''Academia Cațavencu'' (, "The Cațavencu Academy") is a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n satirical magazine founded in 1991 and made famous by its

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

. ''Academia Cațavencu'' also owns ''Radio Guerrilla'

an FM radio station with national coverag

''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 The logo used between 2003 and 2007 ''Cotidianul'' (meaning ''The Daily'' in English) is a Romanian language newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile Founded by Ion Raţiu, ''Cotidianul'' was first published on 10 May ...

'', a daily newspaper. In a surprise move, on May 29, 2006, ''Academia Cațavencu'' press group announced it was being acquire

by Realitatea Media, owners of

Realitatea TV Realitatea TV (, meaning "The Reality TV") is the former name of the Romanian news television channel Realitatea Plus. The channel began broadcasting in 2001 as a general-profile television and became the first Romanian news television in 2002 ...

, and controlled by controversial and elusive businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vântu. Vântu himself has often been a target of enquiries by ''Cațavencu'' journalists.

Name

Nae Cațavencu is a character in

Ion Luca Caragiale Ion Luca Caragiale (; commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179-184 – 9 June 1912) was a Romanian playw ...

's 1883 comedy '' O scrisoare pierdută'' ("A Lost Letter"). An unscrupulous,

demagogue A demagogue (from Greek , a popular leader, a leader of a mob, from , people, populace, the commons + leading, leader) or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, ...

politician, Cațavencu uses his newspaper ''Răcnetul Carpaților'' ("The Yell of the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

") to

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

politicians of the opposing party with a compromising love letter that he finds.

History

In its current form, ''Academia Cațavencu'' was founded in 1991, by a team of humourists, investigators, and literates headed by poet and former

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Mircea Dinescu Mircea Dinescu (; born November 11, 1950) is a Romanian poet, journalist, and editor. Biography Early life and poetry He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ştefan Dinescu, a metalworker, and Aurelia (born Badea). Dinescu studied at the Faculty ...

. Part of the team had previously edited two short-lived satirical papers, ''Cațavencu Incomod'' and ''Cațavencu Internațional''. 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 Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...

" - a joking reference to

sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal pene ...

), and ''Plai cu boi'' (''Land of the Dumb''), a monthly satirical magazine

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

ing the style of ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

''.

Current activities

''Academia Cațavencu'' have been long-time

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

advocates. They maintain a "press monitoring agency", a watchdog against manipulation through mass-media. During the 2004 election campaign, Academia Cațavencu published as supplements two parody issues of '' Scânteia'' (the old-time

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that wo ...

newspaper), containing reprints of articles written by important current day politicians during the

Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

. Almost 40,000 copies were bought in bulk from newsagent

along with other newspaper

The alleged perpetrators were representatives of the then-governing Social Democratic Party (Romania), Social Democratic Party (PSD), whose (mostly former Communist) high members (including founder and former

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

) were protagonists of the ''Cațavencu'' special issues. Apart from political issues, ''Academia Cațavencu'' organises and/or sponsors a number of cultural and environmental initiatives: * ''Save the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

'' * ''Save Vama Veche'' * ''Cu papucii prin deșert'' ("Across the Desert in slippers", a reference to the Dacia car

hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

model) - a humanitarian expedition through the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and down to

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

They also develop their own stereotypes and nicknames of the politicians, such as: *

"Nelu Cotrocelu" or "Bunicuța" ("The Granny") - associated with the Cotroceni Palace owl *

Adrian Năstase Adrian Năstase (; born 22 June 1950) is a Romanian jurist, academic/professor, blogger, and former politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from October 2000 to December 2004. He competed in the 2004 presidential election as th ...

"Bombonel" ("Candy Boy") - in reference to his alleged

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

"Popeye Marinarul" ("

Popeye the Sailor Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.commercial navy captain *

Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) be ...

"The robot", "Robocop" or "Frankie" - due to his voice and comic resemblance to the classic image of

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compar ...

* Petre Roman - suggests that he is rather popular among the female workers of the APACA textile factory in Bucharest (whom they reported shouting 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 Dumitrașcu - suggests that he washes infrequently *

Nicolae Văcăroiu Nicolae Văcăroiu (; born on 5 December 1943 in Cetatea Albă, now Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine) is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who served as Prime Minister between 1992 and 1996. Before the 198 ...

"Votcăroiu" - allegedly heavy drinker of "Săniuța", a low-grade brand of vodka (''votcă'') * Șerban Mihăilescu "Miki Șpagă" ("Mickey Bribe") - corruption allegations *

Marian Vanghelie Daniel Marian Vanghelie (born 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian politician, the former mayor of the 5th Sector of Bucharest (2000–2016) and a former member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD). He ran for a fifth term in 2016 ...

- 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.

References

External links

Academia Cațavencu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academia Catavencu 1991 establishments in Romania Satirical magazines published in Romania Magazines established in 1991 Magazines published in Bucharest Romanian-language magazines Political magazines published in Romania Weekly magazines published in Romania Romanian political satire