Romania - Pro TV
The leading voice of CSR in the Romanian media, PRO TV has changed the fate of children in need and abused animals in Romania.
From its first aired hour, ProTV has decisively positioned itself as the most impressive Romanian TV station and has provided inspiration, real emotion and help for all its viewers. ProTV has always tried to challenge the manner in which Romanians view the television industry and through hard work, determination and with outstanding results, ProTV has become a national institution.
A promoter of change, ProTV identifies the real problems of Romanian society and changes the mentality of authorities' and civil society and gives real support in finding viable solutions for the issues that hurt and blemish Romania.
Now, more than ever, PRO TV is about being responsible, getting involved and providing help and support. Over the last two years PRO TV has developed four major social responsibility campaigns. Two of them have determined serious legal effects and the other two led the authorities pay attention to some very important social issues.
In March 2009, ProTV was awarded the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) International Broadcasting Excellence Award for these social campaigns.
Also in March 2009, ProTV started another major campaign, “There’s life in our blood” trying to persuade the ministry to establish a National Stem Cell Donors Registry. As a result of the stories and the information delivered by the ProTV News, the Health Ministry decided on 1st of September 2009 to found this registry.
At the beginning of August 2009, ProTV started a new social campaign, “Hat’s off!” A campaign that speaks about common sense, respect, and being a valuable person. Thousands of hats have been dispersed around the city so that Romanians do not forget to take off their hat in front of the things that matter.
In addition to these campaigns, Pro TV’s stars and celebrities have volunteered their time for a variety of foundations, NGO’s and charities, bringing awareness ranging from breast cancer to the environment.
ProTV keeps a close eye on all the issues presented below and will continue campaigning to achieve the objectives.
STOP torturing the animals!
Any idea what your kid is doing right now?
There is life after death
Romania, the big land clearing
STOP torturing the animals!
In 2007, ProTV became the first television station in Romania to say "STOP Torturing the Animals!"and began a long fight to protect animals' rights.
On the September 20, 2007, ProTV News aired some material about the inhuman way in which Romanians treat animals; it was the case of three youngsters from a small town in SE Romania torturing a small animal. ProTV News aired the material in order to prove that the phenomenon of maltreating the animals is not at all isolated or random, as treated by the authorities. The visible torture of this animal released the public's immediate and powerful reactions towards the lack of real animal protection in Romania. The next day, the ProTV News and ProTV News page on www.protv.ro initiated the social campaign "STOP torturing the animals!" with the following premises: the Romanian animal protection legislation was utterly ineffective, the biggest penalty for molesting the animals was a 300 lei (~US$100) fine as imposed by the former "205/2004 Law". A petition asking a new and effective animal protection law and the foundation of the Animal Police institution following a western example was inserted in the special section created.
More than 10,000 Romanians signed the petition in the first day and more than 215,000 signed it in the next three months. In all, the campaign raised more than 40.000 comments on the website. The campaign’s web section was opened more than 2.5 million times. The CSR campaign was sustained on the daily basis by all the ProTV News programs and by the news section on www.protv.ro. A survey carried out by ProTV showed that more than 95% of the respondents agreed with the campaign's idea and message. Prominent Romanians signed the petition and encouraged other Romanians to do so as well. The majority of the animal rights organizations and many others joined us and began visibly promoting ProTV's social responsibility campaign petition banners on their websites.
On November 11, 2007, well known ProTV anchors and hosts handed to the authorities a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of Romanians, urging them to take action against torturing the animals. And it worked. In January 2008, the authorities passed the "9/ 2008 Law", also known as "The Animal Protection Law". The new law stipulates major fines, of up to 10.000 lei (~US$3000) and penal punishments of up to a year for the indicted.
More than that, in one of Romania's city capital's districts, the first district, an Animal Police Institution was founded, right after ProTV News campaign. The first western like animal shelter was inaugurated on the January 15, 2009. "The Animal Protection Law" has fulfilled the major goal of the social campaign initiated by ProTV.
Any idea what your kid is doing right now?
ProTV knows that the future of Romania lies in the hands and hearts of the Romanian children. After noticing that the authorities and Romanian adults had no reaction to the many cases of child neglect resulting from parents leaving Romania in search of better job opportunities, ProTV decided to take action and became the first Romanian TV station to ask its viewers "Any idea what your kid is doing right now?", starting on June 1, 2007.
After the Romanian revolution in 1989 and moreover after Romania joined the EU on January 1, 2007, millions of Romanians left the country to work abroad, leaving their children behind. A ministerial report stated that in 2007, 70,000 Romanian children were being raised by their grandparents, brothers or some other relatives.
ProTV's CSR campaign comprised three themes affecting the Romanian children: "the orphans with parents" - children left alone at home by their parents working abroad - "save the Romanian school" - the realities of the Romanian state school system - and "justice for missing children".
Special reports were aired on the most watched Romanian news program, ProTV News at 19:00. The footage brought to life the difficult stories of some of these children and gave context to the hard statistics.
ProTV News received hundreds of telephone calls from Romanians moved by the stories of the children. Many offered to adopt or help with food and other goods, many helped the children reunite with their families and put an end to the suffering.
As a result of this campaign, the Romanian authorities developed legislation regarding the protection of children. Today, parents that leave the country for more than 6 months have an obligation to tell the Social Services and to provide information about who will take care of their children while they are away. The first part of the "Any idea what your kid is doing right now?" social responsibility campaign, "The orphans with parents", won the International Emmy Award for the "News" category, the first Emmy Award ever won by an Eastern Europe television.
The other two themes of the campaign also generated results. Following the "save the Romanian school" strand, which showed how huge amounts of governmental money are spent on ridiculous projects that never seem to end, the authorities began numerous investigations. Alex Dima, the ProTV News correspondent who discovered and presented the stories still keeps a close eye on the subjects along with the rest of the media.
For the third part of the "Any idea what your kid is doing right now?", "Justice for missing children", ProTV created an editorial partnership with a powerful Romanian foundation for missing and abused children, "Focus". Most of the stories showed that lack of communication between parents and their children and the generation gap phenomenon are the two main causes of child abandonment. Although the issues had an impact on the public, ProTV continues to campaign for the Romanian authorities to take action concerning this problem.
There is life after death
At the beginning of March 2008 PRO TV showed that "There is life after death" and informed Romanians for the first time about the importance of organ donation.
The campaign was developed by the ProTV News correspondent Paula Herlo and was presented in March 2008, in the prime time news programs. The series of reports presented the truth behind Romanians’ reticence to donate blood and organs. Many of them were completely uneducated in the matter, and considered it unnatural to donate the organs of comatose relatives. The need for blood, as high as everywhere else, was also critical in Romania. The campaign was the first effective Romanian pro-donating communication campaign.
According to the "Romanian National Transplant Organization", the number of transplants in Romania increased by 50% in 2008 as a direct result of the ProTV News campaign. The authorities also started to consider the inauguration of a Marrow Donor Registry, Romania being one of the few European countries that doesn’t have a registry of this kind. Paula Herlo received, in the name of ProTV News, a recognition award from the "Romanian National Transplant Organization".
Romania, the big land clearing
Launched in April 2008, "Romania, the big land clearing" is a campaign to stop illegal forest cutting in Romania and raise awareness of the ecological movement. The outstanding series of news reports were broadcasted in ProTV's prime time news programs and designed by top ProTV News' correspondent, Alex Dima.
Via a series of special programs, the viewers were alerted to certain disasters that the authorities had tried to hide and even take advantage of in different parts of the Romanian territory. After 1989 and moreover in recent years, with the proven assistance of high rank Romanian authorities, many parts of the Romanian forests had been illegally destroyed, in some areas almost totally cut down. A lack of legislation around these activities was largely to blame. ProTV News has proven that the truth was well kept from being known in full and shown that it will be difficult to catch the guilty parties.
The powerful content of the campaign raised the attention of everybody in the civil society and more and its effects were immediate. ProTV News' "green" social campaign provided a launch pad for the Romanian ecological boom and the reforestation movement which have become increasingly important in Romanian society.
Alex Dima, the campaign's author, received a recognition award for "Romania, the big land clearing" from one of the most active Romanian ecological organizations.
The authorities paid attention to the campaign and are now trying to prevent and stop further ecological disasters.
