The print media in Romania after WWII

The printed media in the 20th century has gone through a number of phases of development, from being independent to censored or fully banned. The most serious cases infringing on freedom of the media but also human rights, occurred over 1945-1989, during the communist regime. After 1945, after having enjoyed the fresh air of freedom for a few years after the censorship introduced by the fascist regime, the new communist authorities reintroduced censorship with much harsher provisions. During this time as well, however, there were those journalists that tried to do their job as best as they could, based on the principles underlying media institutions.

Dorel Dorian worked as a journalist at the end of WWII, and wrote for nearly all types of newspapers and magazines. In 1997, he told the Center for Oral History about the importance of newspapers in his parents' house.

"I was fascinated by the press long before I got to learn this trade. Newspapers were sacred to my family and I. I had no idea how they were written. My father had told me I shouldn't believe what the newspapers wrote, because, even though you learn to read between the lines, and despite journalists' best intentions, truth will out. It was a calling, the written word was holy to me, I was confident I needed to look the word that told the truth. I was young, It was a time of great spiritual upheaval, although I made some mistakes, as I later discovered. It was an investment, a sacred investment in some ideals that I deemed to be the ultimate purpose: social justice, freedom and moral fiber, an acknowledgement of individual value. I believed in all these things, I do even today, although for a long time the path I chose turned out not the best right for me".

Young Dorian started writing at the age of 16, in 1945. Yet he soon noticed he was faced with choosing between his passion and daily reality.

"In the summer of '48, a whole string of events made he decided to study engineering. I doubted I could make a living out of writing, and I had a family to take care of. I was also good at math, at abstract things. So I enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute, the Energy Faculty, and I graduated in '53. I continued writing for the press all this time. During the '53 Festival in Bucharest, I was one of the most sought-after journalists - I wrote stories, notes and reports. Right after graduation I moved to Jiu Valley and was appointed head of the technical and electric department at one of Romania's first thermal power plants".

After the invasion of Hungary in 1956, Dorian noticed a change in the media: from the revolutionary momentum after the war, the media started to lose its voice, the Student Life magazine being just an example.

"I saw the media had started to turn dull. Many articles were written as if commissioned, there was direct and obvious political involvement. And we understood they were trying something else after '56, because students started to react. I must admit this was short-lived. After the second issue came out, there was a huge public scandal revolving the Student Life magazine. It was a serious issue that was discussed in the Central Committee by Ceaușescu himself, in a meeting also attended by Leonte Răutu and Petre Gheorghe. We were all called to say what we were after, what our life plans were, how we ended up doing what we were doing, and if we considered ourselves part of an Enlightened Movement".

Dorian therefore chose to switch to technical journalism.

"Ion Iliescu, who was now the secretary of the party's Central Committee, asked me what the authorities could do to appeal to the young generations again, over which the regime was starting to lose its influence. I told him very honestly that I was thinking about a magazine for construction amateurs, something to give them a hobby. So this is how the Tehnium magazine came into being. After three years of working for Science and Technology and Tehnium, the magazines were doing really well. The chairman of the Academy, Drăgănescu, asked me to switch to a scientific magazine with a wider reach and a more professional approach. At the time he was running the Free Romania newspaper, which also had a magazine issue. I said yes. I also contributed to other publications, such as the Woman magazine. I was called Dorina Petcu at the time, and would take care of the fan mail. Our readers wanted to meet Dorina Petcu, but this meeting was out of the question."

In 1989, the Romanian media underwent a new phase with the changing times. It was a landmark that diversified the media landscape. (VP)