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The President of the Committee for culture, arts, mass media of the Deputies Chamber, Iulian Bulai, on Wednesday organized a debate on the violations of the right to freedom of expression committed in the case of journalist Emilia Sercan, with investigative journalists, politicians, representatives of the relevant organizations among the participants.
According to the participants in the debate, this is a growing phenomenon, and the discussions focused on the intimidation faced by journalists, the attempts to "cover up" the ongoing investigations by journalists, as well as the protection that journalists should enjoy.
"We are here because we face serious problems in Romania regarding the right to freedom of expression, problems like the intimidation of journalists, threats, bullying, even a cover-up of cases investigated by investigative journalists and not only. That is why we are here, to discuss where we are, what we can do, what our role as politicians is, what we can do in legislative terms, but especially to see where the problem is at the level of the authorities and how the law can be better applied," said USR (Save Romania Union) MP Iulian Bulai.
Journalist Catalin Tolontan said that Parliament is probably the best place to discuss these issues.
Journalist Alex Medea, who told the audience how he was abducted and beaten following an investigation, claimed that "all journalists in Romania are in danger."
In the opinion of journalist Emilia Sercan, "if the society does not react in a categorical and very harsh way towards the authorities that are involved in the cover-up operation, we will reach a point of no return."
"I want to say something that I have not mentioned so far, beyond threats, beyond the wave of hatred that can be raised against a journalist, which wave of hatred may even lead to physical aggression. After I wrote about the PhD thesis of PM Nicolae Ciuca, on January 18, the very second day I received a threat. I went to the police on the morning of January 20 (...) On 22, the same month, the Romania tv broadcaster, and I cannot even bring myself to call the people working there colleagues, presented some pieces of alleged information, a so-called disclosure, saying that I was a Russian spy, as well as the PressOne editorial office, as well as the owner, who is an American. I can't tell you how many messages I received, some of them even threatening, after that pseudo-investigation was aired, how many hate messages," Sercan said.
She reiterated that "Nicolae Ciuca's PhD thesis is plagiarized," and a government spokesman issued a statement on Tuesday, "somewhere in the back seat of the car taking him from home to government," after she posted on Facebook the questions addressed to the authorities regarding the case of intimidation.
Liana Ganea, programme coordinator at ActiveWatch Romania, highlighted the need for fundamental changes.
The executive manager of the Centre for Independent Journalism, Cristina Lupu, pointed out that one of the problems comes from the abstract way in which the authorities understand the use of public money.
Journalist Iulian Ionescu proposed to those present to initiate a legislative proposal that would provide a certain protection of the Romanian state for a journalist who files a complaint.
Attending the debate, the interim president of USR (Save Romania Union), Catalin Drula, stated that he heard with "a heavy heart that it is difficult for journalists to do their job., Agerpres informs.
