Journalism ‘under’ - on the limits of transformation in Romania

The main argument of this paper is that Romanian journalism did not manage to become the subject and main actor within professional selfobserved boundaries, but has conserved an objectlike position, not only under communism, but as well after. I argue that the objectified position of journalism in Romania has been a continuum, since the beginning of this type of activity. The three theoretical explanatory pillars that I built my argument on are: political culture, path-dependence, and the low institutionalization of rational-legal authority. The first explanatory element refers to the relation of the citizens to power and the state, and more specifically to the implication or withdrawal of regular individuals in the life of their polis. The second refers to the power of the past for explaining present time institutional structuration. On this matter the main process to be observed is how the legacy of journalism under politics has fed the servitude of this sphere of practice to the present day. The latter refers to the instance of incomplete modernization within the Romanian polity, where people in power or established customs are more important than rules and agreed-upon procedures. The above phenomena are visible when studying the field of journalism in its grassroots manifestations.