Journalists React to New Working Conditions for Media in Renovated Parliament Building

Media Azi has asked Moldovan journalists to share their feelings about the new working conditions for reporters and cameramen accredited to the Parliament once the renovation of the old Parliament building is finalized. According to the Parliament’s press service, journalists will stay in a specially equipped room with monitors that will be used to follow the Parliament’s activity live, but they will have no access to the meetings room, and contact with the people’s representatives will be mediated. The head of the Communications and Public Relations Department of the Parliament Svetlana Ursu has recently promised to have a meeting with media representatives in order to discuss all technical details related to the interaction between MPs and reporters.

Alina Turcanu, editor-in-chief of the Adevarul Moldova newspaper, regards these changes as an attempt to restrict press freedom. “OK, journalists will have no access to meetings so as not to distract MPs from important law-making issues. But why won’t they be allowed into the corridors and halls used by MPs? Why will they have a separate entrance? Are we dangerous, contagious, have no proper clothing or hairdos?” asks Turcanu, who ironically calls this initiative a “press corral”. 

She is also dissatisfied with the statements of the President of Parliament, who said that such a system is successfully used in France, and thus Moldova will come closer to European standards. “We may be staying behind, may not have been to France or other countries, and may not understand that we would be much better in our job if we are kept at a distance from people’s representatives. Indeed, why film them when they sleep, speak on the phone, play on iPads, surf the net, curse each other or fistfight during meetings?” adds Alina Turcanu.
In her turn, expert Lina Grau of the Association for Foreign Policy, a former journalist accredited to the Parliament, draws attention to the fact that this initiative was not previously discussed with reporters, editors-in-chief or NGOs, and that there were no debates on the issue. “And now we are witnessing an unprecedented act of informational closure and limitation of access to information at the exact body that is by definition designed for public debates – the Parliament,” Grau says. She reminds of the promises made by the leaders of the coalition that came to power in 2009, according to which Parliament regulations, which used to limit mass media access to the meetings room, were to be modified. “Today we are unfortunately witnessing a phenomenon of assimilating the practices, mentality and attitudes of the communist period, and the current democratic government seems to excel in what the PCRM failed – strict control over information flows,” Lina Grau mentions.

At the same time, Grau says she regrets that the society does not resist the new working conditions imposed on journalists. “It is for the first time after 2009 that I regret the opposition being weak, impotent and incapable of reaction in favor of society. I also regret the reaction of the media, which, with few exceptions, covered the issue only tangentially, and then quickly drowned in sparkling wine and New Year parties. Which is what was most probably counted on,” Lina Grau concludes.

Journalist Elena Robu of the Unimedia portal also expressed her dissatisfaction with the Parliament’s initiative. She believes that this decision creates great obstacles for objective coverage of the MPs activity by journalists. “A certain barrier is thus created between MPs and journalists. I remember what materials we used to do in the old Parliament building, on how MPs happened to fall asleep or play on computers during meetings. Now, in the new conditions, such scenes will no longer be caught on camera,” Robu says.

She also says that it will be difficult for journalists to take declarations from MPs if they have limited access to them, especially since journalists need several sources to cover a topic. “I believe that this decision needs to be reviewed. You cannot make democracy in the country with the media in a corral! On the other hand, I hope that MPs will be more responsible to the voters, who pay for their salaries, and will work more for people and less for the sake of show,” the journalist adds.

Media Azi also asked Anisoara Loghin, a PRO TV Chisinau reporter covering topics on the Parliament’s activity, to share her opinion on the issue. She believes that this situation is going to make work difficult. “Many of the news items we do in the Parliament contain elements that each of us [editor’s note – reporters] notice. I don’t think we will have in the future video recordings with MPs doing something out of the ordinary,” the journalist says. She adds that in such conditions it will be much easier for MPs to avoid unwanted questions of journalists. “Now any MP will be able to run away from the media and, accordingly, uncomfortable questions. Moreover, if you are not in the room when a microphone is turned off, you don’t know what they’re talking about,” Anisoara Loghin says, adding that mentioning the practice of other European countries is irrelevant, since the countries of the EU do not face the same problems that Moldova does.

New working conditions were announced at the end of last year at a presentation organized for the media, which took place in the newly equipped room in the newly renovated Parliament building. They might enter into force beginning the spring-summer Parliament session if the press area is finished and opened for use. Accredited journalists will have access to this room with monitors on which media professionals will follow the Parliament’s activity live. Video, however, will be sent to a production control room, where audio and video will be processed and only then offered to television outlets.

Thus, cameramen from television outlets will no longer be able to film events during plenary meetings or in the Parliament’s halls. They will also have no control over the images/filming angles provided by the Parliament’s production department. MPs will be able to come to the press room during or after meetings to hold conferences or briefings, answer journalists’ questions or make some clarifications.

The head of the Communications and Public Relations Department of the Parliament Svetlana Ursu said that the regulations concerning journalists’ activity in the Parliament, which had been in force for some time, will not change. She mentioned that the new measures are intended for a better organization of journalistic activity in the Parliament: “No running in the halls, no cameras, only calm,” Ursu explained, adding that not all details have been prepared yet.

Source of photo: www.theguardian.com