Protest: Romanian mass-media under Attack

The endorsers of this petition ask for the intervention of democratic forces in Romania by taking a public stance regarding the statements made yesterday by Liviu Dragnea, president of the governing party and president of the Chamber of Deputies. His statements brutally defy and put under threat a fundamental democratic value: freedom of the press.

The leader of the governing party and Chamber of Deputies called on the Government to draft a specific bill aimed to verify the funding of certain publications, invoking a supposed and unrealistic lack of transparency, and ignoring that the Romanian state already benefits from legislation and institutions control of the economic activity carried out by newspapers, as any other Romanian company. We consider those statements as a serious threat, an unprecedented attempt of intimidation towards the independent journalists in Romania.

The recent attack towards G4Media adds up to an alarming number of hostile allegations from the current power circle, indicating an urge to control independent media, such as Rise Project, HotNews.ro, EpochTimes, Press One, Newsweek.ro, Digi24, Realitatea TV and more, using the states’ institutions as instruments to approach this goal.

Signed by:

NGOs:
Association Cluj Today (Asociația Cluj Today)
Association Press Professionals – Cluj (Asociația Profesioniştilor din Presă – Cluj)
Transylvania Today Association (Asociația Transylvania Today)
Association of Independent Journalists from Romania (Asociația Ziariștilor Independenți din România – AZIR)
Romanian Center for European Policies (Centrul Român de Politici Europene)
Expert Forum – EFOR
Freedom House Romania
Group for Social Dialogue (Grupul pentru Dialog Social)
Initative Romania (Inițiativa România)
Timișoara Society (Societatea Timișoara)

Publications and journalists of the press network PressHub.ro:

Banatul Azi
Cluj Today
Express de Banat
Gazeta de Dimineață
Info Sud-Est
InRoman.ro
Jurnalul Văii Jiului
Liber în Teleorman
Revista 22
Știri din Banat
Transylvania Today
Vrancea 24
PressHub.ro
JustitieCurata.ro
Andreea Pavel
Bianca Pădurean
Bogdan Stanciu
Brîndușa Armanca
Carmen Dumitrescu
Vasilică Ichim
Catiușa Ivanov
Claudiu Pădurean
Cristian Andrei Leonte
Cristian Florin Franț
Gabriel Baciu
Mihaela Mihai
Nicu Tașcă
Ovidiu Amălinei
Ovidiu Nahoi
Radu Meșniță
Ramona Roșulescu
Sebastian Oancea
Teodora Baciu
Valentin Tudor
Vasilică Ichim