A Romanian news channel that repeatedly questioned the cancellation of last year’s presidential election has had its broadcasting licence revoked.
The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) pulled the plug on Realitatea Plus yesterday after the station failed to pay 28 fines issued in 2024, totalling 605,000 lei (approximately €122,000).
The operator, PHG Media-Invest SRL, had settled more recent penalties but not the older ones, triggering automatic revocation under audiovisual law.
The decision, taken unanimously in a CNA meeting yesterday, comes amid claims from the channel’s supporters that it amounts to political censorship.
Realitatea Plus – rebranded from the original Realitatea TV – had positioned itself as a staunchly sovereignist outlet, fiercely critical of Romania’s political establishment and vocal in its support for independent candidate Călin Georgescu.
While being privately owned, the channel was paid substantial amounts by the leading opposition party, the Alliance for the Union of the Romanians, led by George Simion, for electoral advertising and promotion.
Critics saw it as paid promotion disguised as journalism; supporters saw it as legitimate access to media for an anti-establishment party often sidelined elsewhere.
The channel’s flagship programmes, including Culisele statului paralel hosted by Anca Alexandrescu, openly referred to Georgescu as “the elected President” even after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the 2024 vote.
🚨The coup d'état is moving forward:
they’ve just REVOKED #RealitateaTV’s broadcasting license!Realitatea was the only major TV station in Romania🇷🇴 that gave us a platform to speak.
DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP!!! 🛑#StopCensorship#FreeSpeech
— 🇷🇴 George Simion 🇲🇩 (@georgesimion) April 7, 2026
On November 24, 2024, Georgescu – a little-known nationalist who campaigned almost entirely on TikTok with a “Romania first” message – stunned the country by topping the first-round poll.
A run-off against centrist Elena Lasconi was scheduled for December 8. Two days before voting, though, the Constitutional Court cancelled the entire process and ordered a full rerun.
The court’s justification rested on declassified intelligence reports from Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) and domestic security service the SRI.
These alleged a Russian “hybrid aggression” campaign involving co-ordinated TikTok accounts, influencers and disinformation designed to boost Georgescu.
Officials pointed to similarities with Russian operations in Ukraine and claimed illegal campaign financing and algorithmic manipulation.
Yet, as critics – including Realitatea Plus – immediately noted, the publicly released documents contained no concrete, verifiable evidence of Russian state involvement, vote tampering or direct funding of Georgescu’s campaign.
The papers were described by one detailed analysis as briefing notes full of redactions, contradictions, vague assertions and circumstantial details that could equally describe ordinary digital marketing.
No smoking gun was produced in open court or for public scrutiny.
Realitatea Plus’s coverage of the annulment – framing it as a “coup d’état” and highlighting the absence of hard proof – earned it repeated sanctions from the CNA for alleged breaches of impartiality, balance and the dissemination of false information.
The station was by some margin the most heavily fined broadcaster in 2024-25, with dozens of penalties linked directly to its Georgescu-focused output and alarmist reporting on the Romanian “deep state”.
Channel representatives argued in court that many fines were politically motivated and contested their enforcement.
They paid 2025 penalties but left the 2024 batch unpaid, citing ongoing legal challenges.
Yesterday’s CNA session saw last-minute attempts to produce payment orders but these were deemed insufficient.
The licence was withdrawn with immediate effect; the station says it will continue online and appeal.
Ownership lies with businessman Maricel Păcuraru, whose media interests have long been associated with anti-establishment voices.
The closure also affected sister station Gold FM for the same unpaid-fines reason.
Supporters of Georgescu and the sovereignist Right, including AUR leader George Simion, denounced the move as “a coup d’état” and an attack on free speech.
Former prime minister Victor Ponta reacted with fierce criticism on the closure of the channel.
“I am not at all happy to see that the CNA has shut down Realitatea TV! And I’m not a masochist; they turned me into a punching bag for years, spreading countless lies and nonsense about me! But still, I don’t think it’s right for them to be shut down. The reason given by the CNA — ‘unpaid fines’ — is absolutely frivolous!
“I believe the CNA, and especially the civil judges, should convict the journalist and force the station to pay damages to those who were slandered; but so far, they haven’t done that (maybe the “order” or “green light” hadn’t come yet?). As it stands, this looks like political revenge — and an undemocratic precedent that resembles Russia or Moldova!,” Ponta said.
“We shouldn’t celebrate the closure of a TV station we dislike—because it means that tomorrow, other TV stations, accounts, podcasts, etc., could be shut down, and we won’t have the right to criticise if we don’t do so now.
“And the people who watched that TV station will be even more dissatisfied with the country we live in and will feel even more persecuted by the ‘System’!
“So, I don’t like today’s decision; there are others doing the same or even worse and more unjust things on TV and online—but they face no consequences. There should be one rule for everyone, not just for those who are ‘unlucky’!,” Ponta concluded.
Establishment voices and the CNA maintain it was simply the law being applied to a serial offender that had abandoned any pretence of editorial neutrality.
There is “absolutely no evidence” of Russian interference in Romania’s annulled 2024 elections. https://t.co/LH2PkGkjhs
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 6, 2025
