Europe’s Black Sheep

15 January 2004 Early this month, the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters without Frontiers published its annual report on freedom of the press in 2003. With 42 journalists killed, this was a particularly “black year” for freedom of expression in the world, said the association’s general secretary, Robert Menard. The report singled out Romania and Serbia as particular areas of concern in Europe (along with Italy). Romania was the only EU-candidate country not viewed as safeguarding freedom of the press. The situation of the media in Romania is, as in Serbia, “unstable.” Three physical attacks on investigative journalists particularly worried Reporters without Frontiers.

“In Romania, … journalists investigating corruption or criticizing the party in power, encounter growing problems,” states the association’s report.

In an interview with the Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei, Robert Menard talks about violence against prying journalists.

Robert Menard: The situation in Romania is particularly worrying us. I would say that it is the only country in Europe where there are such serious problems with freedom of expression. When I say Europe, I’m talking about the group of the EU states and those preparing for accession. You know, a situation where within several months three journalists become victims of violent aggression is a very rare, exceptional situation and one that does not exist in other European countries.

Evenimentul Zilei (EZ): Indeed, we are experiencing a new phenomenon in Romania, an increase in the incidence of violence against journalists. …

Robert Menard: It’s a novel and worrying feature, as it is obvious that in each case it involves journalists who were investigating corruption that is more or less related to the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD). And, obviously, the party and authorities can hardly bear it when their relationship with some businessmen is judged. It’s true that the European Union is constantly wagging its finger about the corruption that is allegedly strangling the country. We have the impression that, instead of the authorities trying to solve the problem of corruption, those who are doing their job and denounce it are being punished.

EZ: Doesn’t this picture, with its beaten journalists, place Romania more in line with countries from the former Soviet Union, such as Ukraine and Belarus?

Menard: There is this perception that … there are several countries of Central Europe, such as Poland, Hungary, [the] Czech Republic that have joined, to put it this way, the camp of democracies and Western Europe, and another country, Romania, that is still hesitant and is employing methods that do not meet European standards, and, because of that, it looks more like Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia rather than Belgium, Spain, and Great Britain. And this is an important problem. It reaches beyond the situation that journalists are in; it’s a problem that relates to the state of democracy in Romania.

EZ: But there are also journalists in the West who are victims of aggression. Where’s the difference?

Menard: Listen, there is no [state] violence against journalists in Western Europe. In a truly exceptional way, in France, in Corsica, there were journalists who were victims of separatist activists. The same is true in Spain, [in] the Basque country. There, there have been journalists attacked, even killed, by Basque separatists. But neither Corsican separatists nor those in the Basque region are in power in those countries. They are minority, marginal groups that the state is fighting against. The situation there is different than in a country such as Romania, where, it seems clear, the attackers aren’t unknown to the state authorities and the governing party.

There’s a huge difference between countries where there was violence committed by small groups condemned by the state and countries where the state--or people close to the administration--threatens the press.

EZ: What message would you send to the Romanian authorities?

Menard: I would tell them that if they want to integrate Romania [into the EU] in 2007, they must solve this problem, which has turned journalists into the target of some people close to the state authorities. You have no place in the EU if you don’t comply with international standards of freedom of expression. There is no democratic state without an independent press that is allowed to do its job. A press that lives in fear of threats and journalists who start to censor themselves, fearing to touch on some topics, is an abnormal situation and one that makes Romania an exception in Europe.

EZ: However, isn’t that the general situation in the world? You labeled 2003 as a “black year” for freedom of the press.

Menard: You’re right when you say that this is a trend in many other countries. But, in the case of Romania, we’re talking about a European country. I thought that such things couldn’t happen in Europe. If you read the report that we published, you’ll see that those 10 countries who are entering the EU this year safeguard the freedom of the media--and that’s something stated explicitly in the report. And Romania is an EU candidate country. To enter this club of democratic states, Romania must first safeguard freedom of the press better than other countries.

It’s true that there is a general worsening trend in the world. Look at the figures. … There have never been so many journalists attacked or killed, never so many publications censored. But that happens in other continents, not in Europe, and not in EU-candidate countries. Among the candidates, Romania is the only one in this situation.

EZ: Worldwide, you’re principally concerned about the situation in Cuba. …

Menard: In this moment, half of the UN member states do not protect freedom of the press, but there are countries where the situation is extremely worrying. You’re right when you name Cuba, because Cuba is today the country with the largest number of jailed journalists in the world. Cuba, China, Iran, and Eritrea are the countries with the highest number of journalists in jail.

There are also countries with fewer journalists under arrest, but where they are killed. We’re concerned with what happened in Iraq, where more than 15 journalists were killed, some of them by U.S. forces. The lack of real investigations into some of these cases is also worrying.

In conclusion, all the indicators that measure freedom of the press were “in the red” last year, and every figure of attempts to gag the press increased last year. But I repeat: in the case of Europe, we are talking about a continent where problems related to attacks on journalists are marginal and are not made by the state. In this Europe, of EU states and those willing to accede to it, Romania is the only country that worries us.

[…]

This is a shortened version of an interview conducted by Gelu Trandafir. Translated and adapted by Marius Dragomir.