OBSERVER - December 28th 2004 Evenimentul Zilei is the scene of a major conflict after the Ringier trust, the paper’s owner, decided to dismiss the editor-in-chief Dan Turturica. Most of the members of the editorial office are against this decision.

MIRUNA MIHALCEA

COALITION. Dan Turturica (right) says that the protestors support him and the concepts Evenimentul Zilei promoted until now The Christmas Eve brought a new editor-in-chief to the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper. His name is Razvan Ionescu. But the journalists’ team say they didn’t sign any paper for Dan Turturica’s dismissals. The Ringier trust, the newspaper’s owner, proposed him a move to Bacau for the "initiation of an edition for Moldova of the newspaper". The foreign press trust’s representatives say that this decision is based on the fact that Turturica didn’t reach all the goals in his contract with Ringier. The contract was signed in April, last year.

DOUBLE. The editorial team, having 80 subscribers, draws attention upon the "abusive decisions" of the foreign trust. Three days ago they made public a statement in which the trust’s decision was much contested. As a follow up, the paper on Monday had two teams working for it. The team of the majority was led by Dan Turturica, and the other one, with "approximately 10-15%" of the journalists, was led directly by the new editor-in-chief. The journalists from Evenimentul Zilei made public their concern regarding the presumptive transformation of the newspaper into a tabloid. Turturica’s "majority" harshly accused the "commando" operation of the team of the new editor-in-chief. Yesterday, the people were able to buy the "Ionescu edition", but the articles from the "Turturica edition" were available on the newspaper’s website.

PROTEST. The Evenimentul Zilei editorial office protested in front of