Cluj-Napoca - Media and Popular Culture

Media and Popular Culture

Cluj-Napoca is the most important centre for Transylvanian mass media, since it is the headquarters of all regional television networks, newspapers and radio stations. The largest daily newspapers published in Bucharest are usually reissued from Cluj-Napoca in a regional version, covering Transylvanian issues. Such newspapers include România Liberă, Gardianul, Ziarul Financiar, ProSport and Gazeta Sporturilor. Ringier edited a regional version of Evenimentul Zilei in Cluj-Napoca until 2008, when it decided to close this enterprise.

Apart from the regional editions, which are distributed throughout Transylvania, the national newspaper Ziua also runs a local franchise, Ziua de Cluj, that acts as a local daily, available only within city limits. Cluj-Napoca also boasts other newspapers of local interest, like Făclia and Monitorul de Cluj, as well as two free dailies, Informaţia Cluj and Cluj Expres. Clujeanul, the first of a series of local weeklies edited by the media trust CME, is one of the largest newspapers in Transylvania, with an audience of 53,000 readers per edition. This weekly has a daily online version, entitled Clujeanul, ediţie online, updated on a real-time basis. Cluj-Napoca is also the centre of the Romanian Hungarian language press. The city hosts the editorial offices of the two largest newspapers of this kind, Krónika and Szabadság, as well as those of the magazines Erdélyi Napló and Korunk. Săptămâna Clujeană is an economic weekly published in the city, that also issues two magazines on successful local people and companies (Oameni de Succes and Companii de Succes) every year, while Piaţa A-Z is a newspaper for announcements and advertisements distributed throughout Transylvania. Cluj had an active press in the interwar period as well: publications included the Zionist newspaper Új Kelet, the official party organs Keleti Újság (for the Magyar Party) and Patria (for the National Peasants' Party); and the nationalist Conştiinţa Românească and Ţara Noastră, the latter a magazine directed by Octavian Goga. Under Communism, publications included the socio-political and literary magazines Tribuna, Steaua, Utunk, Korunk, Napsugár and Előre as well as the regional Communist party daily organs Făclia and Igazság and the trilingual student magazine Echinox.

Among the local television stations in the city, TVR Cluj (public) and One TV (private) broadcast regionally, while the others are restricted to the metropolitan area. Napoca Cable Network is available through cable, and broadcasts local content throughout the day. Other stations work as affiliates of national TV stations, only providing the audience with local reports in addition to the national programming. This situation is mirrored in the radio broadcasting companies: except for Radio Cluj, Radio Impuls and the Hungarian-language Paprika Rádió, all other stations are local affiliates of the national broadcasters. Casa Radio, situated on Donath Street, is one of the modern landmarks of the media and communications industry; it is, however, not the only one: Palatul Telefoanelor ("the telephone palace") is also a major modernist symbol of communications in the city centre.

Magazines published in Cluj-Napoca include HR Journal, a publication discussing human resources issues, J'Adore, a local shopping magazine that is also franchised in Bucharest, Maximum Rock Magazine, dealing with the rock music industry, RDV, a national hunting publication and Cluj-Napoca WWW, an English-language magazine designed for tourists. Cultural and social events as well as all other entertainment sources are the leading subjects of such magazines as Şapte Seri and CJ24FUN.

In the early 20th century, film production in Cluj-Napoca (in those times Kolozsvár), led by Jenő Janovics, was the chief alternative to Budapest. The first film made in the city, in association with the Parisian producer Pathé, was Sárga csikó ("Yellow Foal", 1912), based on a popular "peasant drama". Yellow Foal became the first worldwide Hungarian success, distributed abroad under the title The Secret of the Blind Man: 137 prints were sold internationally and the movie was even screened in Japan.

The first artistically prestigious film in the annals of Hungarian cinematography was also produced on this site, based on a national classic, Bánk bán (1914), a tragedy written by József Katona.

Later, the city was the production site of the 1991 Romanian drama Undeva în Est ("Somewhere in the East"), and the 1995 Hungarian language film A Részleg ("Outpost"). Moreover, the Romanian-language film Cartier ("Neighbourhood", 2001) and its sequel Înapoi în cartier ("Back to the Neighbourhood", 2006) both feature a story replete with violence and rude language, behind the blocks in the city's Mănăştur district. This district is also mentioned in the lyrics to the song Înapoi în cartier by La Familia member Puya, featured on the soundtrack of the motion picture.

Documentary and mockumentary productions set in the city include Irshad Ashraf's St. Richard of Austin, a tribute to the American film director Richard Linklater, and Cluj-Napocolonia, a mockumentary imagining a fabulous city of the future.