Romania: Crina Boros Threatened For 2 Hours At Ministry Of Environment
Ministry staff obstructs journalist’s reporting, belittles, and threatens her in meeting meant to clarify government’s policies against illegal logging
Location: Romania
Date: May 18, 2023
After requesting public data on illegal logging and deforestation in Romania, Crina Boros, a British investigative data journalist, was subjected to nearly two hours of mistreatment by the Ministry of Environment and SUMAL — an online portal utilizing automated systems to detect illegally transported timber from Romania. The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls out the obstruction, misogynistic insults, and intimidation directed at Boros and urges the Minister of Environment, Tánczos Barna, to take disciplinary action against those responsible.
Crina Boros — investigating illegal mining and the consequential destruction of habitats in Romania — expected a technical discussion regarding data she had requested and an interview with a forestry expert, as suggested by the Ministry, on May 18th. Instead, the investigative reporter was subjected to almost two hours of hostile and demeaning behavior from staff at SUMAL and the Ministry's Communications department.
Staff from the Control Corps of the Environment Minister directed derogatory and misogynistic remarks toward Boros, turning increasingly aggressive. They further boasted about their connections in the forestry industry, threatening Boros' requests for information about logging could have negative consequences for private forest owners.
Boros was instructed to manually take down notes of the tens of thousands of temporarily published records on the database, which were displayed on a projector screen.
One of the communications representatives responsible for handling Boros' FOI request informed her that any requests for information made via phone conversations would not be considered part of her FOI. This statement is in direct contradiction to Article 6 of Romania's public information access law.
Boros submitted two Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to SUMAL, which is the data and IT service of the Forests department under the Romanian Ministry of Environment, Waters, and Forests. The FOI requests were specifically for information on logging permits and loggers. However, the FOI request submitted in August 2022 experienced delays, and while some of the requested data was provided, certain information remained undisclosed.
Accessing public data related to logging and forestry in Romania has been a challenging task, with investigative journalists facing obstructions and only partially successful Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
In addition to these obstacles, journalists investigating illegal logging in Romania have also been subjected to physical attacks. One such incident occurred in September 2021 when journalist and freelance filmmaker Mihai Dragolea and director Radu Constantin Mocanu were attacked and severely beaten by a group of 20 individuals armed with sticks and axes while they were documenting illegal logging in a forest in north-eastern Romania.
The European Commission has taken action against Romania by launching infringement proceedings due to the country's continued and systematic inability to safeguard old-growth forests from the detrimental effects of illegal logging.
Press Freedom Concerns in Romania
On January 18th, 2022, journalist Emilia Șercan was targeted with multiple threatening emails and social media messages. Furthermore, after writing an article accusing PM Ciucă of plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation, intimate photos of the journalist were circulated online. Șercan reported three separate threats to the Bucharest Police Criminal Investigation Service, but unfortunately, instead of receiving resolution, the journalist's submitted evidence was leaked, causing even more distress.
On February 17, 2023, CFWIJ, alongside eight other international press freedom organizations, wrote a letter to Romanian authorities expressing serious concern about the delay in the investigation into the treatment of investigative journalist Emilia Șercan.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism extends its support to Crina Boros and other women journalists in Romania facing obstructions and intimidation for doing their jobs. We express our concern over the reported incident and call for a public statement from the appropriate authorities denouncing any mistreatment of journalists while carrying out their duties. Additionally, we call on the Ministry of Environment to immediately comply with the FOI request and share the data.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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