Does That Mean Andrei Codrescu Will Finally Cheer the Hell Up?

Matt Welch | June 26, 2008

Some bad news about good news in Romania:

Upbeat news would have to make up half of all newscasts on all of Romania's radio and television stations, under legislation adopted unanimously Wednesday in the senate.

"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 - one from the governing National Liberal Party, the other from the far-right Great Romania party - who bemoan the "irreversible effect" of negative news "on the health and life of people".

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

Insert imagine-this-in-America joke here. I wrote about the Romanian government's perennial (and perennially futile) attempts to control broadcast television three years ago.