Campaigning to 'Save Rosia Montana': The Role of the 'Formula As' Magazine

• Author: Pop, V.A.
• Position: Department of Political Science, Christian University 'Dimitrie Cantemir', Bucharest
• Pages: 235-246

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013

CAMPAIGNING TO “SAVE ROŞIA

MONTAN”: THE ROLE OF THE

FORMULA AS MAGAZINE

Viorica Alina POP1

Abstract: Informed by the social representations theory in social

psychology, this study focuses on the media representation of the “Roşia

Montan” issue in the Formula As magazine, a media actor which assumed

an active role in the opposition to the controversial gold mine construction

project in Roşia Montan, thus having a substantial contribution in the

construction and transmission of social representations related to the Rosia

Montana case in Romanian society. For examining the content and dynamics

of the media representation of “Roşia Montan”, 241 articles, issued

between 2002 and 2010 in Formula As, were submitted to an automatic text

analysis performed with the aid of the software T-LAB.

Key words: the Roşia Montan conflict, social representations, media

communication, Formula As magazine.

1 Department of Political Science, Christian University “Dimitrie Cantemir”, Bucharest.

1. Introduction

A hot topic in nowadays Romanian

public debate, the “Roşia Montan issue”

is related to the project launched at the end

of the nineties by the Roşia Montan Gold

Corporation (RMGC), to mine the gold

and silver deposits in Roşia Montan, an

ancient village situated in the Apuseni

Mountains, Romania, in an area known for

its richness in precious metals. RMGC (a

joint venture between the Canadian

based company Gabriel Resources

Ltd., owning about 80% of the shares,

and the Romanian state, with about

19% of the shares) plans to build in Roşia

Montan Europe’s biggest surface mine,

implying the construction of four open-pits

and of a processing plant where gold and

silver would be extracted through a

cyanide-leaching technology. The

opposition to the corporate project

generated an unprecedented movement in

Romanian society. Officially gathered in

July 2002, when several NGO’s joined the

fight of the locally based association of

‘property owners’ from Roşia Montan

refusing to leave their village, the “Save

Roşia Montan” movement gained the

support of numerous social actors from

Romania and abroad who justified their

opposition to the corporate project on

environmental, cultural, social, legal,

economic, and ethical grounds.

This article focuses on the role of the

Romanian weekly Formula As in the fight

to stop the corporate project and thus to

“Save Roşia Montan”. We analyze the

media coverage of the Roşia Montan