Nicușor-Daniel Dan

President Dan's Davos 2026 coverage illustrates how not attending the forum can generate as much attention as participating - and not always favorably. His 398 quotes and 8.3% negative sentiment made him an outlier among world leaders, most of whom achieved neutral or positive coverage.

The coverage pattern reveals the absence narrative dominating his media footprint. While coverage began modestly (7 quotes on January 18), it built to a peak of 166 quotes on January 23 - a day after the forum's main proceedings - as Romanian media debated his decision not to attend. His statement that absence 'does not jeopardise Romania's defence strategies' became a defensive talking point covered extensively by domestic outlets.

Romanian media completely dominated his sources: adevarul.ro (70), Antena 3 (60), romaniatv.net (56), Capital (36), and HotNews.ro (36) collectively accounted for the vast majority of coverage. This domestic concentration, with only moldova1.md and a single Bloomberg quote representing international pickup, suggests the story remained largely a Romanian political controversy rather than an international forum narrative.

The category distribution - geopolitics (225) and policy commentary (134) - reflects coverage framing his absence through the lens of Romania's security commitments and EU/NATO relationships. His statement that 'we all need this transatlantic relationship to work' and his analysis of the Board of Peace Charter aimed to demonstrate engagement without presence, but the 8.3% negative sentiment suggests this messaging did not fully succeed with Romanian media.