the public life. Some of them fight one another, others just stay away in the shadows, but they always come back strong, they always build relationships, contract settlements, they always turn up as political analysts or as commenter of any sort of event. They are the ones who built the Romanian press. Each of them states having trained at least 100 journalists, among which we can nowadays find leaders in the media environment. They turned editorial offices into journalism schools, but they send on their own vitiated role model. On the structure they made, televisions and radios came to be created, because during the first years, the written press exploded and it exported labor force to televisions and radios. The d inosaurs have also created the media consummators. They have also created the way in which politicians, business men, advertising people and even underworld business men react towards journalists: everything has a price and every price can be negotiated. Material made by The Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism ( www.crji.org ), and financed by FUJ - The Danish Association of Investigative Journalists ( www.fuj.dk )