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Executive Director, Independent Journalism Center
“Eight or nine years ago we discussed with colleagues about the phenomenon of “berlusconization”. It was a term introduced by European colleagues to refer to the situation in Italy, where a part of mass media was owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. We considered at that time that there was concentration in Moldova, too, but in a Moldovan style, because at first sight there were several owners, de jure there was pluralism, while de facto the majority of mass media was politically divided and controlled and had the same editorial policy. (…) Berlusconi left, but the term is still very often used by researches when they want to talk about the problems that appear when certain influential individuals with certain interests want to obtain certain political benefits. As a rule, researchers find that there is a correlation between concentration and professionalism – the greater the concentration, the less quality and professionalism. When economic interest comes into first place – and it is the case of many European countries – owners do not get involved into editorial policies; they only want to obtain a profit, so editorial offices are trying to obtain as large advertising shares as they can, and thus they produce as many sensational materials as possible… However, this situation is not even close to the situations when political interests are put at the head of the table. And here, I think that Moldova can serve as a case study, because when the interests of owners or of those who are behind the owners consist in the fight for people’s minds, for their votes, we can no longer speak about quality. Owners are not interested in hiring honest people, who would cover stories in a fair and neutral manner, do their research, quote as many sources as possible, do investigative journalism. In fact, owners are interested in professionals, only not in the media, but in manipulation.
What happened recently, I mean the election campaign of 2015 and the events of the past few weeks, once again shows that our mass media have transformed from a watchdog of society into a watchdog of owners. (…) The situation is not at all optimistic and we should make joint efforts, not only the civil society, but also the media community and the regulator, the Broadcasting Coordinating Council], so as not to allow concentration and monopolization in broadcasting.”
Executive Director, Association of Independent Press
Manipulation and Distortion of Reality Are Indicative of Serious Problems With Professional Integrity
“In April 2012, the NIT television channel was closed, and a lot of journalists supported this decision of the BCC [Broadcasting Coordinating Council], because straightforward manipulation and the hate speech of this television had nothing in common with professional journalistic ethics. Manipulation and distortion of reality, which are now happening at some media outlets, including not only televisions, but also websites, newspapers and radios, are of “NIT style”, only packaged differently, but essentially the same. Sure, it doesn’t mean they should be closed, but it is indicative of serious problems, first of all in the media legislation, especially in its application. At the same time, in our opinion it is also indicative of problems with the professional integrity of some journalists, who deliberately chose to serve the interests of some political entities. I feel that now, six years after Communists were discharged from power, the number of truly independent outlets, non-subordinated to political or economic groups of interest, has decreased. All five governments after 2009 included in their activity programs very correct and nice objectives and arrangements for press freedom, and these priorities mostly came from the civil society. Unfortunately, none of the initiated reforms was finalized, and the multiple modifications of the Broadcasting Code have not had the expected effect. The concentration of media ownership affects the pluralism of opinion in the Moldovan society, and the modification of the Broadcasting Code so as to ensure media ownership transparency will not bring essential changes, because it is not accompanied by measures limiting concentration on the media market. The advertising market also serves certain interests, and the new advertising law that has been spoken about for 5 years now hasn’t appeared yet.
The law on nationalization of public periodicals was adopted, but is hasn’t been fully realized, because the Government and the Ministry of Justice withdrew from this process, and the publishers of print media continue to be the hostages of distributors, who impose unfair and quite abusive contractual conditions.”
Ion Bunduchi, 
Executive Director, Association of Electronic Press
We Have Many Media Outlets, But No Media Products of Good Quality
“I am convinced that pluralism of opinion is an intrinsic value of democracy. Some guilt for the fact that Moldova came to its current situation lies on mass media, because authorities speak to the people through them. The fact that we are where we are means that we didn’t act the way we should have because we all had distorted information. I wonder why pluralism was not and is not a concern, especially for those who make state policies on mass media. Last year, for the first time ever, the Mass Media Program of the Soros Foundation-Moldova conducted a research in which it established the degree of pluralism of the local mass media. The results are discouraging. The study finalized with a Roadmap for all the actors on which ensuring true media pluralism depends, but neither the media community not authorities have shown the interest that this phenomenon deserves. We can’t expect to have pluralistic mass media when the legislation is defective, when we have monopolies on the media market and on the advertising market, when we have no scientific research in this field or educational institutions to prepare professionals convinced that pluralism is a value in journalism, when we have no special courses in the journalism departments of educational institutions that would teach future professionals the importance of pluralism. True pluralism cannot appear where there are no conditions for its appearance, which would be for the benefit of every one of us. In fact, we have accepted that independent journalism is a value, freedom of expression is a value, but only on paper. Because in reality, today we have very many media outlets, but no media products of good quality, which would help us have a good sense of the real situation that we live in.”
