Academia Caţavencu

Infobox_Newspaper
name =


type = Weekly newspaper
format = Compact
foundation = 1991
owners = Realitatea-Caţavencu
headquarters = Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta 7-9, etaj 6,
sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
editor = Doru Buşcu
website = [http://www.catavencu.ro/ catavencu.ro]

"Academia Caţavencu" ("The Caţavencu Academy") is a Romanian satirical magazine founded in 1991, and made famous by its investigative journalism. "Academia Caţavencu" also owns "Radio Guerilla", an FM radio station broadcasting in Bucharest, Constanţa and Cluj-Napoca; "Tabu", a women's magazine, "Superbebe", a magazine for new parents, "Aventuri la pescuit", a magazine for fishermen, "24-FUN", a free magazine for teenagers, and "Cotidianul", a daily newspaper.

In a surprise move, on May 29, 2006, "Academia Caţavencu" press group announced it was being acquired [http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=homenews&id=20060530-5185] by Realitatea Media, owners of Realitatea TV, and controlled by controversial and elusive businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vântu. Vântu himself has often been a target of enquiries by "Caţavencu" journalists.

Name

Nae Caţavencu is a character in Ion Luca Caragiale's 1883 comedy "O scrisoare pierdută" ("A Lost Letter"). An unscrupulous, demagogue politician, Caţavencu uses his newspaper "Răcnetul Carpaţilor" ("The Shout of the Carpathians") to blackmail politicians of the opposing party with a compromising love letter that he finds.

History

In its current form, "Academia Caţavencu" was founded in 1991, by a team of humourists, investigators, and literates headed by poet and former dissident Mircea Dinescu. Part of the team had previously edited two short-lived satirical papers, "Caţavencu Incomod" and "Caţavencu Internaţional".

Dinescu was editor-in-chief until 1998, when he resigned and went on to create his own publications, "Aspirina săracului" ("The poor man's aspirin" - a joking reference to sexual intercourse), and "Plai cu boi", a monthly satirical magazine parodying the style of "Playboy".

Current activities

"Academia Caţavencu" have been long-time press freedom advocates. They maintain a "press monitoring agency", a watchdog against manipulation through mass-media.

During the 2004 election campaign, Academia Caţavencu published as supplements two parody issues of "Scânteia" (the old-time Romanian Communist Party newspaper), containing reprints of articles written by important current day politicians during the Communist era. Almost 40,000 copies were bought in bulk from newsagents, [http://www.catavencu.ro/pdf/disparitie.txt] along with other newspapers [http://www.evz.ro/english/?news_id=172784] . The alleged perpetrators were representatives of the then-governing Social Democratic Party (PSD), whose (mostly former Communist) high members (including founder and outgoing President of Romania Ion Iliescu) were protagonists of the "Caţavencu" special issues.

Apart from political issues, "Academia Caţavencu" organises and/or sponsors a number of cultural and environmental initiatives:
* "Save the Danube Delta"
* "Save Vama Veche"
* "Cu papucii prin deşert" ("Across the Desert in slippers", a reference to the Dacia car hatchback model) - a humanitarian expedition through the Sahara and down to Senegal

They also develop their own stereotypes and nicknames of the politicians, such as:
* Ion Iliescu "Nelu Cotrocelu" or "Bunicuţa" ("The Granny") - associated with the Cotroceni Palace owl
* Adrian Năstase "Bombonel" ("Candy Boy") - in reference to his alleged homosexuality
* Traian Băsescu "Popeye Marinarul" ("Popeye the Sailor") - due to Băsescu's former job as a commercial navy captain
* Theodor Stolojan "The robot", "Robocop" or "Frankie" - due to his voice and comic resemblance to the classic image of Frankenstein's monster
* Petre Roman - suggests that he is rather popular among the female workers of the APACA textile factory in Bucharest (who shouted once: "Nu vrem bani! Nu vrem valută! Vrem pe Roman să ne fută!" ("We don't want money! We don't want hard currency! We want Roman to fuck us!").
* Gheorghe Dumitraşcu - suggests that he washes infrequently
* Nicolae Văcăroiu "Votcăroiu" - allegedly heavy drinker of "Săniuţa", a low-grade vodka mark ("votcă")
* Şerban Mihăilescu "Miki Şpagă" ("Mickey Bribe") - corruption allegations
* Marian Vanghelie - he has poor grammatical skills, as coined by Vanghelie's frequent and indiscriminate use of "Care este" ("Which is"), as a predicate for singular and plural subjects alike.

External links

*ro icon [http://www.catavencu.ro/ Academia Caţavencu]