The European Journalism Centre will organize next year a contest for bloggers that want to cover the European Parliamentary Elections.
That’s a great idea - especially for countries like Romania, where the voters still need a great deal of information on this matter. And the Internet seems, for the moment, the best way to do it.

Only three conditions should be fulfilled before you register:

1. Nationality of EU Member State
2. Possibility to submit your posts in English
3. Previous publication(s) if applicable

and afterwards:

1. Participation in the launch event in Brussels (25-27th January, 2009)
2. At least one post per month (from February 1 to June 9, 2009)

Think about it!

Comisia pentru cultura a Parlamentului European a adoptat marti un raport a carui concluzie a fost ca exista o nevoie ‘disperata’ de adoptare a unor masuri de protejarea a independentei editoriale si a calitatii in media, pentru a preveni interventiile atat din partea proprietarilor (pentru ‘tonomatele in euro’) cat si (Doamne Ajuta!) din partea guvernelor - si a presedintilor, subliniez eu candid (pentru tonomatele care functioneaza pe baza de dosare SRI). Ma rog, referinte directe s-au facut (deocamdata) la adresa prim - ministrului italian Silvio Berlusconi, patron al unei ‘felii’ importante din media peninsulara.

O recomandare a raportului se refera la aplicarea legilor privind competitia in media pentru a asigura pluralismul, o alta mentioneaza elaborarea unei ‘carte editoriale’ pentru a stabili o linie de demarcatie intre problemele editoriale si cele comerciale.

Raportul nu are putere legala, este doar pentru informarea insitutiilor europene, insa are toate sansele sa devina realitate deoarece a trecut cu 33 de voturi (unul contra) si este sustinut de absolut toate partidele Parlamentului European.

Cheia problemei sta in faptul ca aceste masuri sunt vazute ca necesare protejarii democratiei insasi.

Since more and more Romanians are fighting for their rights in European Courts, after losing any hope in the black hole called ‘Romanian Justice’, I think these links might be useful:

European Court of Human Rights - ECHU (CEDO - for Romanians).

Good luck!

Note: at this hour, Gabriel Stefanescu, who recently won a trial at ECHR, is invited at Victor Ciutacu’s talk show. (Who knows, maybe this is the way to recover the money for the “lost” Romanian fleet :D)

(N.B. ECHR is not an EU institution, it belongs to the Council of Europe - international organization, independent of EU)

Tomorrow starts the 9th International Festival of Documentary Film and Visual Anthropology, ASTRA FILM SIBIU 2007.

One of the special programs is “View on Eastern Europe” - a selection of documentaries produced by Arte and BBC/Ch4 in the last 15 years about Eastern Europe.
There will be live transmissions on Arte TV and daily news on TV5, Duna TV.

Promo

Not only in Romania are the readers comparing the ‘traditional’ media with the blogosphere. In his interview for EurActiv, Joël de Rosnay, author of “The Pronetarian Revolution”, is talking about the road “from mass media to media of the masses”:

Another reason behind the mass media crisis is of course the increasing success of Internet and especially the creation of information by internet-users themselves. The blog phenomenon, interactive websites, P2P and personal diaries have contributed to flooding the Net with quality information that is extremely diverse but often original, giving a new angle to the news.

Media of the masses carry more nuances than classical media. Citizens recognise themselves in the multitude of diverse expressions, relayed by blogs inter-connected by RSS, a surprising amplification system. The “buzz” between internet-users can make opinions move, much more than traditional political campaigns using the big classical media.

We can easily recognize the same discussions that took place these days between some Romanian bloggers and the journalists.