Abstract
This chapter examines the experience of IAMCR’s Romanian members who were targets of the Romanian Securitate. Based on a preliminary archival analysis, the chapter explores why Romanian IAMCR members were among those surveilled. While authoritarianism, state terror, and citizen surveillance were shared experiences of all Marxist-Leninist socialist republics in Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Europe, the chapter explains the differentiation in relation to specific historical and cultural contexts in which more or less similar interpretations and praxes of foundational Marxism-Leninism evolved.
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Notes
- 1.
The CNSAS was established in 2000, in accordance with Law nr. 187/1999, and houses Securitate files on individuals and informers. The process of obtaining the files included the submission of an application—with the names of the eight Romanian IAMCR members, their birth dates, and fields of activity—to the CNSAS board responsible for accrediting researchers. It took about four weeks for the board to consider the application and grant accreditation. Ms. Ungureanu-Burlan was notified on 30 June 2021 that our request for accreditation was granted and that she was scheduled to be admitted to the CNSAS archives on 29 July between 1:00 p.m. and 4 p.m. and again on 30 July between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. She took notes and then requested copies of the files available for the four Romanian IAMCR members, which were delivered to us on disks on 17 October 2021.
- 2.
This chapter is based on a preliminary analysis of the Securitate’s seven volumes (over 7000 pages) of reports on Câmpeanu, code named “Pavo.” This includes documents and ancillary materials such as intercepted correspondence with foreign colleagues, some related to IAMCR (I—file nr. I-0064759). An “I” designates an “Information” file. These documents are the source for quotes not included in the reference list.
- 3.
See footnote 1 for origins.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
This cult of personality extended to his wife, Elena Ceaușescu, who was barely literate, had a fake academic background, and was addressed as “academician,” “doctor,” “(chemical) engineer,” and “world-renowned scientist,” that is, when she was not called the “mother of the country.”
- 8.
Legitimacy for its actions rested in the Romanian constitution of 1948 (modeled on the Soviet Union’s constitution) and its two subsequent versions in 1952 and 1965. Romania’s first communist constitution in 1948 (Article 29) specified that the freedoms provided for the country’s citizens—speech, press, assembly, and demonstrations—could not be “exercised for purposes contrary to the socialist system and interests of employees.” In the 1964 constitution, which announced that “socialism has won” and re-named the country a Socialist Republic, the wording was changed slightly to “against the socialist structure and the interests of those who work.”
- 9.
Even jokes that were perceived as anti-regime/anti-communist could land you in jail. See Glăvan (2019).
- 10.
For example, see Halloran (1976).
- 11.
In the 1980s, a heated debate ensued in UNESCO over a NWICO proposed by the so-called non-aligned nations and supported by the communist states. The proposal focused on a more balanced approach to reporting on the so-called Third World and also curbing negative reports about these countries and their leaders. The US and others opposed the proposal on the grounds that it strongly hinted at control of the press/media and its contents and suppression of information that was critical of authoritarian/totalitarian regimes.
- 12.
- 13.
See No Author (2009).
- 14.
- 15.
Câmpeanu worked at Romanian Radio and Television until 1980. We have not yet ascertained how and why he left.
- 16.
Sreberny was Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Centre for Media and Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
- 17.
Câmpeanu had been elected the Romanian representative on IAMCR’s Executive Board at the Caracas (Venezuela) Congress in August 1980.
- 18.
For example, see Steriade and Câmpeanu (1985).
- 19.
See No Author (2009).
- 20.
See Bourquin (1970).
- 21.
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Ungureanu-Burlan, I., Gross, P. (2023). IAMCR Members under the Microscope of Romania’s Securitate: A Preliminary Study. In: Becker, J., Mansell, R. (eds) Reflections on the International Association for Media and Communication Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16383-8_13
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