“The electronic press, especially the Internet, lately cultivated an increased interest in sensational news that have no content,” Minister of Justice Alexandru Tanase said in the interview “When a media outlet affiliates itself with a political party it takes a first step towards its disappearance”, published by Info-Prim Neo {on Tuesday, May 3, 2011}. According to Alexandru Tanase, the mentioned phenomenon is based on two reasons. The first reason is the game rules in a market economy. “The press is selling its product. It is easier to sell an article saying 'an explosion occurred in the Alliance', 'a candidate argued with another'. In a way, everyone has to sell their products and thus write news stories that can be sold. The simple and exclusive news sell better. The people in general assimilate what's more simple. We can make an assessment in any society, determine the ratting of an analytical program or an entertainment program based on funny stories of bad taste,” said the minister. On the other hand, it depends on the ability of the press to cope with the new conditions. “I do not want to criticize the press, but this is also a problem of the journalists. Their ability to catch sensations is overdeveloped to the detriment of the ability to catch important things with content. I attended the opening of the judiciary year at the European Court of Human Rights and had a discussion with the press when I returned home. It was an interesting subject for discussion. For the first time since we joined the European Convention on Human Rights, the number of complaints to the ECHR fell by one third. This means that our judicial system commits by one third fewer illegalities. I was sure that the subject will attract attention from the press. But nobody expressed interest,” said Alexandru Tanase. According to the minister, the press does not address real issues. “I realized that I has formed part of a government that did not have an Opposition. It is a unique case. During many years, the press conveyed anti-Communist messages as they realized what the Communist administration was like and what limitation of the freedom of expression, pressure and attacks mean. Involuntarily, the press was sometimes forced to support the democratic change and it did it sincerely. After the Democratic forces came to power, the press continued to convey the same messages. One cannot change the messages in two days. Thus, the government was spared from the critical attitude of the press. The press anyway must have a critical attitude towards any administration. That's why I said that the press must address real issues,” he stated. On the occasion of the Press Freedom Days marked this week, the minister said the press is now freer than two years ago. “I think that the press is breathing much freer today than, for example, two years ago. The press is not suppressed anymore, at least in the direct meaning of the word. However, the press is facing another challenge now, that of self-censorship. It is a deeply ingrained belief that it's not good form to criticize the government. It's rather curious. During the Communist government there were instructions to intimidate those who express criticism of the government. Today everyone practices self-censorship and so we are returning to the point where the Communists left us. And this is the fault of the press, the democratic press. I think that the press is experiencing some state of frustration or fear in recognizing that what it had supported for quite a long period of time has proved to be not what it expected. Undoubtedly, in time all the media will learn to express criticism or look at things with a critical eye. This does not mean being an opposition press, this means doing your job right,” said Alexandru Tanase. “Today the press feels much more comfortable and I don't think that we will ever return to a situation where the press is so throttled like it was in the past. Total control like during the Communist rule is not possible anymore, today and in the future,” the minster stated for Info-Prim Neo.