Indicator history

Various reports monitoring the implementation of language rights as asumed by the Romanian state, mainly authored by state institutions but also by an NGO, make assesments and provide information on minority media. We have made a selection of  relevant information below. The information can be contextualized by reading the reports, whose links are provided under Sources:

Ownership

According to a report authored by the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center  (EDRC) NGO quoting data from the CNA [National Audiovisual Council] representative "there are dozens of station which broadcast in Hungarian. This fact is due to the dimension of the Hungarian minority (~6,6 % of the population) and also to the proximity to Hungary. There are many stations that broadcast in Romania from Hungary or are owned by Hungarian companies licensed in Romania. Especially where there is a large Hungarian community we can talk about private radio stations which operate based on market principles.” Although, “the fact that radio stations which broadcast in minority languages do not cover all the geographical areas where users of these languages live continues to be a problem. From this point of view it is important to mention that there are no private radio stations with regional coverage”, which is a disadvantage for users of Hungarian as mother tongue especially in the rural areas, or for those who live in areas which do not have a larger number of Hungarian ethnics.

“There are independent TV production studios at professional standards only in Hungarian. According to the TVR [Romanian National Television] representatives, thanks to some partnerships, TVR obtained the right to broadcast TV materials produced in these studios, especially documentaries movies. In return, TVR has the possibility to offer to these producer materials from its own archive, which contains programmes produced since 1969.”

According to the same report “[t]here is no centralized information regarding radio programmes in regional or minority languages broadcasted by private stations.  From the information obtained from the CNA representative, the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center find that "except Hungarian, Serbian and Turkish there are no radio programmes in national minority languages on other stations than those belonging to the public service. The reasons are mainly of financial nature, due to the small number of users of these languages, commercial station find no interest in including such programmes in their program schedules.” [1]

Broadcasting

As regards Hungarian language, Romania has undertaken by ratifying the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, adopted in Strasbourg in 1992 to “encourage and/or facilitate the creation of at least one radio station and one television channel”.

ERDC states that “[a]t this moment there is no public service radio station or television channel which broadcasts exclusively in Hungarian. An interim solution for compliance with these provisions is the creation in 2008 of the Târgu-Mureş regional television studio, which broadcast approximately 50% in Hungarian. Similarly, Radio Târgu-Mureş, which covers with programmes Mureş, Braşov, Harghita and Covasna counties, broadcasts weekly 3,000 minutes in Hungarian on FM (short waves), of which 2,200 minutes also on medium waves.”

The report also mentions that “[a] relevant aspect regarding access to radio programmes is the internet broadcasting. The online presence of a radio station has much smaller costs than traditional wave broadcasting and it can be received even outside the coverage area. The majority of private owned radio stations which broadcast in Hungarian can be listened to live over internet. As regards to the other minority languages, they can be listened to over internet thanks to the fact that SRR ensures live streaming of its programmes, regional public radio stations are available on www.radioromaniaregional.ro.” [2]

As a member state of the European Union, the provisions of Article 4 (a) 1. of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive 2007/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council) are applicable in Romania: "Member States shall ensure freedom of reception and shall not restrict retransmissions on their territory of audiovisual media services from other Member States for reasons which fall within the fields coordinated by this Directive”.

According to the Initial Periodical Report on the Implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Romania, quoting data from the National Audiovisual Council, the neighbouring states of Romania which are not members of the European Union may transmit programmes dedicated to the national minorities of Romania, based on an agreement of retransmission issued by the National Audiovisual Council for audiovisual programmes which do not fall under the provisions of an international agreement of free retransmission. “In this situation might be the programmes transmitted by the Ukraine, Serbia and the Republic of Moldova for the national minorities of Romania.” [3]

According to its activity report, TVR reserved a broadcasting time for weekly broadcasting on TVR3 channel of an artistic movie produced in states from which national minorities come, with Romanian subtitles. TVR signed or will sign collaboration agreements with public televisions from Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary.” [4]

Monitoring

The EDRC report submits that “[t]he media, in general, presents aspects regarding ethnic and linguistic minority communities and ethnic-linguistic diversity. However, there is no specialized body for controlling the written press; in the audiovisual field the guarantor of these principles (rather of non-infringement of these principles) is the National Audiovisual Council (www.cna.ro).” [5] “Some of the National Audiovisual Council decisions, with normative value, are also relevant (based on the Audiovisual Law no. 504/2002). Among the criteria on the basis of which the Council decides the issuing of audiovisual licenses are included the degree to which the structure and format of the programmes proposed by the broadcasters ensure the protection of national minority cultures and languages. […] In addition, it is stipulated that ‘in news programmes and debates on subjects of public interest regarding national minorities … the national minorities’ perspective shall be presented’”. [6]

“Regarding the written press, this field is not regulated by a special law, and it operates largely based on the principle of self-regulation. Journalists’ organizations drafted a deontological code and evaluate, through awards, the performances in this field. The Law on press in the Romanian Socialist Republic of 3rd March 1974, republished, is still in force, and it states that 'conditions for informing and expressing opinions also through press bodies in mother tongue are created for the working people of co-existing nationalities”' This law is practically ignored as regards to its enforcement, due to its lack of relevance for the current state of the press.” [7] 

It is considered by EDRC “that an analysis of the content of the broadcasted audiovisual productions and their relevance for the targeted audience and for the linguistic protection of regional and minority languages is necessary.”

 “As regards to the content of radio programmes, mostly the programmes broadcasted by public radio stations represent own productions. These are journalistic materials ranging from news bulletins to informative, educative and entertainment materials. Among the types rarely encountered in the program schedule, especially in own productions, can be found the radio theatre. Radio Cluj recorded and broadcasted in 2008 a Hungarian radio theatre play. The programme package for ethnic minorities of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Society includes radio materials through which SRR has the intention (according to the activity report) to cultivate the language and cultural values of national minorities, their traditions and customs, and to present the life and the preoccupations of ethnic communities that are part of the Romanian society.” [8] 

Through the Decision of the National Audiovisual Council no. 403/2005 “The commercial radio stations broadcast music, interactive programmes and are in general popular among the public. Depending on the type and coverage are of the station these are obliged to broadcast own productions containing local interest information”. [9] 

During 15 - 30 November 2010, the Faculties of Communication of Sapientia University and of Babes-Bolyai University with the support of Communitas Foundation carried out a monitoring on the correct use of the Hungarian language in the Romanian audiovisual programs. The study is published on the National Audiovisual Council's website.[10]

Furthermore, EDRC mentions in its report that “[t]he Hungarian magazine programme on TVR includes [...]a brief section dedicated to the correct speaking of the language. ” [11]

Source:

[1] Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center (2009) Report on the implementation of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Romania, Chapter on Media, page 11, available at http://www.edrc.ro/docs/docs/carta/Report-Lang-Charter-MM-final-ENG.pdf (Date of access: 20.02.2012.)

[2] Ibid. [1] page 10-12

[3] See Romania, Initial Periodical Report on the Implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Romania (2010), available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/PeriodicalReports/RomaniaPR1_en.pdf (Date of access: 20.02.2012.)

[4] Romanian Television Activity Report 2010, page 69 available at http://www.tvr.ro/files/88875.pdf (Date of access: 20.02.2012.). See also EDRC report, page 17

 [5] Ibid. [1], page 6

 [6] Ibid. [1], page 2

 [7] Ibid. [1], page 2

 [8] Ibid. [1], page 15

 [9] Ibid. [1], page 16. See also the Decision of the National Audiovisual Council no. 403/2005, available at http://arhiva.cna.ro/reglementari/decizii/d40305.html (Date of access: 20.02.2012.)

[10] National Audiovisual Council,  Studiul monitorizării limbii maghiare în programele audiovizuale din România (Study on monitoring the Hungarian language in the Romanian audiovisual programs), 21.02.2011., available in Hungarian at  http://www.cna.ro/-Monitorizarea-limbii-maghiare-in-.html (Date of access: 20.02.2012.)

 [11] Ibid. [1], page 16