An analysis of the finances fueling the Romanian media during the past decade reveals a highly imbalanced market, with independent media struggling to survive and the government pumping millions of euros into politically aligned nationwide media groups. The local media market seems to thrive, with hundreds of news portals and small broadcasters competing for audiences. However, most of them operate on shoestring budgets, primarily serving the interests of local politicians and their affiliated businesses.
The combined income of all media companies in Romania reached a total of €797m in 2022, according to data collected in the Global Media Finances Map, a project run by the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC). This is an increase of about 7% compared to the previous year.
Written by Adrian Anton, the study is based on data about the total income reported by media companies in the local trade registry. MJRC’s database covers 385 media entities, including nationwide, regional, and local broadcast groups, publishers, and news portals. For 367 of those, the MJRC has complete historical datasets.
Read the analysis on Global Media Finances Map website.
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