POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE MEDIA. THE CRISIS OF THE ROMANIAN MEDIA SYSTEM IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Abstract

The starting point for our analysis is the situation of the Romanian media system in 2024 to show that certain decisions regarding the public communication of parties in the political establishment, such as directing electoral campaign funds predominantly to news televisions, have had a negative impact on their performance. The digital environment, which is par excellence global, that is gradually establishing itself as the dominant environment, has seriously disturbed the domestic media system, offering an alternative precisely to the anti-globalist parties. In response to the media control established by parties in the political establishment, the so-called nationalist parties and candidates of the same make in the presidential elections have taken over the public agenda (on war and economic issues) and interacted with the public, especially through online social networks. The use of global media allowed the interventions of actors from outside the national space, such as states or media corporations, in support of these candidates to directly influence the electoral campaign.