Off the record meeting between president Basescu and the foreign journalists accredited in Romania

Romania’s president Traian Basescu invited foreign correspondents accredited in Romania to an off the record meeting at Sinaia, a mountain town in Romania, on Saturday. According to a Romanian TV station, president Basescu warned the representatives of media such as Reuters, France Presse or ARD against the negative effects the Gazprom monopoly could have on Europe’s economies.

Romanian lipsynch all time favorite

Video: ‘Viermele energetic’ (’The Energetic Worm’), anonymous performers, apparently in a student campus in Bucharest. Audio: ‘Dumbala, dumba’ by Taraful din Clejani.

Another Mediapro site to be relaunched on Monday

Acasatv.ro (RO), the site of the very successful soap operas Romanian television Acasa TV, will be relaunched on Monday, November 13th. The Acasa TV PR stated in a press release the new site will bring users increased interactivity, photo and video galleries, while keeping the popular forum.

Launched in 1988 by Media Pro International, a company presently owned by CME (90 %) and Adrian Sîrbu (10 %), which also includes Pro TV, the most successful Romanian TV station, Acasa TV achieved in several years a general commercial status, with average ratings placing it sometimes above the first channel public television (TVR 1). Presently, it has a market share of 5-7 % and achieves good ratings with Romanian south-American style soaps such as “Daria, iubirea mea” or “Iubire ca in filme”. Acasatv.ro was placed on Saturday, November 11th, the 31st place in the mass media top on Trafic.ro, the Romanian unofficial Internet rating

• Acasa TV new daily schedule, launched on November 6 (EN), links to CME, background
• Soap operas Iubirecainfilme.ro and Dariaiubireamea.ro launched (EN)

Bigger images of the two sites: | More…

Credibility and awareness of Romanian blogs have definitely risen. What next?

Romanian blogs have started to be used as information sources by the print media, and a discussion about blog credibility and info attribution is on-going in places such as Blog.HotNews.ro (RO) or Netoo.wordpress.com (RO).

Although there is no even response to the question ’should blogs be quoted as an information source?’, the polemics, which includes positions by journalists from print media, reveals newspapers as facing another provocation due to the technological superiority of blogs.
Niche domains, such as mass media, have a rather small group of dedicated readers that check blogs such as Blog.HotNews.ro (maintained by this author), Jurnalismonline.ro, Tolontan.ro, Orlando.ro, Manafu.ro or Gustiroman.ro (all: RO) frequently. Obviously, newspaper readers should not see the same news the next day in the print edition, so print media should adapt to the new situation with a new editorial policy. Or, otherwise, lose their readers, at least in narrow domains like the one discussed. | More…

Human resources crisis on the Romanian media market

Money can’t buy you happiness for sure on the Romanian media market. Three of the richest and most controversial Romanians, Dinu Patriciu, Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu and Dan Voiculescu, launched or disclosed plans for launching new titles on the print media market, TV stations or Internet sites this year. Their plans brought the market on the fringe of a human resources crisis.

Latest buzz: Patriciu went to Vîntu and Voiculescu to propose a mutual agreement, in order to avoid reciprocal HR damage… | More…

A printerbreeding tale

The ‘Averea’ newspaper was published today with a different layout, three weeks after 50 to 60 people left the leading tabloid in Romania, ‘Libertatea‘, to take over ‘Averea‘. The journalists, led by Adrian Halpert, the editor-in-chief of ‘Libertatea’, claimed that Ringier Romania, the Swiss editor of the tabloid, hardly rewarded the editorial team for the the very high income brought by the title, estimated at over 7 million euros in 2006. | More…

A part of the gold goes to Comanescu…

Comanescu SRL has been a partner in a project which brought a PR award to Tempo Advertising, a major advertising agency in Romania. Tempo has received a golden prize for the ‘Biosecurizat’ PR campaign, at the ‘Excellence in Public Relations’ Gala, on Monday, November 6. Comanescu SRL was commissioned the writing of 40 of the 66 advertorials included in the ‘Biosecurizat’ campaign for Agricola, one of the major poultry meat producers in Romania.

The ‘Biosecurizat’ campaign is a crisis PR concept drawn up by Tempo, necessary due to the emergence of avian flu in Romania, earlier this year. Like everywhere, consumers in Romania had the tendency to avoid chicken meat, in spite of the secure processing of the meat and meat products.

• The complete list of the awards (EN)

| More…

Turkish group Dogan Media’s expansion into Romania: high-profile Romanian in top position

A high-profile Romanian will hold a key position in the Turkish media group Dogan’s business in Romania, one source close to the company’s management told Comanescu.ro. Dogan is planning a massive expansion in Europe and will launch an entertainment channel, Kanal D, on Romanian cable networks next spring. Involvement of Dogan Media on the Romanian market has aroused a great deal of discussions among managers in other Romanian TV companies. According to the rumors, Dogan is aiming high and has lots of money to achieve its purposes.

Romanian newspapers association upset about stories in ‘The Sun’

The Romanian Press Club (CRP) sent a letter to the British Embassy in Bucharest yesterday, complaining about the ‘manipulation’ and the ‘instigation’ of the British audience by ‘high circulation publications in the UK’. Apparently the letter aims some stories published by ‘The Sun’, that depict a degree of concern about labor migration phenomena and the consequences of the admission of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU on January 1st, 2007.

The CRP is an influential, but controversial professional organization in Romania. It has been often criticized for the attempt to represent both publishers and journalists.

• The Sun (Nov. 07): ‘We must stop EU crime wave‘ - letters from the readers (EN)
• The Sun (Aug. 24): ‘Romania in panic at exits’ (EN)
• The Romanian Press Club’s letter (RO)

Romanian manager warning: You need some patience with people in Romania, big guys!

Potential foreign investors should prepare a serious patience supply in order to enter the Romanian media market, Aurelian Amuraritei, the former executive director of ‘Adevarul’ said, in an ymterviu (interview by yahoo messenger) with this author on Blog.HotNews.ro. ‘Romanian market does need specialists, training, know-how, technology, but also lots of patience,’ Amuraritei said. ‘The market, the journalists, the owners are hardly prepared for radical changes.’

Aurelian Amuraritei also said he is taking into account three offers for three important companies in Romania, and also disclosed he’s interested in television, after two top positions in print companies (Ringier Romania and ‘Adevarul’).

• ymterviu.010 with Aurelian Amuraritei (RO)