minorities were served by approximately twenty
newspapers, including eight dailies, with an annual circulation of
slightly more than 103 million copies.

All newspapers are licensed by the General Directorate for the Press and
Printing, the state agency that also controls the allocation of
newsprint, the manufacture of ink and other printing supplies, and the
distribution of all publications. Thus the government is in a position
to prohibit the appearance of any newspaper or other publication either
directly by revoking the license or indirectly by withholding essential
supplies or services. Each newspaper is organized into a collective
enterprise made up of the entire personnel of all departments. Chief
responsibility for the content of the paper is vested in an "editorial
collegium" headed by the chief editor. Meetings are held periodically
between all chief editors and party representatives, which serve as an
effective means of followup control in lieu of prepublication
censorship.

Major mass organizations, government-sponsored groups, local government
organs, and the PCR and its subsidiaries publish the most important and
influential papers, both in Bucharest and in the larger cities of the
various counties (see table 3). Little latitude is allowed in the
presentation of news, and almost all papers follow a serious, monotonous
format that has little popular appeal. Shortly after renewed emphasis
was placed on the ideological and political education of the population
in mid-1971, a Western journalist likened the nation to a huge classroom
in which unpopular and trite subjects were being presented to an
unreceptive class by an exhortative mass media.

The most authoritative and widely read newspaper is _Scinteia_, founded
in 1931 as the official organ of the Central Committee of the party. It
has, by far, the largest daily circulation and enjoys considerable
prestige as the outlet for party policy pronouncements as well as for
semiofficial government attitudes on both national and international
issues. The eight-page newspaper appears seven days a week and is
national in scope. Its editorials, feature sections, and chief articles
are frequently reprinted, in whole or in part, by smaller newspapers in
outlying areas. Quotations and summaries are also repeated regularly in
shop bulletins and in information letters put on by many enterprises,
plants, and factories.

The next most important dailies are _Romania Libe