No one believed Ion Cristoiu when he said sausages were a part of the press already....
No one believed Ion Cristoiu when he said sausages were a part of the press already. Most of the journalists thought this was just a figure of speech about anything else but the truth is that Ion Cristoiu was revealing to the Romanians. Of course the “sausagers” entered the media as bosses not as journalists, but this proved to be even worse. There had been a lot of years in which the newspaper bosses used their newspapers for certain political strategies camouflaged under the independence of the media, even though the support for a certain candidate could have been shown like in the USA for example. Romania couldn’t have this transparency because the politics, the money and the editorial independence were closely related and followed the wills of the “great” people and bosses at that moment. The next step, to actually rule the media means, was done easily. At first it wasn’t so obvious, but it became quite clear after a certain amount of time. They started to use the Gigi Becali “philosophy” (“I pay, I decide!”) as a motivation for their actions. The “fiddlering” of the media took place in the meantime. Cristian Tudor Popescu is the victim of this process. Serious things and serious newspapers don’t create profile and rating in Romania. The “fiddlering” of the media is the simplest way to befool the audience, the readers and the Romanians as a whole, who have already got used to taking whatever they receive. The Moldavians are right to point fingers at us and say the Romanian TV shows on the New Year’s Eve were “absolutely gipsy-like”. I suppose they don’t watch the Romanian programs on other occasions.
Therefore, the hebetation of Romanians continues. It is the same situation as it has been in the past 18 years. Yes, the alienation of Cristian Tudor Popescu means the free and independent media is endangered specie. The Romanian foolishness and the bossy conceit lecture us about how the press should be done in Romania. Why should we need Cristian Tudor Popescu and all the other authors whose names “de-hypostatize” the Romanian media? Why should Romania need any of these journalists with personality, ideas, principles and balls anymore?
- Translated by Sorin Bălan