How many journalists are there in Romania? More than two? I ask because whenever I turn on my television I see the same two people: Cristian Tudor Popescu and Ion Cristoiu. For the uninitiated, Cristian Tudor Popescu is a former science fiction writer turned journalist who plays a half decent game of tennis, I am told. He recently walked out of Adevarul, where he was Editor-in-chief, to set up his own newspaper, Gandul. Ion Cristoiu is a lifelong journalist who has worked at a number of newspapers, and who – when he launched Evenimentul Zilei many years ago – created one of the best read newspapers Romania had seen until then.
From the start it should be made clear that both of them are very good journalists. They write in a gripping, often contrary style, provoking and pushing boundaries, often to the point of absurdity to make their point. They both have much to say about any number of topics, be it flooding in western Romania, the death of the Pope, the kidnapping of Romanian journalists or the Romanian football team”s failure to qualify for the World Cup. But that, I am afraid, is the problem. And neither do they keep their opinions to the printed page. Morning, noon and night there they are on Realitatea, N24, Prima, TVR, Antena 1… often on two or three different channels in the same evening. Experts in everything they are what we would call in Britain, rent-a-mouths.
Don”t get me wrong; they are often interesting to listen to, especially when discussing hard political issues. But variety is the spice of life, and sometimes I can”t help thinking that an expert in flood prevention might be more suitable to talk about flooding than Cristian Tudor Popescu. Likewise, I am more likely to be interested in the thoughts of a catholic bishop on the death of the Pope than I am Ion Cristoiu”s. Alas, if Romanian television stations give their viewers what they want, and only what they want, then I must be in a minority of one. The people, it appears, want Popescu and Cristoiu.
This is what the BBC”s peerless John Simpson has termed look-at-me journalism. The story is not the story; the story is what the journalist thinks the story should be. Better still, the journalist his or herself is the story. CNN pioneered this kind of journalism, having its reporters deliver reports in flak jackets, or wearing gas masks, to heighten their plight and to demonstrate the danger they were in. Simpson – again – relates in his autobiography how he was once sharing a satellite uplink with a CNN reporter in Belgrade. The CNN reporter was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a gas mask while filing his live report. Simpson went on next to deliver his report in a light shirt and barbeque slacks. Priceless, but this was some time ago. Even the BBC is not immune to such tricks now.
And neither is Romanian television news. Why are Popescu and Cristoiu such regulars on television? Because producers know they will say something controversial. The subject they are talking about is, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant. What they say is the story.
Likewise, one Romanian television station (Antena 1) currently has a team of journalists in Iraq. Why? Because it”s there. They are not – as far as I know – chasing a particular story; they are there to report the fact that, well, they are there, so soon after three of their colleagues had been kidnapped doing much the same. This is not news; this is tabloid journalism at its worst, where only absolutes will do. Iraq is dangerous, we are in Iraq, how brave we are. I am sure that Popescu and Cristoiu will have something to say about the Antena 1 outing to Iraq. (As I write I am told that another station, N24, has also sent a team to Iraq but have been unable to get into the country). All this after President Traian Basescu pleaded with journalists last week not to go to Iraq unless they had good reason. Popescu and Cristoiu will have an opinion about that too, and they will not be shy to share it with us.
There are alternatives. While a period of silence from Popescu and Cristoiu would be welcome I do not want to see them disappear forever. When it comes to politics they have decent things to say. But there are others to help fill out the roster, to make sure that no pundit appears on more than one channel per evening. I am thinking of the excellent Liviu Mihaiu, deputy editor of Academia Catavencu, always entertaining but never sensationalist. I am thinking of Mircea Dinescu, conscience and poet of Romania”s revolution who appears on television only in fits and starts, and who, like Mihaiu, is always entertaining but never deliberately controversial. Perhaps in time I will become as tired of seeing them as I do Popescu and Cristoiu. Until then all I can say is that I”d like the chance.
Craig Turp is the Publisher of In Your Pocket