BUCHAREST: Reporters are facing increasing violence in the Balkans for writing critical reports on political leaders.

Romanian reporter Ino Ardelean, 36, was attacked while returning home last week. He had to undergo surgery for a broken jaw and head injuries. The attackers escaped. Nothing was taken from him.

Ardelean has been writing on corruption cases for an independent daily in the western city Timisoara.

About 100 journalists broke pens in a gesture of protest against the attack at a silent march in Timisoara.

International media watchdogs reacted swiftly to the attack. “The growing number of physical attacks on journalists who investigate corruption within the ruling political class, especially in the provinces, is extremely worrying,” the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) said in a letter to Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.

Ino Ardelean was the 14th journalist to be assaulted this year in Romania, according to local media organizations. The number of attacks is reported to be rising. None of the attackers has been identified, director of the Bucharest-based Centre for Independent Journalism Ioana Avadani told IPS.

This situation allows local officials to behave like feudal lords, he said. “They think they can do anything as they have all the power.”

Interior Minister Ioan Rus said at a press conference on Wednesday that “the Romanian authorities are convinced that the police will clarify the circumstances of the incident and will bring those responsible to justice.”

Officials from the ruling Social Democracy Party (PSD) deny any connections between the party and the incident.

But concern has grown over some PSD officials. Nicole Mischie who heads the PSD in the south-western county Gorj said of one reporter at a recent press conference: “I see that he has a crippled leg...he’d better not make me cripple the other leg.” He banned the reporter from party press conferences.

Relations between authorities and journalists have often been tense since the overthrow of communism in 1989. Public officials are still unaccustomed to criticism, and are particularly sensitive to allegations of corruption.

Journalists who investigate the business activities of officials receive frequent death threats.

The situation is similar in neighbouring Bulgaria. Pavel Nikolov, an outspoken journalist with the privately-owned Radio Montana north-east of capital Sofia was beaten up in front of his home five days after receiving death threats.

Editorial independence remains a problem in both countries though they are moving closer to European Union (EU) membership. EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting on Dec 8 to set January 2007 as the tentative accession date for Romania and Bulgaria.

“Surprisingly enough, the EU fever has become a pretext for all manner of control,” said a journalist who did not want to be named. “Politicians are less accepting of press criticism now because they want to enter the EU in 2007.

Everyone is being told to shut up until we get into the European Union.”

Critics say both Romania and Bulgaria have to do much more to respect freedom of information. “Many of the press outlets are controlled by powerful media barons with influence over politics and ties with the banking sector,” says Mircea Toma who heads the Agency for Monitoring Press Freedoms in Romania.

Avadani says money pressure is a major factor in weakening the local press. “Money influence through advertisements has made media more of a business — but a business whose aim is just survival,” Avadani said. That makes it “open to the threat of financial consequences.”

Journalists also complain about old libel laws that make it easy to sue reporters for libel. They want their governments to follow the Council of Europe’s recommendation to remove libel and slander from the penal code.

In many former communist countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia, journalists are often given stiff fines. This has led to a form of self-censorship. The Council of Europe has identified these as a major obstacle to the freedom of the media.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.