Romanian president Nicușor Dan told investigative journalist Ovidiu Vanghele that he would no longer be allowed to attend press conferences at the presidential Cotroceni Palace during his term. Dan said he had ordered the ban because of insults the journalist had directed at him.
The exchange took place during a press conference on Tuesday, November 10, after Vanghele, a journalist with the Center for Media Investigations, asked Nicușor Dan about prosecutor general Cristina Chiriac and a vote she had cast in the prosecutors’ section of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM).
“First of all, I apologize for making you wait until now,” Dan told the journalist.
“Secondly, given the insults you have directed at me, I ordered that you no longer attend press conferences at Cotroceni Palace during this term,” he continued. “My merciful colleagues ignored my order. I am now informing you: you will no longer come here or ask questions during this term.”
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Ovidiu Vanghele had asked whether prosecutor general Chiriac had acted consistently with president Dan’s campaign promise to reform the justice system. According to the journalist, she voted against a proposal for the CSM section to ask the Judicial Inspection to examine an alleged interference attributed to her.
Following the incident at the press conference, in an initial reaction posted on social media, Vanghele said his main regret was that the president had not answered the question.
“I admit that I was stunned by the president’s words, and that is what I reproach myself for: I should have done better,” he wrote. “I wish we could somehow obtain an answer to this question for us, the citizens. I think it would help us understand more.”
According to Hotnews.ro, Ovidiu Vanghele publicly supported Nicușor Dan during the presidential election campaign but later became a vocal critic, sometimes using insulting language when commenting on the president’s positions regarding the justice system.
The Fourth Estate Alliance (Alianța „A Patra Putere”), an organization representing journalists working in the public interest, called the president’s decision “unacceptable.”
“Journalists’ questions cannot be prohibited or censored depending on a head of state’s personal grievances,” the organization said in a statement.
It further argued that Presidential Administration employees had not acted out of “mercy,” as president Dan suggested, but had refused to breach Romania’s freedom of information law. The group said it would ask the administration to disclose the legal basis for excluding Vanghele from press conferences.
Investigative outlet Snoop also called on Nicușor Dan to reverse the decision, and described the measure as a dangerous precedent and alleged that it breached the law.
“Journalists’ access to information of public interest, especially to press conferences held by the head of state, cannot depend on the personal sympathies or antipathies of those in power,” its newsroom said in a Facebook post.
Several other journalists also criticized the decision.
Meanwhile, from politics, USR leader Dominic Fritz said on Facebook that “press freedom is not a merciful favor granted to certain journalists, but the foundation of democracy.”
The SENS party cited Romania’s freedom of information law, which states that public authorities and institutions may not restrict media access to public events they organize. It questioned whether the president had publicly announced his intention not to comply with the law.
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