Dateline: BUCHAREST

PK: Just came back from Sainte Catherine and it is crouded with Romanians
PK: Funny how you can pretty much guess who is Greek
PK: And then I’m a bit unsure, but I heard çe faç? (which I can’t spell)
PK: : Happy Easter anyway, bulanjiule

SB1: so it’s full of orthodox people there
SB1: disgusting

SB1: but why st. catherine’s?[smile]
PK: Just round the corner
PK: the big church
SB1: i know, but why there?
PK: You do anything:
SB1: it’s not an orthodox church, is it?
PK: I don’t know they had like three different Orthodox priests speaking three languages
PK: quite cool
PK: One was definitely Greek
Sb1: haha
PK: the other seemed like could have been yours [smile]
SB1: yeah, they do that
PK: It was nice
SB1: greek, rom, and some slavic language
SB1: you actually went?
PK: But everyone was pissed [smile]
PK: Drinking beer because it was outside
PK: on the place
SB1: haha
PK: The little shop that sells cigarettes was invaded
PK: I don’t think they’ve everrrrr seen so many customers
SB1: eastern europeans claiming their god-given right to smoke their lungs away
PK: hahahahaha

There has been a lot of fracass in recent months concerning the supposedly partisan nature of some Romanian media outlets and, more often than not, Pres. Basescu was at their center. There was a conflict between a cheeky reporter and the President, resulting in an informal confiscation of the journalist’s camera phone, and racist remarks by Basescu. Later, the same Basescu called certain media trusts ‘jukeboxes’, implying the fact that they are commanded by certain political/financial interests.

The issue is of course a mute one. The Intact trust, owner of Antena 1, 2, and 3, take a consistent and blatant anti-Basescu stance, to the point where they lose much of their credibility. On the other side, Realitatea Media are traditionally soft on Basescu, while pursuing campaigns [see the one against the first registration tax] that are, more than populist, targeted at certain parties.

Now, with the beginning of the campaigning for local elections, media scandals are likely to start anew. I guess the question to ask is: are media that are subordinated to financial/political interests free? if so, are they useful for the society? and, finally, what is the best way of minimising the impact of partisan media?

For a broader discussion of press freedom in Eastern Europe [and case studies in Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria], see this article by Edward Lucas that was published in the most recent Economist.