Media News - Thursday, July 03, 2008

Romania: 50 percent of news must be positive, says law proposal

Last week, the Romanian Senate unanimously voted a law proposal forcing media to distribute 50 percent of positive news. According to its instigators, the law will help to fight against 'the extraordinary harms of negative news and their irreversible effects on health and people's lives.' The Senate wishes that TV and radio news programs feature as much 'negative' as 'positive' news. The Romanian's National Council for Audiovisual broadcasting is to validate the law - under which it will have the responsibility to decide what constitutes good or bad news. But the Council swiftly criticized the law. 'News is news, it is neither positive nor negative, it simply reflects reality,' said the Council's president, Rasvan Popescu. Press freedom organizations such as Reporters Without Borders have also criticized the proposal, comparing it to similar laws in authoritarian regimes such as North Korea. (Le Monde via Editors Weblog)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992-2007 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net