Abstract
In the lead up to European Union accession in 2007, this newly developed Romanian media system has to be integrated into and survive within the European mass media system. It will have to accept certain rules and to renounce certain lucrative "local" practices. The media system will need to coexist and compete with more established and often financially stronger or more highly respected media partners. A new value system has to be integrated into the media system (altered either by their being associated with the communist inheritance or by the commercialist discourse), including public responsibility, cultural and education remits, and the system of state aid for the public interest media. In this context, this process of taking on board European regulation related to the mass media may appear, for many actors of the postcommunist press, as representing a loss of many of the elements of freedom gained since the fall of communism and the associated rules regarding the functioning of mass media.