ZIUA de Constanta newspaper forbidden by Mayor Radu Mazare

Starting from 6^th of April this year, our readers pointed us that ZIUA de Constanţa ceased to be sold by Conpress Group stands; our newspaper should have been distributed by Tutun şi Ziare Ltd. The standing orders which should have been distributed by the same company also ceased to include the local edition of ZIUA newspaper.

After a check on what our readers informed us, we have come to the conclusion that the state is real and was also confirmed by the sellers in the newspaper distribution places in which the newspaper providers are Tutun şi Ziare Ltd. More over, persons in charge of the stands told us that they would not receive the newspaper any longer, as they superiors informed them.

The single shareholder of Tutun şi Ziare Ltd is the company Conpress Group Ltd, and one of its shareholders is the mayor of Constanţa, Radu Mazăre.

This company owns 85% from press distribution in Constanţa. That is, they have a monopoly.

As our newspaper policy has always been equidistant and had shown both positive and negative aspects of local public administration and of activity of the mayor Radu Mazăre, we are left no other choice but to state that the mayor is troubled by our presence on Constanţa media market and that ceasing to distribute ZIUA de Constanţa newspaper in Conpress Group stands can only be seen as a form of prohibition.

It's true that, starting from the end of November 2008, Tutun şi Ziare Ltd informed that "because of high logistical costs", the found themselves in the impossibility of distributing ZIUA de Constanţa. But not only ZIUA de Constanţa. The letter dated 28^th of November 2008 was followed by other documents mentioning the same aspect, having no outcome though. Actually, the documents issued by Tutun şi Ziare Ltd may be considered warnings of the distribution company to the articles published by our daily newspaper.

As mentioned before, the first letter signed by the manager of Tutun şi Ziare Ltd on 28^th of November 2008, two days after ZIUA de Constanţa showed solidarity to the journalist Feri Predescu and joined the demarche of supporting her in raising all the money she needed to pay the amends to Radu Mazăre the mayor.

(//www.ziuaconstanta.ro/rubrici/social/...).

The next document was signed by the same manager mentioned above, on 11^th of March 2009. In our March 25 edition, this year, we were providing you information about the land which the judge sentencing Feri Predescu in the Mazăre trial, Beatrice Mariş had received from the mayor, by means of mayor disposition, in respect to Law 10/2001 (//www.ziuaconstanta.ro/rubrici/deschidere-editie/...l). And the climax of this state of affairs was reached when publishing the article "Mazăre: ‘I was voted by 70% of Constanţa inhabitants' Wrong: He was NOT voted by 70% of Constanţa inhabitants" (//www.ziuaconstanta.ro/rubrici/deschidere-editie/...), published by ZIUA de Constanţa on 31^st of March 2009.

We gather that this was the motive which led to us being forbidden from Conpress Group stands.

We have chosen not to go public with the fact that we have been forbidden from Conpress Group press stands as soon as this became crystal clear, as we had no intention of spoiling the Passion Week. In spite of this, Tutun şi Ziare Ltd made use of this communist policy and forbid the distribution of ZIUA de Constanţa newspaper one week before the celebration of Christ Resurrection. Consequently we consider it necessary to inform the public opinion about the abuse made by our local leaders by interdicting a newspaper considered by the chief of the Municipality and of the County Council as an opposing one. ZIUA de Constanţa is informing its readers that we will have our own tools of distributing a larger number of copies as before, which will fill out our online edition on www.ziuadeconstanta.ro.

Attached to the present press release, you may also find all documents documents proving all the above, together with short movies with Conpress Group press stands, mails and sms-es from our readers showing that  ZIUA de Constanţa is no longer found in those press distribution stands.