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The Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism exists since 2001. We are among the founders and members of the Global Investigative Journalism Network ( www.globalinvestigativejournalism.org ). Our main goal is to enhance the quality of the Romanian investigative journalism. For the last years, we worked to consolidate in Romania a center for investigative journalism, independent from local financing resources. Recently we expanded our national network opening 10 local investigative desks, in 10 of the main cities in Romania . We have also built a strong network of contacts at regional level, participating in many cross-border investigative projects.

We provide resources for journalists and students interested in our field of work. Four of our members are involved in training activities for both students and journalists, within Romania and in the region. RCIJ Legal Department is dealing with the “legal screening” of our published stories and is providing free legal consultancy for RCIJ members. Our Photo Department provides the visual support for our investigative stories and develops independent projects.

Due to the high corruption factor, the lack of laws and the geographical position, Romania is currently a target for the international organized crime groups and for terrorist organizations. Not only the foreign criminal enterprises are interested in Romania but also the local organized crime is growing and it is joining the international trends. Currently, Romania has a special status as being a place where Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Chinese are building communities and this fact brings new patterns of the organized crime in the country and a higher corruption rata.

We have to add here that the Romanian investigative journalism hardly has 10 years of existence. Due to the lack of experience in this domain the Romanian investigative journalism very often means sensationalist stories with no core and no impact. In fact, the investigative journalism in Romania has a very low credibility. We know from our experience that some journalists are happy to publish, without even checking or trying to explore deeper, the “files” provided by intelligence officers, policemen or prosecutors. In this case the journalist is not able to control its stories and he is playing an imposed game. More than that, the investigative journalism has become a tool to blackmail a person or a company, in order to receive a large amount of money. This is a way of using the investigative journalism, by some reporters and also by some of the editors or heads of media institutions. Both ways, the investigative journalism means only disinformation and manipulation.
They are, however, some good pieces of investigative story, but they don't have credibility and no impact. When published in the national media, a good investigative article has low impact mainly because of the lack of credibility and the conflict of interests. More than that, some articles are never published by editors, because the gathered data is used for blackmail companies or individuals. A good thing is that local investigative stories published in the western media are coming back in the country, with a huge impact.

It is most concerning that even in its best will a Romanian media group is not able to support and back up an efficient journalistic investigative work. The lack of money and the mentality that the journalists should provide short terms articles are not offering the possibility to properly develop the investigative work.

We should conclude in quoting an official of the American Embassy in Bucharest , referring to the investigative journalism in the region: „After 11 September, we realized that we need powerful, well trained investigative journalists in this region. We saw that investigative journalists are able to make connections that we, as law enforcement, were not able to do, as we were overwhelmed by the amount of information.“