Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 9, No 2 (2015)

Abstract

The present paper refers to changes and evolution of the Romanian media market from 2013 to 2015 due to the financial crisis, political implication in the news, famous publications and TV stations insolvency cases and new consumption habits for media content. The objective is to highlight the direction of media in past years and how this is influencing the future of all types of press (print, radio, television, online). The paper is trying to emphasize the fact that new trends are arising, that traditional media has no longer the same power and dominant position on the market, and that internet and mobile platforms are the direction for years to come. The fundaments for this paper are FreeEx Report “Press Freedom in Romania 2014-2015”, published by Active Watch - member of Reporters Without Borders International Networks and IFEX, Transmedia Romanian Audit Bureau (BRAT) - Study on Internet Consumption in Urban and Rural Areas of Romania, the survey “Public trust in the media in Romania”, conducted by Market Links for Kas & Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Gemius Knowledge Study, “Online Landscape – South-East Europe”. According to above mentioned sources, 2014 was a hectic year for the Romanian media market – continuing the previous year trend - transforming media institutions into leading news topics, many media moguls being arrested due to legal issues. Moreover, local elections transformed media into a manipulation tool for political parties. All this had a big influence on Romanian media market also in 2015. The paper puts together a number of trustful sources, stating that traditional media are no longer the way we used to know them, that are struggling to adjust to new realities and that audience is loyal to brands no matter the channels they are using to put content into the public eye. Internet is claiming its way up, and gives access to information also to less educated people or/and from poor environments. This is a valuable subject because Romanian media is going through fundamental changes. Print is no longer the main source of information, and Internet is becoming a threat to television. The market transformations have to translate also into academic work, so that the new generation of journalist can adapt to new conditions, knowing where they’re audience is and how to address it.