Members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), after completing a mission to Bucharest, concluded that much of the media coverage of Romania’s electoral campaigns is seriously compromised by political capture and that media are failing to provide the fair and balanced political reporting necessary for the public to make informed electoral choices.

The MFRR’s two-day mission to Romania, June 17-18, was held just one week after the European and local elections had been held. With presidential elections due in September and parliamentary elections in December this year, the MFRR calls for an urgent reform of the system of party funding to remove political money from the media system.

Any political expenditure that does exist must be restricted to clearly marked political advertising, with full disclosure of the budgets spent by each political party for each media. The overall level of state subsidies used for ‘press and propaganda’ must also be reduced.

The provision of annual state funding to political parties which are then used to pay media for ‘press and propaganda’ content is, currently, the biggest instrument of political capture of the Romanian media. The huge income it provides for media distorts political reporting creating an unfair electoral playing field. The sums used have risen rapidly in recent years with approximately 24 million euros in 2023 and with this set to rise significantly in 2024.

The problem is exacerbated by a lack of transparency over which parties fund which media, how much they fund and for what media content. Political parties are required to report their expenditure to the Permanent Electoral Authority on a monthly basis. While the PEA issued more detailed reports during the 2024 local and European campaign periods in June 2024, which makes more transparent how much is spent in which media by which party, outside of the official campaign none of this detail is made public.

Investigative journalists have revealed how party money is used to pay for media content without being clearly labelled for the audience, as well as backing smear campaigns against opponents. Moreover, parties are able to evade media regulation which bans broadcasters from receiving political funds for media content between elections by contracting either the broadcast websites or going through third party advertising agencies.



The mission’s key findings

Political Influence and Media Coverage:

The pervasive influence of political party funds on media results in biassed coverage primarily in favour of the governing coalition.
The political funding creates a pliant media that fails to hold government to account and undermines public trust in media.
The lack of transparency over the distribution of state advertising funds controlled by elected officials, further exacerbates the capture of media, particularly at the regional and local level.
The lack of transparency over other sources of funding, business ties and other conflicts of interests between media and politicians also compromise the capacity of media to serve the public.
Vexatious SLAPP Lawsuits:

Romanian media are targeted with an alarming number of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) aimed at silencing investigative journalism and critical reporting. These lawsuits, often initiated by powerful political figures and business interests, rarely win in court, but instead succeed in intimidating and financially draining media outlets.