Swiss media group Ringier (Ringier Sports Media Group, or RSMG) announced the last print issue of its Romanian sports daily Gazeta Sporturilor (GSP) was published on November 1, as part of a strategic reorientation towards the digital market of the publication. The daily was close to 100 years of activity.

The reorientation apparently includes a new editorial management as well, as Catalin Tolontan, GSP's editorial coordinator, was informed his position was eliminated.

Last month, Tolontan accused pressures on the editorial teams of RSMG publications in Romania in favour of the betting industry. Chief editor Catalin Tepelin left GSP last month amid the same scandal related to the alleged pressures on the editorial team.

The sales of GSP's print version dropped by 27% since 2018, and the price of the paper recently increased, RSMG told GSP's journalists in the email officially announcing the termination of the print version and the personnel downsize. 

GSP is owned by the company Ringier Sportal, whose shareholders are the Swiss trust Ringier Sports Media Group AG (with 51%) and the Bulgarian company SMAK MEDIA EOOD (with 49%), according to G4media.ro quoting official sources. The representative of the Bulgarian company is Stilian Shishkov, the founder of the Bulgarian Association of Gambling, an organization supporting this industry.

In May 2022, Shishkov was given a major role in Ringier's sports division, according to a statement from the Swiss group: "Stilian Shishkov, founder and CEO of Sportal Media Group in Bulgaria, will be responsible for the further strategic development of Ringier Sports Media globally".

Europa Libera Romania quotes GSP journalists claiming that the GSP is on the profit side and the owners of the sports daily actually seek to turn the publication into "an interface of the gambling industry." RSMG reportedly didn't respond to the publication's request for comments, but the daily owner rejected publicly such accusations.

"It is surprising that a powerful trust [like Ringier], with a long democratic tradition, practices censorship and does not understand one of the basic rules of the owner-journalist relationship for an independent press: without interference in editorial policy," commented Mircea Toma, founder of the Active Watch organization and CNA member, for Europa Libera Romania.

"GSP management chooses obedience to potential business partners over the courage to protect the public interest," concluded Mircea Toma.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Screenshot from Gazeta Sporturilor video on Facebook)