Romania is close to the high-risk area in a European report on media pluralism

Romania has an overall risk score of 64% in the Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 and is alongside Bulgaria and Greece at the upper limit of the medium-high risk category. The biggest problems are in the media market, where Romania reaches 89% risk, due to ownership concentration, insufficient transparency, the economic fragility of newsrooms, and commercial or political pressures on journalism.

Romania is close to the high-risk zone for media freedom and pluralism, according to the Media Pluralism Monitor 2026, the annual report of the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at the European University Institute. With an overall score of 64%, Romania is in the medium-high risk category, at the same level as Bulgaria and Greece, and below countries already at high risk: Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus.

In short

1. Romania has an overall risk score of 64% in the Media Pluralism Monitor 2026, compared to the EU average of 49%.

2. The most serious problem is the media market: Romania has 89% risk in Market Plurality, one of the highest values in the European Union.

3. The report indicates very high risks for media ownership transparency and market concentration.

4. Romania is also mentioned in connection with the online electoral campaigns of 2024 and 2025, where authorities and platforms have faced new forms of manipulation, inauthentic accounts, and coordinated amplification.

5. The report shows that the Romanian project to transpose the anti-SLAPP directive covers domestic cases and provides procedural guarantees against blatantly unfounded actions.

The Media Pluralism Monitor measures risks to media freedom and pluralism in four areas: fundamental protection of journalists and freedom of expression, media market plurality, political independence, and social inclusion. In Romania, the overall score of 64% indicates a buildup of vulnerabilities, not a single isolated problem.

The most severe risks are in the media market area. Romania has 89% in Market Plurality, placing it in the very high-risk category, alongside Cyprus, Hungary, and Malta. This category concerns media ownership concentration, transparency of owners, economic sustainability of newsrooms, and the influence of owners or commercial interests on editorial content.

Market concentration directly affects how citizens access information. When a small number of actors control important television, radio, online press, or other distribution channels, the diversity of opinions may decrease, and the public finds it harder to get a complete picture of public interest issues.

The report shows that Romania is among the countries with very high risk regarding media ownership transparency. The European Media Freedom Act requires that the public be able to know who controls a media provider, including direct, indirect owners, and beneficial owners. At the time of data collection for MPM2026, Romania was among the countries that still did not have a database on media ownership according to Article 6 of the EMFA.

Ownership transparency is important because the public needs to know who finances, controls, or influences a media institution. This information helps readers, listeners, and viewers to more accurately assess the context in which a news story, an editorial campaign, or a political attack line appears.

The economic viability of newsrooms is another major problem. The report describes Romania as a high-risk case regarding media viability. This area analyzes media revenues, the number of journalists, working conditions, the ability of newsrooms to innovate, and the existence of support schemes for private media.

Romania is mentioned among the five countries that do not have a favorable support system for private media, alongside Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The report also shows that, apart from Cyprus and Romania, all other countries reported efforts to develop new sources of revenue for news.

The situation matters to the public because financially weak newsrooms become more vulnerable to pressures. When revenues decline and journalists leave, the press has fewer resources for investigations, verifications, local coverage, and complicated subjects. Dependence on owners, advertisers, or public money may increase.

The report shows that commercial interference in journalism remains significant in Romania. The country is included among the states where commercial pressure on journalistic work is a relevant issue, alongside Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Romania has a score of 56% in Political Independence, placing it in the medium-high risk category. This area tracks political influence over the media, including through ownership, indirect control, state advertising, appointments in public media, and rules regarding political advertising in electoral campaigns.

The report shows that, in Central and Eastern Europe, control mechanisms through ownership and influence exerted through state advertising are often interconnected. Romania is included in the group of countries with medium-high risk in the area of political independence, alongside Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia.

Online political advertising is a sensitive chapter for Romania. The report notes documented issues in detecting and removing political advertising on TikTok during the 2024 presidential elections. Romania's case is used to show that major platforms may have difficulties in identifying political content when it does not appear as classic advertising.

After the implementation of the Regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising, major platforms have banned political advertising. However, the report shows that the ban does not automatically solve the problem. In several countries, including Romania, political actors have been able to exploit the limitations of the platforms' automated systems by mislabeling content, avoiding explicit party branding, or using seemingly non-political pages and groups.

Romania is also mentioned in connection with inauthentic coordinated behaviors. In the electoral campaigns of 2024 and 2025, observers reported bots, troll farms, and inauthentic accounts. These methods can make a political message appear more popular, more widespread, or more organic than it is in reality.

The report raises a problem regarding the authorities' reaction to online content. In Romania, during the electoral campaigns of 2024 and 2025, the National Audiovisual Council, the Central Electoral Bureau, and other authorities took measures considered excessive to combat content on online platforms, including targeting ordinary citizens whose posts should be protected by freedom of expression.

This point shows the tension between two objectives: limiting electoral manipulation and protecting freedom of expression. The report does not support a lack of intervention against disinformation but shows that interventions must be proportional, transparent, and not turn the fight against manipulation into a mechanism for arbitrarily restricting public discourse.

In the area of Fundamental Protection, Romania has 45%, which is medium-low risk. This area includes freedom of expression, access to information, journalists' safety, source protection, and the independence of regulatory authorities. Romania does not appear in the group of the most vulnerable states in this chapter, but the report mentions issues related to data, institutional accountability, and authorities' reactions in the online environment.

In the anti-SLAPP chapter, the report notes that the Ministry of Justice in Romania completed a transposition project in June 2025, submitted to Parliament on February 11, 2026, and currently under review in the Senate. The project covers domestic cases and includes procedural guarantees against blatantly unfounded requests.

This part is important for journalists because SLAPPs are lawsuits used for intimidation, costs, and exhaustion, not just for winning a case in court. The report shows that the European directive mainly refers to cross-border civil cases, although many such lawsuits are domestic and may also involve criminal law.

In the area of Social Inclusiveness, Romania has 63%, also in the medium-high risk category. This area concerns access to media for different social groups, local media, cultural and linguistic diversity, representation of women, accessibility for people with disabilities, and media literacy.

The report notes that Romania has moved into the medium-high risk category for Social Inclusiveness due to the significant expansion of the requirements that broadcasters must meet for media accessibility for people with hearing and visual impairments. The change shows that the field is transforming, but the overall score remains high.

Romania is also one of the countries for which the report did not identify data in the qualitative assessment of local and regional coverage by public media. The lack of data limits the ability to assess whether the public outside major urban centers receives sufficient information about local administration, public services, schools, the environment, health, budgets, or decisions of the authorities.

Local media is important because the lack of local newsrooms can create "news deserts," areas where people no longer have access to independent information about their community. The report shows that public media can cover some local needs, but they cannot fully replace independent local newsrooms.

The overall picture for Romania is one of accumulated vulnerability. The country is not in the high-risk category for the overall score, but it is close to this zone and has severe problems in exactly those areas that influence citizens' access to information: the media market, ownership, funding, online political advertising, and economic or political pressures on newsrooms.

The Media Pluralism Monitor is produced annually by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at the European University Institute. The 2026 edition uses a six-point assessment system, from very low risk to very high risk, and includes 20 indicators grouped into four main areas.

The report shows that the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act will be decisive for countries like Romania. The new European rules cover ownership transparency, state advertising, editorial independence, protection of journalists, and assessment of media concentrations, but the effects depend on national implementation and the capacity of authorities to apply the rules transparently and proportionally.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/stiri/romania-este-aproape-de-zona-de-risc-ridicat-intr-un-raport-european-despre-pluralismul-media