Gabriel Butnaru

Romanian journalist. Born in 1975, June 21, in Razboieni, Neamt.

----

Gabriel Butnaru is a Romanian journalist. Born in 1975, June 21, in Razboieni, Neamt.

He started to work at the age of 16, in 1991 (13th of November), at Radio Terra Piatra Neamt, as a co-producer and a few months later as the main producer of a music program (“Fan Rock”). Between 1992 and 1994 he also sporadically wrote for the local daily newspaper “Ceahlaul”.

In 1994 he was already studying journalism in Bucharest when “Tineretul Liber” daily newspaper offered him an Editor position in the Political Department. In 1995, when the newspaper was closed following a general strike of the employees, he moved to “Bucuresti Magazin” (a weekly newspaper with a very short existence), as Deputy Editor in Chief. Consequently, he wrote for “Student Party”, another small weekly newspaper targeted to the students of the newly-created private universities.

Gabriel Butnaru decided to return to the audiovisual media in 1996, when he applied for a News Editor position in Radio Contact, the biggest private radio station in Romania at that time. He soon became one of the most appreciated news speakers of the station and also the editor of the economical analysis programs. In 1997, he was sent to the Romanian military camp in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, to help building the first private Romanian radio station abroad (Radio Contact ZERO), but only a few months later the deteriorating relations with the management determined him to quit and accept a job offer from Radio 21.
In November, he returned to Piatra Neamt, trying to launch himself in the advertising business as an entrepreneur. The advertising company never produced any profit, but Radio Terra hired him to create a News Department. Until mid-1999, Gabriel Butnaru was both the Editor in Chief of Radio Terra and the local correspondent of BBC Romania.

In November 1999, he went back to Radio 21 Bucharest and after a transition period of 5 months he was transferred to Europa FM, the only private Romanian radio station with national coverage (belonging to the same media corporation, E.D.I. Romania S.A.). As he started to work in Europa FM in April 2000, one month before the official launch of the station, Gabriel Butnaru currently is one of the oldest employees of the News Department. Since 2005, he holds the position of Editor in Chief.
He also acts as a voice-over for one of the programs of the news television Realitatea TV (“Arhitectonic”).

His experience recommended him for a leading role in two educational programs: “Europa FM & JTI Scholarship” (three-month internships granted to four students each year) and “UBB Radio” (an online radio for the students of the Journalism section of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca).
Moreover, in 2008 he became assistant professor at the Babes-Bolyai University, holding a radio class.

In 2007, Gabriel Butnaru represented the News Department of Europa FM in the Romanian Press Club and became one of the founding members of the Association of Romanian Journalists. He was elected vice-president of the organization, but in 2008 he decided not to run for another term.

Although he has been living in Bucharest for more than 13 years, Gabriel Butnaru always refused to change his official residence. He still is a citizen of Piatra Neamt.

He is a passionate traveler. Visiting all the countries of the world appears to be his objective. According to his travel photo website, he already visited 38 countries.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu