The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Romanian News ‘Must Have Happy Stories’
| 26 June 2008 |
Romania's Senate has backed the bill
The measure is the idea of two senators - one from the governing National Liberal Party, the other from the far-right Great Romania party - who bemoan the "irreversible effect" of negative news "on the health and life of people."
Its aim, they said, is to "improve the general climate and to offer to the public the chance to have balanced perceptions on daily life, mentally and emotionally."
It would be left to the national audiovisual council in Romania, a European Union newcomer where media was tightly controlled until the 1989 collapse of communism, to judge what is "positive" and "negative."
Less than impressed is the council itself, along with journalists who hope the legislation will be blocked.
"News is news," said council chairman Rasvan Popescu, quoted by the Mediafax news agency.
"It is neither positive or negative. It simply reflects reality. I don't believe that the introduction of such quantitative criteria can work. Events cannot be programmed, nor can minds."
