Journalist’s credibility – a personal issue

Nicolae Negru

 

My colleague, Tatiana Corai asked me to comment on the issue of Moldovan journalists’ credibility. The topic she suggested sounds quite dramatic and alarming: “Journalism – a profession in search of credibility”.

 

My first impulse was to find out what the opinion polls say about this. Do they show an incipient decline, lack of our citizens’ confidence in the local media? I was happy to acknowledge that, after the church, the media is one of the most trusted institutions by the citizens of Moldova. According to the Public Opinion Barometer carried out by Civis at the order of the Institute for Public Policy in November 2014, 60% of the interviewed gave a positive answer to the question if they trusted the local media, which is almost the same level as in the last 10 years. 

The trust in the national TV channel Moldova 1 did not change since 2009, when it ceased to be an instrument of communist propaganda and started reflecting quite objectively the political life and realities in the Republic of Moldova (according to the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual (CCA). This means that professional standards are not crucial for the listeners and the viewers of Moldova.
 
 

Anyway, beyond the poll data, journalists struggle with pessimism, dissatisfaction and uncertainty, and the audience credibility cannot repress. Twenty years ago, (when Soros Foundation Moldova was established) Carole Brennan, an American journalist created the Centre for Independent Journalism – the future of the Moldovan journalism, whose role and impact at the time seemed much clearer. It seemed to us it was enough just to manage the media products in such a way as to attract and sell advertisements, and to obtain economic profit, while the rest of the problems would solve themselves. However, the reality was different from our romantic and naïve views.

The national economy was unable to revive, our country lacked a fair investment environment, an adequate tax policy, lacked a certain political and social stability – this is why the media was doomed to failure as a business. The monopoly on the advertisement market and the unfair merges on the information market lead to a strengthened monopolist system, similar to other fields (like imports of meat, cooked meats, drugs etc.) and in the end forced media to serve a certain party. Consequently, other political actors started to buy and create new media institutions, so that the media strategies of the majority of media institutions in the Republic of Moldova serve electoral interests, promoting certain political powers, the economic interest being left on the second place.
 
Meanwhile, due to the technologic revolution, 36% of the citizens read the electronic media, according to the opinion poll mentioned above. The online media changed the journalist’s “philosophy” and manner of acting. Now, promptitude is more important than quality.

 

After 1991, journalists made certain auto regulatory efforts: adopted a deontology code, created a Press Board aimed to “contribute to raising awareness in the media…, promote qualitative journalism and insure compliance with the journalism deontological principles”.

Because media has be always divided on political and ideological, geopolitical and linguistic criteria, it was difficult to approach the issue of journalistic credibility, as well as other professionalism related issues. On the other hand, media credibility is a desideratum quite relative, according to the opinion polls reflecting the audience taste and expectances, rather than journalistic standards and information quality. Partisanship sells very well; propagandistic TV channels still have audience. This is why credibility as an indicator of equidistance, objectivity and professionalism remains the concern of journalists, each of them struggling to do their best. 
 
 

The article was published within the Advocacy Campaigns Aimed at Improving Transparency of Media Ownership, Access to Information and promotion of EU values  and integration project, implemented by the IJC, which is, in its turn, part of the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project, implemented by FHI 360.
 
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
 
 

Photo: ZiarulNational.md