Oglinda TV - History of The Station - Investigation "serials"

Investigation "serials"

In 2004, after the ban was lifted, OTV restarted its broadcast. It featured three news crawls at the bottom of the screen and various on-screen text captions showing words such as Incredible, Sensational, Extraordinary. The subjects debated on Diaconescu's talk show maintained their tabloid style and included scenarios of a looming doomsday, investigation into "mystery deaths", revelations of religious figures and scandals among Romanian celebrities.

Starting September 2007, OTV became notorious for its investigation into the "mysterious" disappearance of Romanian lawyer Elodia Ghinescu, a subject which was debated for 239 consecutive evenings, termed by the channel episodes, and attracted a significant number of viewers. After the "Elodia serial" other such subjects received similar coverage. Other Romanian TV stations soon launched similar late-night talk shows, in a process called by Diaconescu the "otevisation" of Romania. Traian Băsescu, President of Romania in 2009, was also guest in Diaconescu's show, where he talked about politics and personal affairs.

Diaconescu's support for Băsescu ended abruptly in 2010 when the television personality was arrested for allegedly having blackmailed a Romanian mayor. After his release, a few days later, Diaconescu announced that he would enter politics and set up his own political party.

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