Romania Media Split Over Reporter Axed for Insulting

Media watchers and press freedom campaigners say they feel uneasy, after a journalist was fired for expressing his strong personal views about the Prime Minister in public.

Digi TV, a private TV news station, axed reporter Cristi Citre on Wednesday after he posted several inflammatory remarks about Prime Minister Ponta on his personal Facebook page.

“There is no doubt that Victor Ponta is a sick person.. without any real power of judgement. He is capable of lying to you without any hesitation,” one of the posts reads.

Digi TV said the statements contravened the company’s values. “We are ready to say goodbye to any employer who does not share our values: neutrality, balance and impartiality... Freedom of expression is also a matter of mutual respect,” Cosmin Prelipceanu, Digi TV’s editor-in-chief, said.

But the case has left any media observers in Romania in two minds.

Razvan Martin, from the media watchdog ActiveWatch, told Balkan Insight that the decision to fire the journalist was a disproportionate punishment. "He should have got a warning or a fine first,” he said.

Martin said it was against press freedom principles to sack a journalist solely for expressing his or her political beliefs in public.

In practice, media organizations round the world often have codes of conduct governing what their employees can say in public statements.

In 2003, National Geographic fired the world famous journalist Peter Arnett for giving an interview to an Iraqi television station, in which he criticized America's planning for the Iraq war.

Two years ago, CNN senior editor Octavia Nasr was fired following uproar over her tweet in praise of a Hezbollah cleric.

“The big media companies...