House Of Deputies Unplugs Televisions Operating On Its Floor

by Adriana Duţulescu

Starting Thursday journalists work covering the House of Deputies had been made more difficult, since all plugs on the floor where plenary sessions take place had been disconnected from the electrical power supply. The reason cited was the high-level of power consumption made by journalists, which the House had to cover.

The 24-hour news channels of Antena3 and RealitaeaTV took the biggest hit, as their studios were placed on that floor.

However, all journalists are relegated now to work on the Senate floor, one flight up, because they cannot feed electrical power any longer into their laptops, recorders, mobile phones, microphones, etc., on the House floor.

The House of Deputies secretary general Gheorghe Banu, former Liberal Democratic Party (PD-L) minister, supervised the operation of cutting out the power supply and explained the journalists that "the Parliament does not want to pay anymore for the electrical power used by journalists."

The Parliament meeting of April 21st approved the set-up of television studios for Vox News and OTV. However, during the same meeting, Barbu insisted that Antena3 and Realitatea TV pay for the power they already used.

"No one pays a dime, so far. We (the Parliament) cannot sign contracts with them for the utilities they use. But we can ask them sign legally binding agreements, for them to pay the utilities and electrical power they use", Barbu said during that meeting, according to its minute.

The House of Deputies Speaker Roberta Anastase asked Barbu to provide the House a full report regarding the costs incurred to the Parliament by the journalists operating on its premises.
Translated by AAP