Romania

[RO] TV Press Reviews Must Follow Advertising Rules

IRIS 2005-7:1/29

Mariana Stoican

Journalist, Bucharest

At the end of May 2005, the Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (Romanian regulatory body for electronic media - CNA ) instructed Romanian TV companies to comply more closely with the provisions of CNA Decision No. 254/2004 on sponsorship, advertising and teleshopping (Decizia CNA nr. 254/2004 privind sponsorizarea, publicitatea şi teleshoppingul), particularly in TV press review programmes. According to the decision, this step was necessitated by the fact that "certain television programmes illegally advertise particular publications, which has a negative impact on free competition in the printed media market” (Instrucţiunea CNA din 23 mai 2005). As a result, on the basis of Art. 17 (d) and (e) of CNA Act No. 504/2002, the CNA stipulated the following:

- Particular printed media or other broadcasters may not be advertised in TV sports programmes or discussion shows (no lists of contents, newspaper pages, titles or logos may be shown).

- Independent journalists may be invited to appear in such TV programmes in order to give their opinions on events of public interest. If a particular subject is dealt with by a publication or if certain accusations are made by a publication, this source should be mentioned.

- During TV press review programmes, the articles that are discussed and the titles of the publications concerned may be quoted and shown, although care should be taken not to give particular attention to one publication at the expense of others.

- The CNA requires that press review programmes should refer to articles published in national minority publications when dealing with subjects and events of particular public interest.