A new legal proposal, raised by a liberal MP in Romania, is making waves in all forms of media, voicing protests at what has been called yet another attempt to muzzle the press, in a country who’s only broken away from a totalitarian oppressive regime two decades ago.
Ioan Ghişe, a senator for the National Liberal Party, wants journalists to be psychiatrically evaluated every three years, to not be able to publish unless licenced to do so and to only be able to work in “media cabinets”, very similar to the sollicitors’ cabinets. Licences for journalists would be granted and revoked by a state authority – for situations such as a “media misdemeanour”.
The liberal’s project also wants to ban the publishing of any information that does not originate from a licenced “journalist’s cabinet” – a measure that would, obviously, put an end to citizen journalism.
The bill’s author has attempted to pass another law regarding the media, in 2008, when he supported a project that would have compelled the media to publish “bad news” and “good news” in equal proportions. The bill, luckily, has been rejected since.
The bill is now in Romania’s Senate House, where it will undergo the approval procedure. Media representatives have reacted either ironically, or in outrage. Ghişe’s own party, the National Liberal Party, claims the project has no backing whatsoever from the political organization.
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