ActiveWatch calls for the resignation of the head of news at the Romanian public television, Laurențiu Ciocăzanu, on the grounds that he believes that the writing of articles paid for by a political party by a journalist is not unethical and should not be marked as paid advertising / Ciocăzanu: I don’t feel guilty about the contract with PNL

ActiveWatch is calling for the resignation of TVR’s head of news, Laurențiu Ciocăzanu, on the grounds that he believes that the writing of articles paid for by a political party by a journalist is not unethical and should not be marked as paid advertising, the organisation said in a statement. The statement claims that Libertatea newspaper reported that Laurențiu Ciocăzanu wrote articles for the website ziaristii.com in 2021, which were part of a contract with the PNL, and that the materials were published without being marked as political advertising. Laurențiu Ciocăzanu worked as a journalist for ziaristii.com and is also a shareholder in the company that owns the publication. The total value of the contract was more than €30,000.

Asked by Libertatea if he didn’t think that the professional rules obliged him to mark articles that were paid for by the PNL with a distinct sign (P – for publicity or article supported by the PNL), the current director of TVR news replied that „I don’t feel guilty” for the contract signed with the Liberals. He points out that, administratively, ” Grigore Cartianu took care of these operations.

Laurențiu Ciocăzanu, 54, joined TVR in spring 2022 and became head of news at the public broadcaster in September 2022. Ciocăzanu has worked in the press since 1992, having been editor-in-chief of Adevărul, deputy editor-in-chief of Evenimentul Zilei, editor for BBC Romania and reporter for România Liberă.

The full press release is reproduced below:

„ActiveWatch expresses its deep dismay at the information that has appeared in the public space regarding the unethical professional conduct of the current head of TVR News, Laurențiu Ciocăzanu. Libertatea newspaper revealed that Mr Ciocăzanu believes that it is not unethical for a journalist to write articles paid for by a political party and, moreover, that these articles should not even be marked as paid advertising.
Libertatea newspaper reported that Laurențiu Ciocăzanu wrote articles for the ziaristii.com website in 2021, which were part of a contract with the PNL, and the materials were published without being marked as political advertising. Laurențiu Ciocăzanu worked as a journalist for ziaristii.com and is also a shareholder in the company that owns the publication. The total value of the contract was more than €30,000.

We call on the Board of Directors of the Public Television to take measures for the urgent dismissal of Mr Ciocăzanu from the position of interim director of TVR News. We consider that Mr Ciocăzanu no longer meets the professional requirements to continue to head the editorial staff of TVR News, given that there are clear divergences between his professional convictions and the provisions of the Romanian Television Society’s Journalist’s Statute, which he is obliged to respect (e.g. Art.6 – „The journalist in public television has the obligation to refuse any interference and political, social or economic pressure made with the purpose, declared or disguised, of hiding, distorting or manipulating information, reporting any attempt of this kind”). In this context, we ask the Ethics Commission of Public Television to analyse to what extent Mr Ciocăzanu’s professional conduct at the website ziaristii.com, obviously marked by political partisanship, can still guarantee the duties of objectivity and professional fairness required by the Statute of the Journalist.

We also call on the Board of Directors of Public Television to take steps to organise a competition to fill the post of director of TVR News and to end the practice of delegating interim directors to this post. No less than three such directors have changed at the helm of TVR News during 2022. Such a policy of eliminating or limiting interim mandates should also be applied to the other similar situations in public television.

We believe that the presence at the head of TVR News of a person who deliberately and assumedly violated the most elementary rules of journalistic deontology seriously compromises the image and credibility of the public television, an institution which, due to political pressures, is in a permanent decline of public trust and is constantly criticized for its lack of performance and professionalism.
Moreover, the appointment of a person who has shown a lack of political balance in his journalistic work linked to the PNL, a party in the governing coalition, as head of TVR News raises serious suspicions about the existence of political motives for this decision.

Urgent clarification of the situation is required not only by the public mandate of the Romanian Television Company, but also by the pre-electoral and electoral context of 2023 and 2024, which will be extremely challenging for political parties, media institutions and, above all, for the citizens.”