Happy News To Get Equal Time On Romanian TV

Sick of all the negative news you hear on the nightly news broadcast? Then Romania may be the place for you.

Under legislation adopted unanimously in the senate, happy news will have to make up half of all newscasts on all of Romania's radio and television stations.

"News programmes on TV and radio shall contain, in the same proportion, news with positive and negative themes," states the legislation, which is going to President Traian Basescu for adoption.

The measure is the idea of two senators who bemoan the "irreversible effect" of negative news "on the health and life of people".

Its aim, they say, is to "improve the general climate and to offer to the public the chance to have balanced perceptions on daily life, mentally and emotionally".

The council itself is less than impressed, along with journalists who hope the legislation will not be put into effect.

"News is news," says one council chairman. "It is neither positive or negative. It simply reflects reality. I don't believe that the introduction of such a quantitative criteria can work. Events cannot be programmed, nor can minds."

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