Mircea Radu Badea (; born 24 February 1974 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

) is a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

libertarian conservative Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and, more rarely, ''conservatarianism'', is a Political philosophy, political and social philosophy that combines Conservatism in the United States, conservatism and Li ...

n political satirist,

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people who garnered fam ...

media critic Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

and occasional actor. He is widely known as host of ''În gura presei'' (The

Talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

of The Press) a show based on the daily news, that airs on Antena 3. Badea started as a radio host, but later branched into television as a co-host of the

Tele7ABC Tele7ABC () is a television station in Romania, which became popular in the 1990s and stopped airing in 2005. Launched in 1994, it was the second private TV channel in Romania to start airing after Antena 1. It was famous for airing such series ...

''Bună dimineața, România'' (Good Morning, Romania)

morning show Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news broadcasting, news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts Live television, live in the morning (typically broadcast pro ...

. Together with ''Bună dimineața, România'' co-host Teo Trandafir, he went on to work for the

Intact Media Group INTACT is the first Romanian media group based entirely on a private local business. A considerable number of the most important brands in the audio-visual and print industry have been launched under this umbrella since its first product, Intact ...

and host a show on Antena 1, called ''Dimineața devreme'' (Early morning), and then hosted another show on Antena 1 called ''Teo și Mircea Șou'' (Teo & Mircea Show). He has also had several film roles as an actor. Badea became the host of ''În gura presei'' on September 13, 2004, originally aired on Antena 1, then on Antena 3. Together with longtime friend Călin Stanciu, he is a co-executive-producer of the show. After Badea started ''În gura presei'', he steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, which also led to enduring controversy and resentment amongst various Romanian media personalities. Badea has gained significant acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of Romanian politics and most Romanian media outlets, in particular the coverage of

Realitatea TV Realitatea TV (, meaning "The Reality TV") is the former name of the Romanian news television channel Realitatea Plus. The channel began broadcasting in 2001 as a general-profile television and became the first Romanian news television in 2002. ...

Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name translates to "The event of the day" or "Today's event". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nisto ...

, and

România Liberă Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea t ...

. In spite of its type of satire, ''În Gura Presei'' and Badea himself have been nominated for a number of entertainment, news, and journalism national and international awards.

Early life

Badea was born in 1974 in

and attended the

Tudor Vianu National College of Computer Science The Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Science () is a public secondary school located at 10 Arhitect Ion Mincu Street, Bucharest, Romania. History The history of the Tudor Vianu National College of Computer Science begins with its bu ...

in the early 1990s. After graduating, he enrolled as a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

student at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. Jeana Gheorghiu, a very well known Romanian journalist and a family friend, got him his first job as a radio host in the early 1990s. In 2009, he won an APTR (Romanian Association for Television Programs) award, category "One Man Show".

Filmography

Throughout his career, Badea has made cameos in various Romanian movies. He mentioned his role in the 1999

Sergiu Nicolaescu Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu (; 13 April 1930 – 3 January 2013) was a Romanian people, Romanian film director, actor and politician. He was best known for his historical films, such as ''Michael the Brave (film), Mihai Viteazul'' (1970, released in ...

-directed ' (Death Triangle), saying he appeared in the movie because he had serious financial difficulties and was in need of money. * ''

Oglinda ''Oglinda'' ("The Mirror"), also known as ''Începutul adevărului'' ("The Beginning of Truth"), is a controversial 1993 film by Romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu. It depicts Romania during World War II, focusing on the Royal Coup of 23 August ...

'' (1993) * ' (1999) * ''Pitici și tătici'' (TV series) - 2003 * ''

Milionari de weekend ''Milionari de weekend'' (''Weekend Millionaires'') is a 2004 Romanian comedy film directed by Cătălin Saizescu. Cast * Tudor Chirilă - Godzi * Maria Dinulescu - Miki * Andi Vasluianu - computerist Zetu * Mihai Bendeac - barman Alex * Ge ...

'' (2004) * ''Live'' (2015)

Political stance

He used to be a frequent critic of president

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

, who in turn made a video clip ridiculing Badea. The video clip begins with president Basescu saying "it's raining outside", followed by a long diatribe of an actor looking like Badea complaining that the rain is supported by taxpayers' money. Badea aired a response the same day, which turned the satire on its head by asking a long series of politically inconvenient questions for the president, to which the "it's raining outside" presidential non-answer is played back. The exchange has received widespread media coverage. In recent years Badea has voiced his criticism against president

Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former teacher who served as the fifth president of Romania from 2014 until his resignation in 2025. Prior to entering Politics of Romania, national politics, ...

, the former

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

Chief Prosecutor

Laura Codruța Kövesi Laura Codruța Kövesi (; ; born 15 May 1973) is the first European Public Prosecutor's Office, European Chief Prosecutor and the former chief prosecutor of Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (), a position she held from 2013 until ...

, the prosecutors, the judges, and generally against the so-called #Rezist movement (mostly opponents of

Liviu Dragnea Liviu Nicolae Dragnea (; born 28 October 1962) is a Romanian engineer and former politician. Starting his career in the Democratic Party (PD), he joined the Social Democratic Party (PSD), eventually becoming its leader. After holding several pos ...

and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

-led government), whom he all sees as representatives of the Romanian secret services and the "parallel state", the Romanian "

deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...

" held responsible by Liviu Dragnea and the government coalition for misusing the

anti-corruption campaign A far-reaching anti-corruption campaign began in China following the conclusion of the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. The campaign, carried out under the aegis of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP, ...

as political means against the PSD- ALDE government.

References

External links

"În gura presei" TV Show Recordings
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Badea, Mircea 1974 births Living people Television people from Bucharest Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies alumni Free speech activists Romanian libertarians Romanian male television actors Romanian male film actors Romanian journalists Romanian television personalities Romanian satirists Romanian conspiracy theorists Conservatism in Romania Critics of Marxism Tudor Vianu National College of Computer Science alumni