Thursday, December 8, from 18:30, we invite you to the French Institute for an honest discussion with Sonia Devillers, Ana Poenariu and Mariana Luceanu about the challenges of journalists and the importance of whistleblower integrity in a functional democracy
The discussion appears in the context in which in recent months MPs wanted to change the whistleblower law, under the pretext of transposing a European Directive on the same subject. The new whistleblower law has had an exciting journey that has not yet come to an end, as the project is a controversial one, criticized by both the European Commission and civil society.
How to take part
Entry is free, within the 50 available places but requires filling out the entry form https://its.funky.ong/WB-8dec
Good to know:
seats will be allocated on a "first come, first served" basis
the event will benefit from simultaneous interpretation (Romanian – French)
the event will not be streamed live online
Speakers:
Pierre de Monte, Liaison Magistrate in Romania and the Republic of Moldova for the French Embassy, will open the discussion with a few-minute speech on the legal situation of whistleblowers.
Sonia Devillers is a journalist. She specializes in culture, economics and mass media. On the France Inter radio station, she presents the daily shows L'Edito M and L'Instant M. "Les exportés" (Flammarion, 2022) is her first book. She also presents the new daily show on Arte TV dedicated to the decoding of images, entitled "Le dessous des images".
Mariana Luceanu is a registered nurse at the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital and a whistleblower. For 17 days in August, Mariana was on hunger strike with her colleague Daniel Simion, with the aim of reporting irregularities such as the mess or the lack of staff in the University Hospital in Bucharest
After her public appearance, the Minister of Health at the time promised her that nothing would happen to her. In vain: at the beginning of October she was fired, the reason cited by the hospital management being that the nurse was "absent without reason" during the 17 days of the hunger strike. He challenged the decision in court and after 6 months, he regained his job at the ATI ward of the same hospital.
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁
Despite an increasingly unfriendly climate for honest journalists, sprinkled with kompromat actions, SLAPP (Strategic lawsuit against public participation) court actions and the discreet buying of the silence of the big television stations by the political parties, the Romanian press is still lives and produces investigations that shake society.
But reporters from independent newsrooms need our support more than ever. We aim to contribute to increasing media resilience in this bleak civic landscape through a series of monthly debates on current media issues
Concret, ne dorim să aducem laolaltă mediul academic, cetățenii activi și ONG-urile, potențiali finanțatori ai proiectelor media independente, precum și potențiali viitori jurnaliști.
** Event may suffer changes **