1871 and 1888 editions Origins A newspaper by the name
Adevĕrulŭ (pronounced the same as , but following versions of the
Romanian alphabet which emphasized
etymology, in this case from the
Latin word
veritas) was founded on December 15, 1871. The weekly was owned by
Alexandru Beldiman, a former
Police commander, and published in
Iași, the former capital of
Moldavia. Beldiman directed the newspaper in opposition to Romania's new
Domnitor, the
German prince
Carol of Hohenzollern, calling for the restoration of his deposed and exiled predecessor, the Moldavian-born
Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Initially financed by a printer, who agreed to advance it a short-term credit, the new gazette was co-founded by Alexandru Beldiman and
Alexandru Al. Ioan, the son of former
Domnitor Cuza, and was again noted for its radical and often irreverent critique of newly crowned
King Carol and the "foreign dynasty". The small editorial team included writer
Grigore Ventura and his son Constantin, as well as, after a while, political columnist I. Hussar. The journalists called Carol's accession to the throne by the
1866 plebiscite "an undignified comedy", In December 1888, they also published a list of Carol's alleged attacks on Romanian dignity. According to one account, after the newspaper's first May 10 issue came out in 1889, Police forces bought copies which they later set on fire. also debated with the German newspapers
Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and
Kölnische Zeitung, who worried that Romania's anti-dynasticists plotted Carol's murder, assuring them that the actual battle was political, "in broad daylight, on the wide path of public opinion." It later moved to a building near the
National Bank and the
Vilacrosse Passage, where it occupied just several rooms (leading its staff to repeatedly complain about the lack of space). A serious crisis occurred during 1892, when, having omitted to register his
trademark, Beldiman was confronted with the appearance of a competing , published by his former associate Toma Basilescu, who had been the original gazette's administrator for the previous year. Initially, dedicated its Sunday issue to literary contributions, receiving such pieces from
George Coșbuc,
Haralamb Lecca, Ioan N. Roman, and the adolescent poet
Ștefan Octavian Iosif. Working together, Mille, Beldiman, and Bacalbașa sought to coalesce the left-wing forces into a single league for universal suffrage, but soon pulled out of the effort, accusing fellow militant
Constantin Dobrescu-Argeș of having embezzled the funds put at his disposal. In 1895, Mille purchased the newspaper, but, even though the Alecsandri motto was removed a short while after, In late 1893, was also publishing articles by an unsigned author, who may have been
Constantin Stere (later known as the man behind post-socialist "
Poporanism") ridiculing
Muncas
elitist content. Eventually, the PSDMR expelled Mille on grounds of having betrayed socialism. He became known for his
anti-colonial stance, giving positive coverage to the 1896
Philippine Revolution. In 1904, the board created Adevĕrul S. A., the first in a series of
joint stock companies meant to insure its control of commercial rights. In 1898, after Mille invested its profits into
real estate, left its crowded surroundings and moved to a specially designed new building on Sărindar Street (the present-day C. Mille Street, between Calea Victoriei and the
Cișmigiu Gardens). Inspired by
Le Figaros palatial quarters, it was first building of such proportions in the history of Romania's print media, housing a printing press, paper storage, distribution office and mail room, as well as a library, several archives, a phone station and a
Romanian Orthodox chapel. In 1904, making efforts to keep up with his rival
Luigi Cazzavillan, founder of the
right-wing competitor
Universul, In return for the 1897 setback, the gazette began allocating space to serialized works of literature, including
sketches by Caragiale (most of the writings later published as
Momente și schițe), as well as
The Count of Monte Cristo by
Alexandre Dumas, père. The following year however, a chronicler who used the pen name
Gal praised the anti-academic independents' salon, supporting its members
ștefan Luchian,
Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești and Vermont (whose portraits it featured as illustrations for the texts, alongside a notorious caricature of C. I. Stăncescu by
Nicolae Petrescu-Găină). By 1905, was publishing a supplement titled
Viața Literară ("The Literary Life", edited by Coșbuc, Gorun and
Ilarie Chendi) and two other satirical periodicals,
Belgia Orientului ("The Orient's
Belgium", named after a common sarcastic reference to the Romanian Kingdom) and
Nea Ghiță ("Uncle Ghiță"). As a promotional tactic, participated in the National Fair of 1906, where it exemplified its printing techniques while putting out a collector's version of the newspaper, titled
Adevĕrul la Expoziție ("Adevĕrul at the Exhibit"). Over the following decade, it hosted regular contributions by other militant women, among them
Lucrezzia Karnabatt,
E. Marghita,
Maura Prigor,
Laura Vampa and
Aida Vrioni. By 1906, s attitude prompted historian
Nicolae Iorga, leader of the antisemitic
Democratic Nationalist Party, to accuse the newspaper of cultivating a "Jewish national sentiment" which, he claimed, had for its actual goal the destruction of Romania. In his
Naționalism sau democrație ("Nationalism or Democracy") series of articles for
Sămănătorul magazine (an
ethno-nationalist organ published by Iorga), the Transylvanian-based thinker
Aurel Popovici, who criticized the elites of Austria-Hungary on grounds that they were serving Jewish interests, alleged that the impact of and
Dimineața carried the same risk for Romania. In later years, Iorga casually referred to as "the Jewish press organ", while, together with his political associate
A. C. Cuza and other contributors to his
Neamul Românesc journal, he repeatedly claimed that the entire press was controlled by the Jews. The antisemitic discourse targeting the Sărindar-based publications was taken up in the same period by the traditionalist Transylvanian poet
Octavian Goga and by businessman-journalist
Stelian Popescu (who, in 1915, became owner of
Universul). Pursuing its interest in the peasant question, was one of the main factors of dissent during the
1907 Peasant Revolt, which was violently quelled by the National Liberal cabinet of
Dimitrie Sturdza. The paper reported on or made allegations about the shooting and maltreatment of peasants, reputedly to the point where government officials promised to end repression if Mille agreed to tone down his publication. Historian Anton Caragea, who theorizes the intrusion of Austria-Hungary, argues that, having received payments from Austro-Hungarian spies, both and
Universul were conditioned to incite public sentiment against the Sturdza executive.
Early 1910s Following the 1907 events, the gazette participated in an extended anti-monarchy campaign, which also involved
Facla, a newspaper edited by Mille's son-in-law, In 1912, it participated in one of Cocea's publicity stunts, during which the
Facla editor, together with his colleague, poet
Tudor Arghezi, simulated their own trial for
lèse majesté, by reporting the mock procedures and hosting advertisements for
Facla. had become the highest-grossing, but also the highest-paying press venue, and consequently the most sought-after employer: in 1913, it had a writing and technical staff of 250 people (whose salaries amounted to some 540,000 lei), in addition to whom it employed 60 correspondents and 1,800 official distributors. s coverage of the international scene gave Romanians a window to political and cultural turmoil. By 1908, was covering the burgeoning European
avant-garde, offering mixed reviews to
Futurism and deploring the supposed end of
literary realism. In late 1910, claiming to speak for "the democratic world", it celebrated the
Portuguese republican revolt. The efforts made for establishing and preserving international connections, claimed, made it one of the first papers in the world to report some other events of continental importance: the 1911 food riots in Vienna, the outbreak of the
First Balkan War, and the diplomatic conflict between the
Greek and Bulgarian Kingdoms in the run-up to the
Second Balkan War. Later the same month, as Romania joined the anti-Bulgarian coalition and her troops entered
Southern Dobruja, gave coverage to the spread of
cholera among soldiers, accusing the Conservative executive headed by
Titu Maiorescu of hiding its actual toll. Also at that stage, the newspaper had become known for organizing
raffles, which provided winners with expensive prizes, such as real estate and furniture. This position was more compatible with that of newspapers like
Universul,
Flacăra,
Furnica or
Epoca, clashing with the socialist press, the
Poporanists, and
Germanophile gazettes such as
Seara,
Steagul,
Minerva or
Opinia. According to historian
Lucian Boia, this stance was partly explained by the Jewish origin of its panelists, who, as advocates of assimilation, wanted to identify with the Romanian
cultural nationalism and
irredenta; an exception was the Germanophile Brănișteanu, for a while marginalized within the group. agitated with energy against Austria-Hungary on the Transylvanian issue, while giving less exposure to the problems of Romanians in Russian-held
Bessarabia. This was a programmatic choice, outlined by Transylvanian academic
Ioan Ursu in a September 1914 article for , where
Russophobia was condemned as a canard. Over the course of 1914, the aging historian
A. D. Xenopol also made the host of his interventionist essays, later collected as a volume. In early winter 1915, publicized the visit of
British scholar
Robert William Seton-Watson, who campaigned in favor of the
Entente Powers and supported the interventionist
Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians. In his interview with , Seton-Watson identified the goals of Romanians with those of
Serbs and
Croats, stressing that their common interest called for the partition of Austria-Hungary, ending what he called "the brutal and artificial domination of the
Magyar race". One of the newspaper's own articles, published in April 1916, focused on the
ethnic German Transylvanian Saxons and their relationship with Romanians in Austria-Hungary, claiming: "Except for the Hungarians, we had throughout our history, just as we have today, an enemy just as irreducible and who would desire our disappearance just as much: the Saxon people." According to literary historian Dumitru Hîncu, such discourse was replicated by other pro-Entente venues, marking a temporary break with a local tradition of more positive
ethnic stereotypes regarding the Germans. The newspaper, described by
American scholar Glenn E. Torrey as "sensationalist", provided enthusiastic accounts of the Russians'
Brusilov Offensive, which had stabilized the
Eastern Front in Romania's proximity, announcing that the "supreme moment" for Romania's intervention had arrived. This attitude resulted in a clash between on one side and Romania's new dominant socialist faction, the
Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR) and the socialist-controlled labor movement on the other. The newspaper reported the official government position on the bloody confrontations between workers and
Romanian Army troops in the city of
Galați. Using a style Torrey describes as "inflammatory", also attacked PSDR leader
Christian Rakovsky, co-founder of the anti-interventionist and
internationalist Zimmerwald Movement, accusing him of being an "adventurer" and hireling of the
German Empire. In a 1915 letter to Zimmerwald promoter
Leon Trotsky, Rakovsky himself claimed that Mille had been corrupted by
Take Ionescu, leader of the pro-Entente
Conservative-Democratic Party, and that his newspapers issued
propaganda "under the mask of independence". Romania eventually signed the
1916 Treaty of Bucharest, committing herself to the Entente cause. Its intervention in the war was nevertheless ill-fated, and resulted in the occupation of Bucharest and much of the surrounding regions by the Central Powers, with the Romanian authorities taking refuge in
Iași. While Mille himself fled to Iași and later Paris, his newspapers were banned by the German authorities and the Sărindar headquarters became home to the
German-language official mouthpiece,
Bukarester Tageblatt. In early 1919, as the Germans lost the war, Mille returned and both and
Dimineața were again in print. The newspaper was by then also reporting about Seton-Watson's disappointment with post-war
Greater Romania and the
centralist agenda of its founders.
1919 edition Early interwar years . The subtitle reads: "Evening political newspaper. Appears each day at 3 PM" Once reestablished, became a dominant newspaper of the
interwar period and preserved its formative role for
popular culture, being joined in its leftist niche some other widely circulated periodicals (
Cuvântul Liber,
Rampa etc.). More serious competition came from its old rival
Universul, which now surpassed it in popularity at a national level. By 1934, and
Dimineața still boasted a combined daily circulation of 150,000 copies. In 1920, Mille retired from the position of editor-in-chief and moved on to create
Lupta journal, amidst allegations that he had been pressured out by rival business interests. Simion and Emil Pauker were, respectively, the father and uncle of
Marcel Pauker, later a maverick figure in the outlawed
Romanian Communist Party (PCR). The Paukers' ethnicity made their two newspapers preferred targets of attacks by the local antisemitic groups. In that decade, was generally sympathetic to the
National Peasants' Party, the main political force opposing the National Liberal establishment. The paper employed a new generation of panelists, most of whom were known for their advocacy of left-wing causes. In addition to professional journalists Brănișteanu,
Constantin Bacalbașa,
Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște, they included respected novelist
Mihail Sadoveanu and debuting essayist
Petre Pandrea, Other writers with socialist or
pacifist sympathies also became collaborators of and
Dimineața, most notably:
Elena Farago,
Eugen Relgis,
Ion Marin Sadoveanu and
George Mihail Zamfirescu. Especially noted among the young generation of leftists was
F. Brunea-Fox. After a stint as political editorialist with , he became the Romanian "prince of reporters", with
investigative journalism pieces which were mainly hosted by
Dimineața. began headlining its front page with a short listing of the top news of the day, often accompanied by sarcastic editorial commentary. Other such articles followed Vinea's rivalry with his former colleague
Tristan Tzara, and stated his rejection of
Dadaism, a radical
avant-garde current that Tzara had formed in
Switzerland during the war. In 1922, Vinea went on to establish
Contimporanul, an influential modernist and socialist tribune, which maintained warm contact with . and revisited projects for creating a literary supplement. In 1920, it set up
Adevĕrul Literar și Artistic, soon to be rated one of the prominent Romanian cultural journals. The newspaper was involved in cultural debates over the following two decades. It attracted contributions from various cultural ideologists, among them critics
șerban Cioculescu,
Petru Comarnescu,
Eugen Lovinescu and
Paul Zarifopol, writers
Demostene Botez,
Eugeniu Botez,
Victor Eftimiu,
Eugen Jebeleanu and
Camil Petrescu, and
Aromanian cultural activist
Nicolae Constantin Batzaria. In 1931, it circulated young critic
Lucian Boz's defense of Tzara and praise for sculptor
Constantin Brâncuși, both of whom, he stressed, had brought "fresh Romanian air into the realm of
Western culture". By 1932, it was hosting contributions from
George Călinescu, including one which criticized his former disciple Boz, In 1937, hosted a polemic between Lovinescu and his disciple
Felix Aderca, where the topic was avant-garde hero
Urmuz, and a special column for women in culture. Probably conceived by feminist writer
Izabela Sadoveanu-Evan (already known to readers as a popularizer of
English literature), it was signed by several prominent women of the day.
Editura Adevĕrul signed on some of the best-selling authors in modern Romanian literature, among them Sadoveanu, Călinescu, Eugeniu Botez,
Liviu Rebreanu and
Gala Galaction.
Clashes with the far right Both and
Dimineața were noted for their rejection of interwar antisemitism, and for condemning the
far right and
fascist segment of the political spectrum. Romanian fascism was at the time grouped around the
National-Christian Defense League (LANC), presided upon by s old adversary
A. C. Cuza. During 1921, the liberal Fagure ridiculed the supposed threat of Jewish
communization in newly acquired
Bessarabia, countering the supposed threat of
Jewish Bolshevism (officially endorsed and publicized by
Universul). At the time, was even voicing criticism of
Soviet Russia from the left: young Brunea-Fox discussed an
anti-Soviet workers' rebellion as a movement for individual freedoms. The same year, the LANC's entire
paramilitary wing, including young activist
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, was rounded up by the authorities. These uncovered the fascists' plan to murder various National Liberal politicians, the editors of
Lupta, and manager
Iacob Rosenthal. later published the results of an investigation by
anti-fascist reporter Dinu Dumbravă, who discussed LANC involvement in the 1925
pogrom of
Focșani, and mentioned that the
educational system was being penetrated by antisemites. In 1927, it joined the condemnation of LANC-sponsored violence in Transylvania: a contributor, the lawyer-activist
Dem. I. Dobrescu, referred to Codreanu and his men as Romania's "shame". In December 1930, leftist sociologist
Mihai Ralea, one of the main figures in the
Viața Românească circle, chose as the venue for his essay
Răzbunarea noțiunii de democrație ("Avenging the Notion of Democracy"), which condemned the then-popular theory that democratic regimes were inferior to
totalitarian ones. reported with concern on some other
conspiracies against the legitimate government, including officer
Victor Precup's attempt to assassinate King
Carol II on
Good Friday 1934. In parallel, took an interest in promoting alternatives to nationalist theories. It thus attempted to mediate the ongoing disputes between Romania and
Hungary, an editorial policy notably taken up in 1923, when the exiled Hungarian intellectual
Oszkár Jászi visited Bucharest. In that context, published Jászi's interview with
Constantin Costa-Foru, wherein Jászi mapped out a
Danubian Confederation scheme, criticizing "thoughts of war and sentiments of hatred" among both Romanians and Magyars. In another piece, Jászi's vision was commended as a democratic alternative to the
authoritarian Hungarian Regency regime, leading
Hungarian Ambassador Iván Rubido-Zichy to express his displeasure. Later, even as Jászi arose the suspicions of many Romanians and was shunned by the
Hungarian community in Romania, still expressed sympathy for his cause, notably with a 1935 essay by Transylvanian journalist
Ion Clopoțel. The newspaper also denounced
interwar Germany's attempts to absorb
Austria (a proto-
Anschluss), primarily because they stood to channel Hungary's
revanchism. It also reported with much sarcasm on the friendly contacts between the Romanian nationalists at LANC and the Hungarian revanchist
Szeged Fascists. Meanwhile, was vividly critical of centralizing policies in post-1920 "
Greater Romania", primarily in Transylvania and Bessarabia. Articles on this topic were mainly contributed by
Onisifor Ghibu, a former activist for the Transylvanian Romanian cause. One of the new causes in which involved itself after 1918 was
birth control, which it supported from a
eugenic perspective. This advocacy was foremost illustrated by the regular medical column of 1923, signed
Doctor Ygrec (the pseudonym of a Jewish practitioner), which proposed both prenuptial certificates and the legalization of
abortion. The issues attracted much interest after Ygrec and his counterpart at
Universul, who expressed moral and social objections, debated the matter for an entire month. While voicing such concerns, itself published
prejudiced claims, such as a 1928 article by physician George D. Ionășescu, who portrayed the steady migration of
Oltenian natives into Bucharest as a "social danger" which brought with it "promiscuity, squalor and infection", and called for restrictions on internal migration. also published a 1929 piece by Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, in which the latter showed his adversity to radical forms of
feminism, recommending women to find their comfort in marriage. By the mid-1930s, the tension between and the increasingly pro-fascist
Universul degenerated into open confrontation. Emil Pauker's newspapers were by then also being targeted by the new fascist movement known as the
Iron Guard, led by former LANC member Codreanu: in 1930, one of its editors was shot by a follower of Codreanu, but escaped with his life. According to the recollections of PCR activist
Silviu Brucan, the Iron Guardists, who supported
Universul, attacked distributors of and
Dimineața, prompting young communist and socialists to organize themselves into
vigilante groups and fight back, which in turn led to a series of street battles. While engaged in this conflict, stood out among local newspapers for supporting the PCR during a 1936 trial of its activists which took place in
Craiova, and involved as a co-defendant Simion Pauker's daughter-in-law,
Ana Pauker. In his
Universul columns, the latter displayed a degree of sympathy for the extreme right movement. In summer 1936, the Paukers sold their stock to a consortium of businessmen with National Liberal connections, which was headed by Emanoil Tătărescu, the brother of acting
Premier Gheorghe Tătărescu. and Eugen Lovinescu became a member of the company's executive panel. The decision to close down the publications was accompanied by a
nationalization of their assets, which reportedly included a large part of
Iosif Berman's
negatives. In his diary of
World War II events, Brănișteanu described the ban as having inaugurated the era of "barbarity". During its episodic rise to power, the Iron Guard mapped out its revenge against people associated with , dividing its former staff into three categories: "kikes", "traitors", and "minions". According to one story, the palatial office formerly belonging to was still at the center of a conflict between underground communists and the Guard: during the
Legionary Rebellion of January 1941, the PCR attempted to set it on fire and then blame the arson on the fascists, but this plan was thwarted by press photographer Nicolae Ionescu. The gazette celebrated the political transition, publishing the official communique proclaiming the republic, and commenting on it: "A new face of
Romanian history has begun [sic] yesterday. What follows is the Romanian state, which today, as well as tomorrow, will require everyone's disciplined and concentrated work." In stages after that date, was affected by
communist censorship: according to historian Cristian Vasile, while generally infused with "official propaganda", the paper overall failed in effecting "the transformation requested by the [new] regime." Its content grew more politicized, offering praise to Soviet and Communist party initiatives such as the
five-year plans, the encouragement and spread of
atheism, and the promotion of
Russian literature. The newspaper was eventually placed under an "editorial committee", whose effective leader was Communist Party boss
Leonte Răutu, and whose mission was to prepare for liquidation. Cristian Vasile notes that the "official explanation" for suppressing was "ridiculous and unconvincing." Three intermediary issues were published during the actual revolutionary events; a free one-page issue on December 22 and two further issues on December 23 and 24 respectively, under the title
Scînteia Poporului ("The People's Spark"), which published appeals issued by the provisional
post-communist leadership forum, the
National Salvation Front (FSN), adopting the name starting December 25. As one of its first measures, the new editorial board dismissed members of the staff who were discredited for having openly supported the last communist ruler,
Nicolae Ceaușescu, replacing them with journalists sympathetic to the FSN. Soon after Ceaușescu's execution, the gazette began serializing
Red Horizons, a volume of recollections exposing the defunct regime, authored by
Ion Mihai Pacepa, a
defector and former spy chief. became the dominant left-wing newspaper of
post-communist Romania. In parallel,
Dimineața was itself revived, and, although independent from , was also a FSN mouthpiece. Their main right-wing rival was another former Communist Party venue,
România Liberă, which openly reproached on the FSN that it was monopolizing power, and which identified itself with
liberalism and
pluralism. Reflecting back on the early 1990s,
Southampton Institute researcher David Berry argued: "the ideological forces associated with the previous
Stalinist regime were pitted against a much smaller and disparate oppositional group. This latter group was associated with
România Liberă that loosely represented the voice of liberalism and [...] clearly lost the war. This was a battle of ideas and the old forces of Romanian communism used the new press framework, through , to discredit opposition forces." In 1990, both papers reputedly sold around 1 million copies each day, a pattern attributed to "news deprivation" under communism, and believed by Berry to be "a phenomenal figure in comparison to any leading
Western nation".
Târgu Mureș conflict and 1990 Mineriad In this context, advertised that its main purpose was the dissemination of "nothing but the truth", of "exact information". Such theses acquired particularly controversial representations during the violent
Târgu Mureș riots of March 1990. Backing the official view according to which the
ethnic Hungarian community was organizing itself in
separatist struggle, it dedicated space to articles targeting the opposition
Democratic Union of Hungarians (UDMR). Initially, Berry notes, reported claims of extremist Hungarians in
Transylvania committing
vandalism against national monuments while acknowledging that the UDMR was not endorsing such acts, but slowly became a tribune for encouraging
ethnic Romanians to take action, exclusively presenting its public with politicized and unmitigated information provided by the official agency
Rompres and by the Romanian ultra-nationalist group
Vatra Românească. Its editorials, often based on rumors, included negative portrayals of Hungarians, methods described by Berry as "extremely
xenophobic", "
unethical" and forms of "political manipulation". displayed constant hostility toward the
Golaniad protests in Bucharest, which ranged for much of early 1990, and expressed praise for the
Mineriad of June 13–15, 1990. During the latter, miners from the
Jiu Valley, instigated by some of the officials, entered Bucharest and quashed the opposition's sit-in. Early on, the gazette called on the
Romanian Police to forcefully evict the Golaniad demonstrators, whom it accused of encouraging "filth" and "promiscuity". It also depicted the Golaniad as a major
conspiracy, mounted against a legitimate government by
neofascist and
Iron Guard groups. Together with the FSN's
Azi, it commended the pro-government workers at IMGB, the heavy machinery works, who attempted to force out the crowds, depicting it as an answer to alleged student violence against Police operatives. When the miners organized a definitive clampdown, depicted in as a peaceful takeover, the newspaper was one of the several House of the Free Press operations left untouched by the Mineriad. During the following days, it published material praising the miners for reestablishing order, while alleging that "their presence was absolutely necessary to annihilate the violence of extremist forces". It also popularized false rumors according to which, during their attacks on the opposition
National Peasant and
National Liberal party headquarters, the miners had confiscated weapons,
counterfeit money and
illegal drugs. In addition to main editor Novăceanu, whose articles were congratulatory of "our miners", Vulpescu and other contributors repeatedly made unverifiable claims according to which
Hungary was directly involved in stirring resentments, allegations also made by the
state-controlled television network. According to Romanian-born historian
Radu Ioanid, in 1990–1991 and its opponent
Dreptatea of the anti-FSN National Peasants' Party both "joined the
anti-Semitic barrage" of the period, a trend he believes was instigated by the publications of
Corneliu Vadim Tudor,
Iosif Constantin Drăgan and
Eugen Barbu (all of them affiliated with
România Mare magazine). Ioanid singled out and its collaborator Cristian Tudor Popescu, who, during the July 1991 commemoration of the
Iași pogrom, attacked writer
Elie Wiesel and other
Holocaust researchers for having evidenced
Ion Antonescu's
complicity in extermination. In the early 1990s, also stood out for its intense
republicanism which opposed the return of communist-deposed
King Michael I, and published polemical pieces such as the
Fir-ai al naibii, majestate ("Curse You, Your Majesty", written by Andon).
The privatization years ,
Cristian Tudor Popescu,
Adrian Ursu etc. in the foreground A scandal surfaced in spring 1991, when was caught up in the first wave of
privatization, following a decision of the FSN's
Petre Roman cabinet. A conflict reportedly opposed Novăceanu to Popescu: the latter suspected a secret understanding between Roman and the leadership, providing for a facade privatization and transferring financial control to FSN politicians. Known initially as SC Adevărul SA, it had its
initial public offering distributed through the "MEBO method" of employee
buyouts. As a result, the journalists owned 60% and other employees the other 40%, Also at that stage, allegations surfaced that, through a firm known as SC Colosal Import-Export, members of the editorial staff, including Andon,
Viorel Sălăgean and
Dumitru Tinu, were handling all the larger advertising revenues. This campaign,
British political scientist Judy Batt notes, had a "xenophobic tinge", and its appeal "has shaken confidence in the government and eroded its capacity for action." British academic and observer
Tom Gallagher attributes this attitude to claims of "injured
patriotism". In parallel, displayed a strong
socially conservative agenda. During those years, the paper published numerous pieces covering Romanian society, which were primarily noted for their sensationalist and
alarmist headlines, such as a claim, published in 1997, that "a quarter of Romania's children live in institutions". In early 1996, was noted for criticizing local
non-governmental organizations promoting
women's rights, alleging that, although financed by the European Union's
Phare fund, they only functioned on paper (an attitude which itself earned criticism for
sexism). More debates ensued in March 1998, when Cristian Tudor Popescu published an article under the title
Femeia nu e om ("The Woman Is Not a Human Being", or "The Woman Is Not a Man"), where he alleged that women cannot think. Another controversy of the mid-1990s also involved Popescu, criticized for his articles which, claiming
freedom of thought as their motivation, supported the cause of convicted French
Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. A political scandal touched some time after the
1996 legislative election, when the Social Democrats' rivals from the
Democratic Convention,
Democratic Party and other opposition groups formed government. This came after the new
Foreign Minister,
Adrian Severin, publicly stated being in possession of a list comprising the names of several leading Romanian journalists who were agents of the
Russian
Federal Security Service. Even though Severin's failure to evidence the claim resulted in his resignation, the list fueled much speculation, including rumors that Dumitru Tinu, by then one of the main editors, was one of the people in question. Writing in 2002, Romanian media researcher Alex Ulmanu rated "the most successful, and arguably the best Romanian daily". Romanian sociologist and political commentator Marian Petcu sees its enduring popularity as the consequence of a "head start", with having inherited from
Scînteia "the facilities, the subscribers, the raw materials, the headquarters, the superstructure, the network of local correspondents etc." According to
Evenimentul Zilei, the circulation of actually dropped from 200,000 in 1998–2000 to 100,000 in the post-2001 era, At the end of the transition, Petcu assessed the new agenda as one in favor of
social justice,
social security and "fast privatization that would avoid massive
unemployment". In 2003, Popescu was a co-founder and, after
România Liberă editor
Petre Mihai Băcanu withdrew from the race, first president of the
Romanian Press Club, a
professional association whose mission was setting ethical standards in journalism. Despite such gestures, the paper continued to withstand accusations that it was itself unprofessional. Ulmanu argued that both and its smaller competitor
Curentul were examples of press striving to be considered "high quality", but noted: "However, one can still find biased, unprofessional or sensationalist reporting in these papers." In this context, it notably published a piece questioning Tudor's self-identification as a firm adherent of
Romanian Orthodoxy, suggesting that he presented himself to foreigners as a
Baptist Union adherent. However, journalist and academic Manuela Preoteasa highlights the PSD's "pressure on the media", and includes among venues which, "apparently critical toward PSD [...] avoided criticizing some of the party leaders". Also according to Popescu, Hrebenciuc had urged him and his colleagues to feature more negative and less positive coverage of the PSD rival and
Democratic Party candidate
Traian Băsescu during the
presidential suffrage of November 2004. Patriciu's decisions, including his appointment of a new managerial team, were resisted by
Corina Drăgotescu, who resigned and left the newspaper in November 2006. According to data made available by the
Romanian Audit Bureau of Circulations, the newspaper's circulation for 2008 ranged between a minimum monthly average of 37,248 copies in January and a maximum one of 109,442 in December. In 2009, the minimum was at 81,388 and the maximum at 150,061.
Post-2000 editorial policy and controversies Despite the changes in attitude and management, some of the post-2000 editions of remained controversial for their nationalist claims. This was primarily the case of statements it made in regard to the
Romani minority, over which it has been repeatedly accused of
antiziganism. In early 2002, the gazette reacted strongly against an advertisement for a soccer match between the
Romania team and the
France national team, where the former was being portrayed as a violinist. saw this as an attempt to insult Romanians by associating them with
Romani music, concluding: "Our French 'brothers' never stop offending us, and they seem to enjoy treating us like gypsies". The article was condemned by
civil society observers, who uncovered that had modified and editorialized the original piece, which actually spoke of the
Romanian immigrant population, without any mention of ethnicity.
Colecția Adevărul, the post-2008 book collection issued with the newspaper, has itself been at the center of a controversy. Two trials were opened on charges of
plagiarism, after the collection issued works by
Leo Tolstoy and
Vintilă Corbul, allegedly without respecting the
authorship rights of original translators. Another such conflict was sparked in April 2009, opposing
Colecția Adevărul to
Biblioteca pentru toți ("Everyman's Library"), a similar book series issued by the rivals at
Jurnalul Național and
Editura Litera. This came after went ahead of
Biblioteca pentru toți in reissuing
George Călinescu's
Enigma Otiliei novel. The
Romanian Academy's
George Călinescu Institute, which claims the copyright to Călinescu's books, joined Editura Litera in a lawsuit against .
Hotnews.ro owner and columnist
Dan Tăpalagă placed this stance in connection to Dinu Patriciu's publicized adversity toward incumbent President Băsescu. In his view, Patriciu stood alongside Intact Group owner
Dan Voiculescu and
Realitatea-Cațavencu's
Sorin Ovidiu Vântu as one of the "media moguls" working to prevent Băsescu' reelection. Alluding to the newspaper's promotional offers of cartoon classics on
DVD and popular novels, Tăpalagă concluded: "[] readers must be forcefully kept away from politics, perhaps kept busy with
Tom and Jerry. Forcefully saturated of politics, the citizen in Patriciu's dreams gobbles up the personal governments concocted together with Voiculescu and Vântu, reads approximate literature and watches animated cartoons." However, similar criticism of was also voiced from within Realitatea-Cațavencu.
Cornel Nistorescu, the new editor of
Cotidianul, called the promotion "
lobotomizing", and, contrary to Tapalagă, suggested that it had been induced by President Băsescu, to whom he attributed the power of ordering Patriciu's arrest on allegations of
white-collar crime: "It is as if Traian Băsescu had sent him the message: write one more line about me, and you'll be spending another week in the big house!" Another
Cotidianul contributor,
Costi Rogozanu, referred to the message as "a strange manipulation" and "a dangerous invitation to carelessness", noting that Romanian society was becoming divided between openly partisan media outlets and venues that avoided all mention of politics. Additionally, the newspaper became focused on exploring the history of Romanian communism, and ran exposes on the
Ceaușescu family. This interest (seen by Rogozanu as obsessive)
2011 crisis Several months after the elections, in mid-2010, the issue of editorial policies came up again, as a group of panelists walked out from the daily, citing worries that Dinu Patriciu was imposing his own agenda. Although initially supportive of this move, some, most notably
Grigore Cartianu,
Ovidiu Nahoi and
Adrian Halpert, revised their decision and stayed on with . Under new management, also acquired a new core group of columnists, including Patriciu himself. The owner's opinion pieces illustrate his commitment to
libertarianism and the
free market, which have little echo inside his own National Liberal Party. The other authors stood for a wide range of opinions, including anti-Patriciu stances. In December, Pleșu gave up his column in , citing the accumulated frustration of working under an (unnamed) editor. Romanian media pioneer
Ion Cristoiu made news in 2012, when he was in the unique position of writing for both and rival
Evenimentul Zilei. In May 2011, Patriciu transferred 99.92% of Adevărul Holding stocks to another firm in his portfolio, Fast Europe Media N.V. (registered in the
Netherlands). Patriciu himself justified the move as an opener of the
Central and Eastern European markets, An advertising campaign for the newspaper, managed through Patriciu's firm Odyssey Communication, failed to reverse that trend, and Odyssey itself registered for bankruptcy. ==Notes==