George Simion’s attitude towards the representatives of Digi24 was terrible primarily due to the tone used. Did he refuse to participate in the debate? Both candidates refused similar confrontations in the second round, Nicușor Dan at Realitatea TV, Europa FM, and the Chamber of Commerce, George Simion at Digi24 and Antena3, for now.
The calculation is strategic, there are places that could no longer bring them benefits from areas of the public that are already secured. It remains to be seen whether they will go to Romania TV, the audience of Sebastian Ghiţă’s television and Victor Ponta’s could be important in Sunday’s equation and incompletely secured.
Did he resort to shifting the focus away from the absence that was to be exploited by the opponent to a bigger and more sensational scandal? It is a campaign tactic that is already established.
What cannot be accepted is the tone used by Mr. Simion, not only towards some journalists. Just as easily in front of him could have been farmers, cleaning ladies, doormen, or drivers. It is symptomatic of the mentality, education, and vision he has about exercising power the way he chose to humiliate people, in an exercise of tyranny filmed, in order to amplify their humiliation through publication.
Considering they are journalists, Mr. Simion also showed how he understands his future relationship with the press that is not dedicated to him.
But, once again, it is not only important to observe. What is most important is to understand why he chose to do this, starting from the premise that in a campaign every gesture is calculated with its targets and effects, nothing is free, and no risk is taken if the potential gain from it is not greater.
What could have been the gain?
Mr. Simion engaged in a public humiliation exercise not only of a few journalists from a specific TV station. The exercise of humiliation and condemnation actually targeted the guild accused of lying, manipulating, lynching. It was publicly exposed and punished, ritually, by the new leader.
This exercise by Mr. Simion comes as a seed on the fertilized ground of hatred and contempt towards journalists. The press and the guild are in a very bad moment, the public has largely abandoned classical sources of information replaced by social networks.
Why? And for reasons not attributable to the guild, related to the increasing speed at which we live, the loss of patience for a careful analysis under the siege of three-line clips and posts, often concentrated on easy manipulation.
But also because of the guild. Because public funds, disguised bribes in subsidies, have straightened and compromised many media institutions, primarily television stations, because media owners have turned their investments into tools of political and economic warfare, because the inherent subjectivity of human nature has often been transformed into aggressive partisanship and manipulation, because journalists who entered politics have returned to the profession as if nothing had happened.
This week, the media space has become absolutely stifling. No television station, at least, practices journalism anymore. Each is aligned with a fierce propaganda line in black and white. For a propaganda cartel, one candidate is the salvation, perfection, without any flaw, while the other is Mammon himself. For the other cartel, it's the other way around.
One is not identified with any error, no matter how small, no question at all, no doubt disturbs their immaculateness, no matter what comes out of their mouth. Just as the other is not identified with any merit, no good idea, no gesture no matter how small is acceptable.
Just blatant propaganda, often shouted, hysterical and hysterical, unbearable and completely off track from what a somewhat balanced press should mean.
But it is like this because the public wants less and less objective press, based on principles and a single measure, and more press that only confirms their beliefs and choices, that validates and promotes their favorites. In other words, they all want their "gazis," "ciuvics," "tucis," and "alexandres." Anyone who doesn't deliver exactly is with the enemy.
Honestly, how many of those who are now tearing their clothes off for Digi24's humiliation a few weeks ago, in the last campaign, were talking about Digi24 and accusing this television of being affiliated with the PNL? The question is valid for all media institutions.
How many of those who now praise Antena3 because they are with their favorite, yesterday only called it "Latrina 3" and cursed all the journalists there, now praised? "The Varan" is okay because he is with us.
For Simion, it was extremely easy to turn a television station into a perfect enemy for public execution. He responded to a widespread belief. Just as easily he sowed the seeds for massive layoffs among public sector employees when hatred against them had been cultivated for years.
Mr. Simion, like Mr. Georgescu, cynically exploits the rifts, quirks, phobias, demonizations in Romanian society, the lack of communication, the lack of respect for many social categories, the anger, the immense anger of people urged to hate and frustrated by isolation.
And even if George Simion loses on Sunday, society will remain the same, or in a much worse state than at the beginning of the electoral campaign. For this, nobody has solutions as long as they don't even seek the causes.