It examines Romanian media through three main lenses; media capture and the level of political and governmental influence exerted over the private and public media sectors through the misuse of regulatory or financial tools; legal obstacles to journalism, and in particular the abuse of the courts to intimidate media through vexatious lawsuits; and the safety of journalists, both physical and onlin. [...] The European Commission’s 2023 Rule of Law report underlined the lack of transparency over political funding and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) 2022 resolution called for safeguards for editorial independence and legal requirements to disclose contracts between political parties and the media that involved the transfer of public funds. [...] The 13 members of the supervisory board or Administrative Council are appointed by the lower house of parliament, the senate, and the president and two members represent the employees. [...] These examples reveal a lack of understanding of the principles of source protection developed by the case law of the European Court of Justice and the duty of journalists to protect the identity of their sources. [...] The subsequent closure of the investigation has provided immunity to the perpetrators and sent a message to all journalists who dare to investigate the record and actions of the country’s leaders that the police cannot be relied upon to protect them from the consequences.
- Pages
- 25
- Published in
- Italy
