The Romanian tax authority Anaf on Tuesday blocked all the accounts of public television channel TVR, naming the broadcaster's debts of roughly 77 million euros as the reason for its move. In reality this is a ploy by the new government aimed at bringing the broadcaster to heel, the daily Adevărul suspects: "True, the government is using the debts as an argument. But in our little country, where everything is compared with everything, one could point out that there are companies with much larger debts whose accounts haven't been blocked. This is the problem: everything is relative, even principles and stringency. … But the state's ruthless steps since the change of government are completely off the mark. The public broadcaster TVR has had debts for years, and it has always paid them. The broadcaster will always have debts because reforms are always blocked. It just happens to be a toy politicians are fond of playing with. And the worst of it is that we, the viewers, have no part in this story." (24/05/2012)
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Audiovisual Media, » Press freedom, » Romania
All available articles from » Mircea Vasilescu