Area Handbook for Romania Part 21

THE PRESS

Newspapers

According to the latest official statistics, there were a total of seventy-six "general information" newspapers published throughout the country in 1969. Of these, fifty-one were dailies, twenty-three were weeklies, and two appeared at infrequent intervals, from two to three times per week. Daily circulation estimates were available for very few newspapers. Together, these newspapers had a total annual circulation of more than 1.1 billion copies, a substantial increase over the 1950 level of 870 million copies that was achieved by the seventy-five newspapers then being published. The acceptance of high circulation figures as an indicator of reader appeal is of doubtful value, however, since many readers were required to subscribe to newspapers because of their party or work affiliation. Also, certain functionaries throughout the governmental apparatus and many supervisory workers had subscription costs automatically deducted from their salaries.

Newspapers traditionally have been published in the national minority languages, but since the mid-1960s the government has published no official statistics on them, apparently in keeping with its integrationist policy (see ch. 7). In 1964 it was estimated by Western observers that the ethnic minorities were served by approximately twenty newspapers, including eight dailies, with an annual circulation of slightly more than 103 million copies.

All newspapers are licensed by the General Directorate for the Press and Printing, the state agency that also controls the allocation of newsprint, the manufacture of ink and other printing supplies, and the distribution of all publications. Thus the government is in a position to prohibit the appearance of any newspaper or other publication either directly by revoking the license or indirectly by withholding essential supplies or services. Each newspaper is organized into a collective enterprise made up of the entire personnel of all departments. Chief responsibility for the content of the paper is vested in an "editorial collegium" headed by the chief editor. Meetings are held periodically between all chief editors and party representatives, which serve as an effective means of followup control in lieu of prepublication censorship.

Major ma.s.s organizations, government-sponsored groups, local government organs, and the PCR and its subsidiaries publish the most important and influential papers, both in Bucharest and in the larger cities of the various counties (see table 3). Little lat.i.tude is allowed in the presentation of news, and almost all papers follow a serious, monotonous format that has little popular appeal. Shortly after renewed emphasis was placed on the ideological and political education of the population in mid-1971, a Western journalist likened the nation to a huge cla.s.sroom in which unpopular and trite subjects were being presented to an unreceptive cla.s.s by an exhortative ma.s.s media.

The most authoritative and widely read newspaper is _Scinteia_, founded in 1931 as the official organ of the Central Committee of the party. It has, by far, the largest daily circulation and enjoys considerable prestige as the outlet for party policy p.r.o.nouncements as well as for semiofficial government att.i.tudes on both national and international issues. The eight-page newspaper appears seven days a week and is national in scope. Its editorials, feature sections, and chief articles are frequently reprinted, in whole or in part, by smaller newspapers in outlying areas. Quotations and summaries are also repeated regularly in shop bulletins and in information letters put on by many enterprises, plants, and factories.

The next most important dailies are _Romania Libera_, established by the Socialist Unity Front in 1942; _Munca_, founded in 1943 as the voice of the Central Council of the General Union of Trade Unions and _Scinteia Tineretului_, the organ of the Union of Communist Youth, which has been published since 1944. Each of these newspapers is much smaller than _Scinteia_ and is directed at a particular group of readers of level of society. Although _Romania Libera_ contains items of both national and international interest, it deals primarily with the problems a.s.sociated with the "building of socialism" at the local level. Similarly, _Munca_ directs its major effort at the labor force and stresses the cooperative relationship between workers and industry. _Scinteia Tineretului_, in like manner, concentrates on the younger element of the population and stresses the ideological and political training of youth as the basis for a "sound socialist society."

_Table 3. Princ.i.p.al Romanian Daily Newspapers, 1971_

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily Publication Circulation Place Publisher (in thousands) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _Crisana_ ___ Oradea Romanian Communist Party _Dobrogea Noua_ ___ Constanta Do.

_Drapelul Rosu_ 54 Timisoara Do.

_Drum Nou_ ___ Brasov Do.

_Drumul Socialismului_ ___ Deva Do.

_Elore_[1] ___ Bucharest Hungarian People's Council _Faclia_ ___ Cluj Romanian Communist Party _Faklya_[1] ___ Oradea Hungarian People's Council _Flacara Iasului_ ___ Iasi Romanian Communist Party _Flacara Rosie_ ___ Arad Do.

_Flamura Prahovei_ ___ Ploiesti Do.

_Igazsag_ ___ Cluj Do.

_Inainte_ ___ Craiova Do.

_Inainte_ ___ Braila Do.

_Informatia Bucurestiului_ ___ Bucharest Do.

_Munca_ ___ do General Union of Trade Unions _Neuer Weg_[2] 100 do German People's Council _Romania Libera_ 200 do Socialist Unity Front _Satul Socialist_ ___ do Union of Agricultural Production Cooperatives _Scinteia_ 1,000 do Romanian Communist Front _Scinteia Tineretului_ 300 do Union of Communist Youth _Sportul Popular_ ___ do Union of Culture and Sports _Steagul Rosu_ ___ do Romanian Communist Front _Steau Rosie_ ___ Tirgu Mures Do.

_Szabad Szo_[1] ___ Timisoara Hungarian People's Council _Viata Noua_ ___ Galati Romanian Communist Party _Voros Zaszlo_[1] ___ Tirgu Mures Hungarian People's Council -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___ circulation unknown 1. Published in Hungarian.

2. Published in German.

The princ.i.p.al and most widely known minority-language newspapers are the Hungarian daily _Elore_ and the German _Neuer Weg_, also a daily. Both of these newspapers contain generally the same news as Romanian newspapers with additional local items of minority interest, such as cultural developments and problems a.s.sociated with minority language use in education and other fields.

Periodicals

The number of periodicals published throughout the country increased from a total of 387 in 1960 to 581 in 1969, according to the latest government statistics. The total annual circulation of periodicals almost doubled during this time, increasing from about 105 million copies to approximately 209 million. More than 340 of these magazines and journals were published either quarterly or annually, the remainder appearing either weekly, monthly, or at some other intervals. No indication was given within this general cla.s.sification of the number of publications that were issued in the minority languages or were directed at special minority interest groups.

All periodicals are considered official publications of the various sponsoring organizations and are subject to the same licensing and supervising controls as newspapers. Virtually all magazines and journals are published by ma.s.s organizations and party or government-controlled activities, such as inst.i.tutes, labor unions, cultural committees, and special interest groups. They cover a broad range of subjects and include technical and professional journals, among them magazines on literature, art, health, sports, medicine, statistics, politics, science, and economics. The technical and scientific journals are intended for scholars, engineers, and industrial technicians; cultural and political periodicals are aimed at writers, editors, journalists, artists, party workers, and enterprise managers; and general publications are intended to appeal to various segments of the population, such as youth, women, and both industrial and agricultural workers.

Two of the best known and most widely circulated magazines are _Lupta de Clasa_ and _Contemporanul_. _Lupta de Clasa_, a monthly published by the Central Committee of the PCR, had an estimated circulation of about 70,000 in 1969 and was considered to be the foremost political review.

It deals with the theory of socialism and is extensively quoted in the daily press as a semiofficial voice in domestic affairs.

_Contemporanul_, the weekly organ of the Council on Socialist Culture and Education, had a circulation of approximately 65,000 and was a leading authority on political, cultural, and social affairs. Through its wide range of articles it serves as a primary vehicle for conveying party policy to writers, journalists, editors, and publishers in all fields.

Other periodicals cover a broad spectrum and included _Femeia_, the monthly magazine of the National Council of Women; _Probleme Economice_, the monthly review of the Society of Economic Sciences; _Tinarul Leninist_, a monthly magazine for members of the Union of Communist Youth; _Luceafarul_, a semimonthly review of foreign policy matters published by the Union of Writers; _Romania Literara_, a literary, artistic, and sociopolitical weekly also published by the Union of Writers; _Urzica_, a humorous and satirical semimonthly review published by the PCR; _Volk und Kultur_, a monthly review published in German by the Council on Socialist Culture and Education; and _Korunk_, the monthly sociocultural review in Hungarian, published by the Hungarian Peoples' Council.

One of the magazines best known outside the country is _Romania Azi_, a richly ill.u.s.trated social, economic, and cultural monthly magazine published by the Foreign Language Press. In addition to Romanian, it is also published in English, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. The government also sponsors a series of scholarly reviews dealing with studies on southeastern Europe, the history of art, Romanian historical and artistic development, and linguistics. These reviews appear at infrequent intervals and, in addition to the Romanian edition, are offered on subscription in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish.

News Agencies

The Romanian Press Agency (Agentia Romana de Presa--Agerpres) was established in 1949, with the exclusive right to the collection and distribution of all news, pictures, and other press items, both domestic and foreign. In recent years, however, it has concerned itself almost exclusively with news from foreign countries, leaving much of the domestic news coverage to the correspondents of the larger daily newspapers. Agerpres, in 1972, operated as an office of the central government under the direct supervision and control of the Central Committee of the party.

The headquarters for Agerpres is maintained in Bucharest, with some sixteen branch offices located in other major towns and cities throughout the country. In addition, it staffs on a full-time basis twenty-one bureaus abroad, princ.i.p.ally in the larger capital cities of Europe, Africa, South America, and the Far East. Until 1960 its most important source of foreign news was the Soviet central news agency, through which it received the bulk of its foreign news releases and international news summaries. This arrangement was replaced by news exchange agreements with selected agencies of both the Western countries and the countries of Eastern Europe.

In addition to the Soviet agency, foreign news bureaus are maintained in Bucharest by the press agencies of Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). To service these bureaus and its own correspondents abroad Agerpres issues the daily Agerpres News of the Day and the weekly Agerpres Information Bulletin. For domestic consumption Agerpres distributes about 45,000 words of foreign news coverage daily to official government and party offices, to various newspapers and periodicals, and to radio and television broadcasting stations.

RADIO AND TELEVISION

Radio Broadcasting

In 1971 domestic radio broadcast service was provided by twenty AM (amplitude modulation) stations located in sixteen cities and by six FM (frequency modulation) stations located in Bucharest, Cluj, and Constanta. These stations are government owned and operate under the direct supervision of the Council of Romanian Radio and Television, an agency of the party's Central Committee. All broadcast stations are grouped into three major networks, known as Program I, Program II, and Program III. In addition, broadcast facilities are augmented by an extensive wired-broadcast network, which extended coverage into outlying areas where direct transmissions are subject to either geographic or atmospheric interference.

The most powerful stations are located in Brasov, Iasi, Boldur, Bucharest, and Timisoara. They range in power from 135 to 1200 kilowatts and transmit in the low- and medium-frequency bands. The FM stations operate exclusively in the very high frequency range and are all moderately powered at four kilowatts. The majority of the programs originate at studios in Bucharest and are rebroadcast by the network stations, which add short local news broadcasts and, from time to time, originate coverage of special events of local interest. In addition to government-provided subsidies, the industry also benefits from the license fees collected from the almost 3.1 million owners of radio receivers.

In 1971 scheduled regional programming was revised to include additional broadcast time for programs in the minority languages. These broadcasts were carried by four major stations including Radio Bucharest, with programs in Hungarian and German; Radio Cluj and Radio Tirgu Mures, with programs in Hungarian; and Radio Timisoara with programs in German and Serbo-Croatian. Most of these offerings are short and stress news, features, and talks by local personalities. These programs are also relayed over wire lines to local centers for distribution to public establishments, factories, and schools.

The programs offered on Programs I and II are generally of good quality but have a high ideological content and are lacking in diversity. In addition to news and weather reports, programs include special broadcasts for children and rural listeners, scientific, theatrical, cultural, and literary presentations, and a great variety of musical programs. Program III, which is limited princ.i.p.ally to the Sunday evening hours, carries many of the regular concerts given by the various national orchestras and choirs. Despite its limited broadcast schedule, Program III also carries indoctrination programs in the form of interviews and panel discussions.

Foreign broadcasts in thirteen languages were beamed to Europe and overseas by Radio Bucharest on one mediumwave and six shortwave transmitters in early 1972. These programs were on the air for a combined total of approximately 200 hours per week, averaged one-half hour in length, and generally carried domestic news and comments on international developments. In addition to Romanian, the broadcasts to European listeners were presented in English, German, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish. Overseas programs were beamed to North Africa and the Near East in Arabic, English, French, and Turkish; to Asia, in English and Persian; to the Pacific area, in English; to North America, in English, Romanian, and Yiddish; and to Latin America, in Portuguese and Spanish.

Radio Audience

The communist regime has long recognized the importance of radio broadcasting as a medium for both informing the people and for molding a favorable public att.i.tude toward the government. As a result, the construction of broadcast facilities and the production of receiving sets have been steadily increased since 1960. Also, during this same period the number of radio receivers increased more than 50 percent, from 2 million in 1960 to almost 3.1 million in 1970. The number of licensed receiving sets included approximately 870,000 wired receivers and amplifiers that usually reached group audiences in public areas.

By early 1972 the government had given no indication as to the results achieved by the radio in the intensified ideological campaign launched in mid-1971. Press reports revealed that, whereas radio programs continued to be criticized as to content and purpose, changes more favorable to the socialist concept of culture and political thought have not yet been extensive. Western programs, though fewer, were still being offered, and certain musical programs were being revised to favor the light and popular music of native composers over the modern Western style. Listener resistance to changes intended to improve the "communist education of the ma.s.ses" was revealed by official statements that called for the need of radio editors and program coordinators "to improve their skill" in arousing and focusing the interest of the radio audience on "up-to-date" programs.

Television Broadcasting

Since its inception in 1956, television broadcasting has been closely linked with radio, by the regime, as an increasingly important instrument of "propaganda and socialist education of the ma.s.ses." Like radio, television operated under supervision of the Council of Romanian Radio and Television, whose policy guidelines were received directly from the party apparatus. Also, as in the case of radio, television came under close scrutiny and criticism in mid-1971 in the intensified ideological campaign initiated by President Nicolae Ceausescu. By early 1972 changes in television network programming resulting from this campaign had not been revealed, but the press indicated that most of them were intended to limit foreign influence in literary, theatrical, film, and artistic broadcasts and to stress the Marxist-Leninist interpretation in presenting current events.

Although only recently developed as a new medium in ma.s.s communications, television has expanded more rapidly than radio. From the six stations that were operational in 1960, the industry had increased to a total of eighty-five in 1971. Of these, sixteen were princ.i.p.al transmitting stations located in various parts of the country, and sixty-nine were repeater stations. The number of television sets also increased significantly during this period, from 55,000 to almost 1.3 million. It was estimated by government authorities that programs aired over the 1.3 million licensed sets covered more than 80 percent of the country and could be seen by between 5 million and 6 million viewers.

The television network operates the Central European System of 625-line definition and broadcasts over two systems, Program I and Program II.

Program I was on the air daily during the evening hours for a total of thirty-eight hours per week. Program II broadcast weekday mornings and evenings for a total of eighteen hours. Most presentations originate on Program I and include, in addition to political, literary, and cultural programs, sports, news, doc.u.mentaries, and special programs for children and workers. Program II usually repeats most of the programs shown on Program I or summarizes certain telecasts for combined showings with other short features.

Foreign programs, chiefly from neighboring communist countries, are also available to Romanian televiewers. Most of this material is procured on a mutual exchange basis through Intervision (Eastern European Television), an organization to which Romania belongs. A substantial number of foreign telecasts, however, are also available to residents in border areas, by direct transmission.

BOOK PUBLISHING

Before World War II Romania was one of the leading Balkan nations in the publishing field. Annually, some 2,500 t.i.tles were commonly published in editions of 2,000 to 5,000 copies, with a high percentage representing original works of Romanian authors. After the communist takeover in 1948 all publishing facilities were nationalized, and the entire industry was converted to serve as a major propaganda and indoctrination instrument in support of the new regime. Between 1949 and 1953 the revamped publishing concerns turned out more than 13,500 separate t.i.tles, with a total of almost 250 million copies. This record amount of officially approved and censored material represented a whole new series of communist-oriented material needed to operate the highly centralized government, to reeducate the people, and to regulate their activities.

By 1955 the number of t.i.tles issued annually had decreased to a little more than 5,000, but total circulation remained relatively high at more than 48 million copies. From 1955 to 1966 the number of t.i.tles gradually increased and reached a plateau of about 9,000, where it remained through 1969. Annual circulation figures over the same periods of time fluctuated in a fairly regular pattern showing a controlled average number of copies issued per t.i.tle each year also to be about 9,000.

Thus, the planned publishing requirements as set by the government apparently were achieved in 1966 and have varied very little since then.