Romanian Pres Warns Media To Refrain From ‘Dirty’ Attacks Against His Family

Romania’s President Traian Basescu on Friday criticized very harshly several media corporations, accusing journalists of unfair attacks that target both him and his family.

11 views

Basescu said during his return from a visit to Brussels that, as a husband and a father, he will reply to “all the dirt” aimed at his family.

Basescu mentioned a report published by Romanian daily “Jurnalul National,” which accused him of allegedly writing off a bank debt.

The report seeks to manipulate the public, as he did not contract any loans, Basescu said. Moreover, as minister of transportation, he could not have signed any acts to write off debts, Basescu added.

Basescu also referred to a “media campaign” targeting his youngest daughter Elena, accusing the “men in the media” of measuring their powers with an “innocent child.”

Romanian businessmen Dan Voiculescu, Sorin Ovidiu Vantu and Adrian Sarbu, owners of media corporations, as well as the public television TVR were some of the names mentioned by Basescu in his harsh statement.

Basescu portrayed Romanian journalists as defenders of politicians, prosecutors, police officers and fellow journalists who were involved in massive frauds that led to the bankruptcy of banks such as Bancorex and Banca Agricola.

He accused the journalists of writing their stories against him and his family for money, calling them “jukeboxes running on euros.”

Media officials retorted Basescu’s accusations, saying the press materials on his daughter Elena referred only to her public position of secretary general with the Democratic Liberal Party, or PDL.

“The President doesn’t know what is talking about,” said Sorin Oancea, vice-president of private television station Antena 1 and general manager of Antena 3. “Our approach referred to the secretary general with PDL, and not to the president’s daughter,” Oancea mentioned.

Officials with TV station PRO TV, which recently started airing a series on political issues, said in their turn that the series is purely fictional and the TV station has no business in discrediting or compromising anyone.

“We are glad to see the President is promoting one of PRO TV’s programs. It is important, however, to emphasize that PRO TV is in no way seeking to discredit and compromise anyone. PRO TV promotes ideas and people Romania needs. “Anticamera” (The Waiting Room) is a fictional program and each viewer is free to interpret as they wish,” said Maria Apostol, PR Director with MediaPRO trust, owner of PRO TV.

“While in office, Traian Basescu cannot make statements as a mere private person, not even in his quality of head of his family, as anything he says is interpreted as being the opinion of the head of state. Incriminating the entire media, indiscriminately, has severe impact on the status of Romanian journalists. We wish to remind the president that a similar public outburst of defense minister Ion Mircea Pascu led to an increase in physical abuses of the criminal organizations against journalists, because these organizations interpret such statements as encouragements,” said Mircea Toma, leader of Romania’s Press Monitoring Agency.

Toma mentioned Basescu should file libel suits against those he deems responsible for the attacks against his family, “just like one of his daughters successfully did.”

Toma referred to a calumny suit Elena Basescu filed against two Romanian dailies that alleged Elena was a drug user.

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.