Exhausted country favours culture through TV screen
Reading is not a favoured pastime for
Romanians, while television and
home PC use continue on an upswing,
according to a survey commissioned by
the Ministry of Culture.
However nearly one third of Romanians
said, if they had more spare time,
they would like to spend it resting – evidece
this nation is exhausted.
Eight per cent of Romanians could not
name an author from their own country,
while 16 per cent of the Romanians have
less than 20 books in the house.
Romanians’ main source of cultural
information is the television. Its penetration
is almost 96 per cent of the population.
One third of Romanians now own
a PC. The authors of the survey expect,
in the near future, that the majority of
cultural information will be transmitted
through the Internet.
The data comes from the Cultural
Consumption Barometer 2005 from the
Centre for Studies and Research in the
Field of Culture (CSCDC) and groups
commissioned by the Ministry of Culture.
Its aim is to measure how cultural
infrastructures answers people’s needs.
“The main gap between Romania and
the other European countries is cultural
and civilisational,” said Adrian Iorgulescu,
Culture Minister and president of the
Composers and Musicians Union.
According to the survey, only 25 per
cent of Romanians go to the cinema,
compared to 61 per cent in the United
Kingdom, according to UK’s Office of
National Statistics (ONS). One in ten
Romanians has gone to the Opera, a figure
that caused Iorgulescu some shock.
But this is higher than the UK, where
only seven per cent have been to the opera
and ballet, according to the ONS.
The Government will invest 250 million
Euro in 2006 and 2007 in opening
new cultural institutions and modernizing
the existing infrastructure, according
to Iorgulescu. However the main
problems are in the countryside.
“From the cultural development point
of view, generally speaking, the rural
areas are still in the 19th century,” added
Iorgulescu.
Anca Pol