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Ample Checks at Transnistrian Media Outlets

30 December 2013
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Transnistrian prosecutors started a series of checks at the region’s media outlets to verify the observance of the legislation imposed by Tiraspol authorities, announced Nr2.ru, referring to the declarations of the assistant prosecutor for special missions Smbat Alikhanyan.

Assistant prosecutor said that the checks started a week before, and they involve all media outlets in the region. According to Nr2.ru, he also had a discussion with the representatives of the Novy Region publication. The assistant prosecutor asked about the journalists’ working conditions and about the availability of documents confirming the outlet’s registration with the region’s self-proclaimed authorities. Local journalists say that these actions especially aim at the mass media that are difficult to control for Tiraspol leadership, such as Novy Region.

A Transnistrian journalist who wished to remain anonymous said that most likely the so-called Tiraspol administration intends to liquidate Novy Region, but that it will not happen. “In his time, Smirnov [the former Transnistrian leader] wanted the same, but he failed at it. (…) They [authorities] want to check them because of some allegedly discovered illegal financial schemes. But Novy Region, as it is known, receives funds from Russia. Therefore, the checks should be conducted there, and in Russia they cannot do it,” the journalist said, considering these actions motivated by a settling of accounts between different political and economic groups of the region.

In his turn, Transnistrian analyst Andrei Safonov, in an article published on Mediacenter.md, wrote that Shevchuk’s team might try to liquidate the media outlets that are difficult to keep under control so as to maintain monopoly over information. He added that it is the first step to the elections campaign. “The portal [Novy Region] is very popular among Transnistrian readers. They cannot be ordered around like state-owned media,” Safonov wrote.

At a press conference on Thursday, Tiraspol leader Yevgeny Shevchuk said that one of the priorities of the self-proclaimed administration is identification of the funding sources of Transnistrian media outlets. “I hope that in 2014 we will together think of how to make the income sources of media outlets more transparent,” Shevchuk said.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons