happy newspaper

2. Short Description
• 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, Cluj-Napoca and Iaşi; Tabu, a women's
magazine, Superbebe, a magazine for new parents, Aventuri la
pescuit, a magazine for fishermen, , 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 by Realitatea
Media, owners of Realitatea TV, and controlled by controversial
and elusive businessman . Vântu himself has often been a
target of enquiries by Caţavencu journalists.

3. Name
Nae Caţavencu is a
character in Ion Luca
Caragiale's 1883 comedy
("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.

4. 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.

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

6. 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, along with other newspapers. The
alleged perpetrators were representatives of the
then-governing Social Democratic Party (PSD),
whose (mostly former Communist) high members
(including founder and former President of
Romania Ion Iliescu) were protagonists of the
Caţavencu special issues.

7. • 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

8. • 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

9. • Gheorghe Dumitraşcu -
suggests that he washes
infrequently
• Nicolae Văcăroiu "Votcăroiu" -
allegedly heavy drinker of
"Săniuţa", a low-grade brand of
vodka (votcă)
• "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.

10. External links
http://www.catavencu.ro/