Magyari Tivadar

 
1  Introduction: the community I focus on

 As it is known in Romania (under historical circumstances) live a relatively great Hungarian community (1,624,959 individuals, about 7 percent of whole Romanian population) The majority of the Hungarian national minority live in Transylvania of about 103,000 square kilometers. Almost 28% of the Hungarian national minority live along the Hungarian border, 16-18% in Middle-Transylvania and 18-20% in an interethnic Diaspora. They constitute a closed group in Seklers’ Land where 35-37% of the Hungarians in Transylvania are grouped. The proportion of non-Hungarians in the area is less than 12-15%. In addition to Transylvania, Hungarian national minorities live in other regions of Romania as well .
 There are several types of institutes, which are connected to this community and the Hungarian mother tongue: schools and university departments, churches, civil organizations, theatres and media. institutions. There are today over 500 Hungarian foundations and associations registered in court in Romania, their operations range from the preservation of traditions, through culture, the arts, education and welfare activity to research and business promotion.

2.  Brief description of the field

   The fall of the Ceausescu regime and the creation of a free press have resulted in positive changes for the media in Romania, including the Hungarian language media. Central Hungarian language TV broadcasts are a 3 hours a week, radio broadcasts in Hungarian an hour daily, regional radios at Kolozsvár, Marosvásárhely and Timisoara broadcast a few hours daily. Regional, private television and radio stations are broadcasting in Hungarian language  (at Székelyudvarhely, Csíkszereda, Sepsiszentgyörgy, Gyergyószentmiklós, Marosvásárhely, Kolozsvár, Nagyvárad and Szatmár).
 3 of almost 60 Hungarian language press publications receive state support (e.g. Korunk, Muvelodés, A Hét, Helikon).  The major part of Hungarian media in Romania is private now. They also get support from Hungary, which is distributed via tenders launched by a Press Body operating next to the Board of Trustees of the Public Foundation Illyés. The training of journalists is supported in the same way, in which state forms (university training at Kolozsvár) are supplemented by private institutions. The latter is heavily influenced with regard to organizational and technical issues by the Association of Hungarian Journalists in Romania (MURE) that is an organizer of  Hungarian media life in Romania. Major daily papers include Bihari Napló (circulation 15-20,000), Hargita Népe (20,000), Háromszék (20,000), Népújság (20,000), Romániai Magyar Szó (13,000), Szabadság (10,000), Szatmári Friss Újság (15,000). Major weeklies include Brassói Lapok (8,000), Erdélyi Napló (15,000) and Európai Ido (18,000).
 So, this would be considered as a full media system (in the mcqualian sense of the term)   This feature makes particular Hungarian minority media within any minority media in Europe (excepting Russia). The items (newspapers, journals, radio and tv stations) mostly are not mere appendices or parts of a majority (Romanian) language media institute, as the case of any other minority usually is, but they are "full-time" institutes. Hugh electronic media and internet-transmited media activity projects are running from now on.  The Association of Hungarian Journalists in Romania is providing a large scale service of an intranet.
 
3.  Theoretical concepts and hypotheses involved

 I would like to provide a balanced (so nonideological, "pure" sociological way of view – to the extent possible) on ethnic Hungarians` media  in Romania. Also, it has to be a critical view, at least because it is supposed to not repeat the dominant discourse on this matter in my country. I involve (just like in my former presentations and courses) the following concepts and hypotheses:

Affirmativism.

The policy and the discourse of Hungarian media in Romania would be called as an affirmative one. This means  uncritical view towards the Hungarian public sphere and political actors; an uniform pattern of speech. Research has to reveal the nature and base of this discourse in depth.

"Aprofessionalism".

 The attitude of main actors  is what we call "a-professional". Journalists and other actors involved in Hungarian media conceive in a particular way journalism, without regarding the methods proved to be efficient, politically and  "economically" correct in the European tradition of media performance. This is just a particular sign of the shortcomings of the East-European  media after the communist regime. Research has to reveal the possible policy of overcoming this.

Elitism.

The discourse on  Hungarian media is elitist. A lot of media phenomenon are simply untreatable by this kind of speech: popular culture and its media, bilingual media using, the interference of new private media issues from Hungary. High culture is favored almost exclusively, people is expected to "consume" elite literature. This policy frequently influence the way of distributing funds by above mentioned  Press Body or Association of Hungarian Journalists in Romania. This, also means an unsociological view on audiences. This view naively  considers Hungarian community as a whole, homogenous one, unstratificated and culturally unsegmented, as a peculiar colony of those (1.5 million people…), who are supposed to "keep" patterns of high culture.

Uncomercialism.

The lack in conceiving the  economical patterns of  media institutions: the misunderstanding of management, the role of advertising, media marketing, the efficiency etc.

"Minority neurosis".

This concept refers to the dramatization of minority situation of ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The fact of living in minority is central, and provides a pessimistic view, a particular sense of everyday life. it is not a surprising thing in the case of an ethnic (and religious) minority, but this has particularities that worth to be revealed in our research.
 
 

- revealing  the patterns of a possible media policy and even media regulation
- understanding special media dynamics in the post totalitarian society, involving critically on-going theories, and western media scholars`  experiences
- identifying trends of the minority media discourse, the  sensitive issues, and nature  of political socialization trough community media