Romania: Super election year calls for press freedom assessment

A coalition of media freedom organizations will conduct a mission to Bucharest on 17-18 June 2024 to assess key challenges amid Romania’s super election year. The mission will address political influence on media, legal threats to journalists’ work and their safety, culminating in a conversation with the press.

In Romania, European and local elections in early June will be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections in September and December respectively. In the midst of this super election year , the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium will undertake a mission to Bucharest on 17-18 June 2024. 

The mission will be jointly organized by the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), and will be joined by partners from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and Free Press Unlimited (FPU).

Following its online fact-finding phase involving meetings with media and civil society stakeholders, during the upcoming in-person mission, the MFRR delegation aims to meet with state authorities. The group will discuss with institutional stakeholders developments regarding a set of critical issues, highlighted in the consortium’s recent report on Romania's media landscape.

First findings: A politically influenced, unsafe media environment

The MFRR consortium has identified the following key issues to tackle:

• Media capture: The MFRR analysis identified severe political influence over Romanian media. Primarily, an opaque allocation of "media and propaganda" funds from state budgets to political parties foster a compliant and clientelist media environment. Additionally, the consortium noted with concern that the National Audiovisual Council, tasked with regulating media, is under-resourced and lacks political independence.
• Legal threats: Journalists in Romania face an increasing number of vexatious lawsuits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known as SLAPPs), designed to intimidate and silence voices of dissent. Aside from draining the media's resources, the MFRR warns about their chilling effect on journalistic freedom.
• Safety concerns: The consortium has been monitoring a number of prominent cases of physical attacks, online harassment and smear campaigns targeting investigative journalists. Notable cases, such as that of investigative journalist Emilia Șercan, underscore the severity of these threats.

These topics are linked to key pieces of legislation that the European Union has recently adopted. The European Media Freedom Act aims to safeguard media independence and pluralism by tackling media capture, while the Anti-SLAPP Directive provides increased protections for journalists against vexatious lawsuits. Additionally, the European Commission adopted the Recommendation on the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists in September 2021. Two years later, the Council of Europe also launched the five-year Journalists Matter campaign , aiming to promote best practices among government and media stakeholders for improved journalist safety.

Our goals: Assess and address

Particularly during elections, journalists face intense political pressure and scrutiny for potential bias. Furthermore, an overall lack of public confidence is perhaps the biggest challenge Romanian media have to face. Yet, their role as public watchdogs is crucial for a fair electoral process. For this reason, the primary objectives of the upcoming MFRR mission are to:

• Evaluate the impact of political interference and media capture on journalistic independence, including an evaluation of the effectiveness and independence of media regulatory bodies.
• Investigate the prevalence and impact of SLAPPs and other forms of legal threats on Romanian journalists.
• Address the safety and protection concerns of journalists facing threats and harassment.
• Explore solutions, in dialogue and cooperation with relevant authorities, to support and sustain independent and local journalism in Romania.

Engagement and advocacy

The MFRR delegation will organize a conversation with the press on June 18, 2024, at 2PM in Bucharest, to present its initial observations and recommendations. An additional press release will be produced shortly after, in order to further detail the mission’s findings.

Press registration and contacts

Registration for the press event is open until June 17 at 12.00 PM. For joining the conversation, please fill out the registration form .

For requesting a meeting with the delegation at a different time, and for more information about the mission, please contact us (stating your full name and media): 

Beatrice Chioccioli

Advocacy Officer Europe
International Press Institute (IPI)
bchioccioli@ipi.media  

+43 681 103 433 67

Sielke Beata Kelner

Researcher & Advocacy Officer
OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)
kelner@balcanicaucaso.org 

This mission is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism tracking, monitoring, and responding to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries. The project is co-funded by the European Commission.