România Liberă
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''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
founded in 1943 and currently based in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888.


History and profile

The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a daily newspaper focusing on politics published between 15 May 1877, (one day after Romania declared its independence from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
) and 13 April 1888, and afterwards by daily with somewhat erratic publication between 1915-1920. The current series of ''România liberă'' began on 28 January 1943, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, as an illegal newspaper of the Union of Patriots, a front organisation of the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
. During the war it opposed the
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
-allied government of
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...
, issuing calls to sabotage of the war industry and open armed resistance. Although after 1947 all the newspapers were controlled by the Communist Party, it has been described as the least ideological daily during the era of
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...
. It was also the only Romanian newspaper allowed to publish full-page advertisement sections. In 1988, four journalists from ''România liberă'', Petre Mihai Băcanu, Anton Uncu, Mihai Creanga, and Alexandru Chivoiu, attempted to publish a clandestine newspaper called ''Romania'' in which they criticized the Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and the censorship of the press, demanding press freedom and democracy. The four journalists were arrested by the
Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...
, the secret police of the Communist regime, and were thrown in prison. They were freed on December 22 by the revolutionaries who had overthrown Ceausescu. They returned to ''România liberă'' and transformed the newspaper into a voice of the opposition to communism. Although Ceaușescu was killed in December 1989, the power in Romania was taken mostly by former members of the Communist Party, notably
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...
. ''România liberă'' newspaper became the most critical voice against Iliescu and his government. The newspaper promoted conservative values, democracy, and the argued that Romania should join
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. They also wrote extensively about the abuses of the Securitate during the Communist Party's rule. In 1990, ''România liberă''s circulation rose as high as 1.5 million. However, those numbers fell off ten years later, and in 2000 the paper was purchased by the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
company WAZ. Echoing complaints of journalists at rival daily ''
Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name means "today's even (news)". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nistorescu and Mihai Cârciog, an ...
'', which was owned by the
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
press trust
Ringier Ringier AG is a media group in Switzerland, founded in 1833 in Zofingen and based in Zürich. The current strategy is based not only on media but also on e-commerce and entertainment. It has a yearly income of approximately 1000 million CHF and ...
, ''România liberă'' journalists complained in September 2004 that foreign owners were telling them to lessen political coverage and tone down their negative reporting of the government. Their concern was echoed by a variety of organizations including the
Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...
. Paper's management denied the charges. In the case of ''România liberă'', this protest took the form of a statement in the edition of 13 September 2004, in which the newspaper's editors protested interference by WAZ. They accused their German ownership of having no concern for the public interest, and accused Klaus Overbeck in particular of trying to dictate to them what they could print in the newspaper. At the time of purchase WAZ had promised to confine themselves to the business side of the newspaper and stay out of editorial matters.Magda Spiridon, Gabriela Palade, Gelu Trandafir
Revoluţie în stand-by. Deocamdată, Băcanu şi echipa sa rămân la România Liberă"
("Revolution on Standby. For the time being, Băcanu and team remain at ''România Liberă''"), ''Evenimentul Zilei'', 30 October 2004. Retrieved 16 August 2006, reproduced on HotNews.ro.
The paper has published ''
The New York Times International Weekly ''The New York Times International Edition'' is an English-language Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper distributed internationally by the New York Times Company. It has been published in two separate periods, one from 1943 to 1967 and one from ...
'' on Fridays for some tine beginning with 2009. This eight-page supplement featured a selection of English-language articles from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. In 2010 WAZ left the Romanian market and its shares at ''România liberă'', leaving businessman
Dan Adamescu Dan Grigore Adamescu (20 September 1948 – 24 January 2017) was a Romanian businessman who was the founder of The Nova Group, and was the second richest Romanian in 2013. In 2016, he was sentenced to four years and four months in jail for brib ...
as single share holder of Medien Holding Group.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Romania libera 1877 establishments in Romania Publications established in 1877 1943 establishments in Romania Publications established in 1943 Communist newspapers Newspapers published in Bucharest Romanian Communist Party Romanian-language newspapers Underground press in World War II Romanian news websites