Media May 2005

Regulars
MEDIA
Is the press growing up?

by Alex Ulmanu
May 2005

The third of May, World Press Freedom Day, has often been a cause for muted celebration. This year Romanian journalists used the opportunity, as they did in previous years, to draw the public’s attention towards the problems of the profession.

This time the problems of the press seemed worse than ever, with three Romanian journalists held by a group of militants in Iraq, a record number of abuses against journalists and conflicts between newsrooms and publishers taking place over the past year.

But despite the drama and above all scenarios regarding the kidnapping of the three journalists and their guide in Iraq, some interpret the recent events as a sign that Romanian media has gained in maturity.

That Romanian media institutions were able to send journalists in Iraq is in itself a sign that the industry has grown more mature and resourceful, believes Ioana Avadani, executive director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest. “It means that Romanian media outlets are not only getting their news from the big wire services and major media channels, but they are able to collect information themselves, on location,” she says. “This means local press must also assume the risks brought about by these endeavours,” she adds.

If sending people over to Iraq shows that Romanian media have grown in resources and means, the crisis of the kidnapped journalists has also demonstrated a lack of maturity in terms of reporting practices and analysis expertise. Critics have underlined that the three journalists fallen captive had exposed themselves by allowing for a dubious businessman to sponsor and arrange their trip, and by failing to take elementary precautions such as putting themselves under the protection of the military.

Back home, having grown accustomed to delivering opinionated messages even when lacking basic information, Romanian media outlets entered a competition of scenarios and single-sourced stories about the kidnapping. The same star journalists who opine publicly on anything from tennis to politics to business have instantly turned into kidnapping experts and have enlightened the public with their thoughts and theories regarding the events. The kidnapping was labeled as “atypical”, “strange”, even as a “prank”. Maybe this is what it was, but until journalists lay their hands on real information, any speculation is not only farfetched but deceitful to the public as well. At one point, some journalists rushed to announce that their kidnapped colleagues had been freed – this turned out to be untrue when kidnappers showed new images of the handcuffed journalists and threats to kill them unless Romania withdrew its troops from Iraq.

Journalists being kidnapped overseas is just one of the many problems faced by the Romanian media. Political and economic interference with the editorial process has been a serious issue for years, and has also resulted in false information reaching the public. Media owners in Romania are often settling their business and political scores with the help of their press outlets. Combined with the lack of professional standards, this leads to sloppy and incorrect reporting and ultimately hurts democracy. All to frequently are commercial or promotional messages deceitfully presented to the public as journalistic material.

Attempts from some owners to make their newspapers more economically viable resulted in conflicts with journalists, notoriously with those from three major papers, Evenimentul Zilei, Romania Libera and Adevarul.

On 2nd May the Romanian Press Club (RPC) issued a press release detailing several principles it would use to deal with such conflicts between publishers and journalists. Now this is definitely a sign of maturity, although the RPC is an organisation controlled by prominent journalists who are often media owners as well. For the first time, this organisation talks of clear standards and practices to regulate the relation between owners and journalists, seperating editorial functions from the executive management of newspapers.

Conflicts between newsrooms and publishers “… can be prevented given that press institutions obey a set of norms to regulate relations between owners and journalists,” wrote the press release. The RPC wrote that media institutions should develop their own editorial policy, with an attached code of practices and style manual. The editorial policy should detail the specific professional relationship between owners and editors, and between editors and journalists. Once the editorial policy is established, publishers should not interfere with journalistic activity unless regular reports show bad economic results, hence the need to change editorial policy. The RPC also wrote that publishers should not censor journalistic material when all ethical and professional norms have been observed, and that ownership structure and company management should be transparent for media institutions. The club also asked for media owners to guarantee freedom of expression to reporters and editors.

A significant paragraph in the RPC document: “Media owners cannot force editors to run campaigns against political or business adversaries by tampering with the facts, or by using misleading arguments.” Also, “it is a serious breach of ethical and managerial norms for owners to attempt to influence editors and reporters in order to publish certain journalistic material.”

Although only a set of recommendations until broadly adopted and implemented by media institutions, such a document represents a crucial shift in perspective from an influential organisation such as the RPC. The Convention of Media Organisations (CMO), a group of media NGOs without much power inside the major Romanian media institutions, has asked for such clarifications for two years. “Establishing clear limits and rules governing the relations between owners and journalists is more than necessary,” said Ioana Avadani, which is also a founding member of the CMO. “It would be great if the RPC could convince media owners to sign such an agreement,” she added.

It would be great indeed, although in the current situation it is difficult to imagine to imagine a clear seperation between editorial and management since many prominent journalists are both editors and managers or even owners of their media outlets, some of which are members of the Romanian Press Club. Sorin Rosca Stanescu of Ziua, Gardianul and the newly launched Averea is one example. Another is Cristian Tudor Popescu, the president of the RPC, who recently launched Gandul after being kicked out of Adevarul.
People like Stanescu and Popescu need to realise that they have to choose between being a journalist and being a businessman for their publications to be above suspicion when it comes to respecting journalistic standards and separating editorial content from owner’s interests. The Romanian press may indeed be growing up, but remains a teenager with zits.

Alex Ulmanu is the founder of Start Media and a lecturer in journalism.