He interviewed Andrew Tate in his house in Bucharest and Viktor Orban in Budapest, to name the last ones he met. And right after visiting Romania, Carlson made an awful joke about Transylvania during his speech in Budapest.

Precisely, if you don’t have time to browse the video in the X post above, he stated, addressing the Hungarian audience, that:

You’re not rolling across the border to reclaim territory you lost after the First World War. That could happen, but it’s not happening now anyway. Transylvania is safe in Romanian hands at the moment.

Tucker Carlson on Transylvania during speech in Budapest

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first or the last revisionist comment on Transylvania. But, when it comes from an international TV and internet personality like Carlson, it tends to stick longer to public consciousness.

Either way, this remark made Carlson lose good points in Romania, which is generally closer to Republican views than the American former host could conceive. And this is not something he imagined when he joked about Transylvania while delivering the speech in Hungary’s Capital city.

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The authors say in 2021 Romanian media market is expected to increase with 4%. Thus, this year the market will reach a value of 485 million Euros as compared to 467 million Euros in 2020.

Actually, Initiative, the agency which realizes the study each year, expects for the TV commercial budget to reach 314 million Euros, a 2% increase as compared to 2020. In the same time, the digital market is expected to grow even more. Last year, the budget allotted to the digital market by the biggest Romanian agencies summed up to 117 million Euros, but here the authors didn’t include the budgets for digital marketing coming from the small agencies or from the marketers who place ads only on the internet.

Meanwhile, the radio and the OOH significantly lost clients and budgets, these channels being affected by the pandemic restrictions. In Romania, radios are listened to while driving, most of the time, and also, the OOH media screens are mostly visible while in traffic. The curfews and the stay-at-home rules left both channels in difficulty.

In 2020 an unexpected player appeared on the Romanian media market: the Government. During the pandemic, the Romanian Government spent 40 million Euros for dedicated campaigns asking people to follow the rules of social distancing. Yet, there were some publications which refused the money, though they qualified for the grants.

A conclusion here: the e-commerce market in Romania will continue to grow in 2021, as it did in 2020. Whether we talk about the shopping over the internet, which are expected to exceed 6 billion Euros in 2021, or about the budgets allotted to promotion, 2021 sounds very good for all those working in the e-commerce or in the internet media industry. Also, the budgets allotted to the radio and the OOH advertisement will slowly get back to their before-pandemic values over the next couple of years.

Media Fact Book is the only report on the Romanian media market and it is realized by Initiative Romania, starting from 1997.

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The project director of Euronews Romania is Gabriel Petrea, former Member of the Romanian Parliament, and Michael Peters trusts his abilities to launch the project in time.

“We are very proud of the agreement we reached with the Polytechnic University. I found it to be a reliable partner for this ambitious project. Romania has a very competitive media market, with several existing news channels.”

Michael Peters, CEO at Euronews

Euronews Romania will broadcast local, regional, national and international news. Moreover, the news from Romania will reach the news channels from other countries. The news will be presented with objectivity, balance and accuracy, completely impartial.

„Euronews will distribute content to Euronews Romania, which will be broadcast on Romanian media platforms along with the original content produced by the local channel. Euronews Romania will mainly use the editorial content of Euronews that refers to Europe, while Euronews will take over the content made locally in the articles related to Romania “

Euronews Press Release

The arrival of Euronews in Romania is also part of a strategy that aims to make Euronews the first “global media” in the world.

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In this context, media entities can’t survive this huge crisis generated by COVID-19 pandemic without help. The small and medium businesses are closed, some of them for good, and there is little money left for advertising, if any. What to do?

This is why, apparently, Romanian Government thought about “sponsoring” the Romanian mass-media with USD 44 Million (200 million Romanian currency). The justification is that by helping Romanian mass-media survive the crisis, the freedom of the journalism is defended. Is it?

Will the Government’s money keep the independence and the freedom of the Romanian press?

The effect of the Romanian Government’s initiative is already visible: two famous talk-show hosters from the same TV station were fired just after their TV station applied for the money offered by the government. Both of the journalists happened to oppose the government during their shows, but it might be just a coincidence. On the other hand, right after their leaving, the remaining journalists seemed to have changed their speech and it is something visible. Anyway, it’s just the first case of its kind, but it seems that journalists, in general, are eager to serve their clients, in this case the mighty Romanian Government, and to avoid criticizing them.

Besides, by using the discretionary powers given at the instating of the emergency situation, the Romanian Government ordered the closing of the online news platforms who don’t comply with “mainstream media opinion about COVID-19 pandemic”. Thus, some so-called or real “fake news” platforms were closed, one of them for “indirectly encouraging people to protest against the abuses of the authorities”.

Can the Romanian press keep its freedom while being paid?

You have two chances of survival as a journalist in Romania in the context of the crisis: first, accepting money from the Government, situation in which you are less inclined to oppose your payer, or second, click-baiting users to your website, situation in which the quality of your writing becomes lower and lower.

What about those journalists and publications which refuses both options? What chances do they have in keeping their editorial independece?

Sometimes, when the money from the Government is too good to be refused, especially in this economic crisis situation, journalists are tempted to accept it. In these cases, the quality and the impartiality of the journalism suffer. A lot.

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