How much do the authorities influence the way homosexuality is reflected in the mass media?
Romanian mass media cannot be accused of being homophobic solely on its own. Its homophobia reflects only the degree to which the whole society is homophobic. The authorities make no exception from this general rule. Therefore, it is hard to tell whether it is the homophobia of the authorities that triggers that of the mass media or, whether this would be present no matter the official attitude. Anyway, Romanian media reflects carefully the authorities’ negative point of view on sexual minorities. This kind of attitude is frequent enough and represent not only the state authorities, but also the Romanian Orthodox church who launched a sustained public campaign against the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Romania. The interference of a religious institution in the affairs of a non-religious state apparatus is debatable. However, the press did not view it as such. Neither, was the overtly homophobic attitude of the Romanian authorities, the authorities of a country that agreed to pr
