SPECIAL EDITION - THE SÂRBU CASE/ ROOTED OUT ATAVISM Adrian Sârbu, the last mogul

Ding-dong!, the clock press sounds the end of the moguls' era: the last of them has been placed in handcuffs - Adrian Sârbu.

On the threshold between Iliescu and Băsescu, mass-media had been divided into three empires, which comprised radio, TV and printed press, which focused on what Adrian Sârbu, Dan Voiculescu and the more recent arrival Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu were demanding (they are listed in the reverse order that they went to the slammer - naturally, last come, first served!).

The aforementioned three are important, because they have mutilated the press.

Adrian Sârbu paid his journalists (and his stars) thousands and thousands of dollars (and then Euros), which were in fact VAT that was not paid to the state budget.

You know what VAT is, it is money that you collect, but isn't yours, it belongs to the state, which you need to pay it to.

Media Pro did not, instead it kept it for itself and used it to pay its journalists, off the books.

Between 1995 and 2002, it did not pay anything to the state budget, not one leu in taxes, no profit tax, no social security contributions, nothing, absolutely zilch.

Those debts were repeatedly canceled.

That wasn't enough, in 2002 Media Pro received about 168 billion lei in "state aid", approved by the Competition Council.

It ruined the market.

Journalists' wages skyrocketed, the media would pay royally anybody kowtowing to the mogul, they could be illiterate, all that mattered was their lack of character (but even journalists with personality became accustomed to come to heel).

The other two "V"s - Voiculescu and Vîntu - had to deal with this competition and all of them set wage standards that were disconnected from the realities of the industry.

That disproportionality threw the press into a different logic then the one that was its own, turning it into a business that would justify that kind of compensation: media influence became a commodity that was politically traded, in exchange for fiscal tolerance, infrastructure breaks (distribution, printing), advertising from state institutions and drawing advertising from the private sector through the political aura surrounding the press entities favored by the government.

Any cracks in this structure were cemented with flawed ratings and circulation reports, drawn up by institutions subordinated to the moguls.

It is a miracle that press that survived outside the moguls' empires still exists.

But the reason the three are important, is particularly because they have mutilated the nation's mind.

"Watch and win".

I don't even have to remind the laughter-track entertainment, the gipsy songs, the cheap soap operas, the primitive shows, the overflow of boorishness; mentioning ProTVs "Watch and win" slogan is enough.

That slogan's immorality is not limited to Sârbu's media turf, it crosses into those of the other three moguls as well.

Remember those "natural business born", from Vîntu's Money Chanel; two of the seven "natural business born" being presented back then were two female journalists that Vîntu had attracted from BURSA, are good journalists, but I never ventured to claim, like him, that they were that good, they could help you "avoid bankruptcy".

Hype.

As proof, they couldn't help him avoid default.

And as for Voiculescu's "Antena"s, I won't even venture to review their morality, it would be like reviewing the mistakes that a crocodile makes in a geometry problem - that it is longer than it is green.

None of the three moguls was arrested for the immorality of their press entities - the press has the right to choose whether it acts immorally or not - they were only arrested when they lost their usefulness to the politicians in power.

That is how the business they developed works, it isn't press, it it just a political tool that serves the government in power and turning against the power means you're bad at business.

You didn't understand that.

You, as moguls, thought that despite what you were doing, you were making press - ha, ha!

The moguls' arrests won't bring about a transformation of the press, it will stay the same pathetic merchandise on the counter of the political power.

Journalists adapt easily, they can hardly wait for a new master to appear, except this time it won't be a mogul.

For instance, at Mediafax Group, the new owner will not be an individual, but a corporate entity.

A bank, even though I don't think they want that.

If you want, I'll tell you its name: ING.