Romanian President Says Media Groups Are Used To Influence Political Decisions

"Here (on blogs dealing with politics - e.n), political analyses are more pertinent than those in newspapers, on the radio or television. This happens mainly because, at least at the moment, the internet is less dependent on economic and political interests. In Romania, there are many journalists who sought refuge in communicating on the internet leaving newspapers, as they cherish their freedom more than the price they had working for newspapers that were no longer writing for the public, but they were yielding to their owners' politics," Basescu said Tuesday at the WorldBloggingForum.

Basescu also said the Romanian media, apart from public televisions, are 80% dominated by private media groups, adding the biggest private media groups in Romania were set up by businessmen that had nothing in common with journalism and their companies began to be used as instruments to influence political decisions and obtain economic favors.

Basescu said media groups own newspapers, radio and television stations and they transfer certain subjects from one channel to another, blowing things out of proportion.

"The internet has recently entered this game too. Information on the internet is cited by a media group's newspaper, amplified on the radio and debated on TV channels belonging to the same group," Basescu said.

Basescu added blogs, as well as other media channels, should be self-regulated and work according to a set of guidelines.

Basescu also said he is a "civilized" internet user, adding it is necessary internet users should be responsible for the information they circulate on the internet.

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