Romanian journalist Catalin Tolontan whose investigative reporting has won him plaudits abroad has been fired as editor from daily Libertatea, two months after he clashed with the owners over allegations of editorial interference.
Ringier announced Wednesday it was parting ways with Tolontan, an acclaimed investigative and sports journalist who is editorial coordinator of the newspaper Libertatea, Paginademedia.ro reported. His dismissal comes just a month after he was removed from Gazeta Sporturilor.
According to Paginademedia.ro, Iulia Rosu and Camelia Stan, his two deputies were also dismissed.
Tolontan, 55, is an award-winning journalist known for his investigative work who has broken plenty of big stories, including an investigation linked to a nightclub fire that killed 64. He was declared ‘Journalist of the Year’ in Romania 13 times.
Ringier said in a press release that the popular Libertatea newspaper will focus more on digital, after sales dropped by 64% compared to 2018.
Ringier said it was implementing “internal cost-cutting measures to help secure a sustainable future for the company.”
Tolontan’s investigative reporting was the inspiration for a film that was nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Film this year. The film centered in large part on reporter Tolontan, who exposed a shocking corruption scandal precipitated by a deadly fire at the Colectiv nightclub.
Tolontan and his colleagues got to the bottom of why burn victims kept mysteriously dying in Romanian hospitals in the weeks and months after the blaze.
His investigation uncovered a scheme by a pharmaceutical company to sell secretly diluted disinfectant to hospitals. The weakened cleaning solution allowed bacteria to flourish that then killed the burn patients. Hospital officials and government overseers were in on the scam, collecting bribes from the disinfectant maker.
In a statement sent to Paginademedia, Ringier mentioned “three employees within the organization who will be affected by a change of strategy”, without naming them.
In the press release, Ringier said that “Libertatea, a renowned and respected media brand including beyond the country’s borders, with a history of over 30 years, will enrich and diversify its digital content offer in the coming period”, without elaborating.
In September, dozens of journalists from Libertatea and Gazeta Sporturilor, both owned by the Swiss Ringier group, accused the management of demanding to see articles about betting companies that advertise in newspapers before they are published.
They signed an open letter, after the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Sporturilor, Cătălin Țepelin, announced that he had been fired by Ringier.
“We strongly protest against these measures and announce that we will take legal action to defend the Romanian public’s right to independent media,” the open letter said.
Tolontan and other well-known journalists put their names to the letter.
Signatories wrote that Ringier asked Țepelin, to leave and then requested Tolontan to jointly appoint the former’s replacement, which he refused.
Ringier management pointed to the official statement, which notes that Țepelin departed due to “differing views on the strategic direction of Gazeta Sporturilor.”
