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Ion BUNDUCHI,media expert
I would compare the contribution of the official at the Forum with the messages of the party-run press – boringly predictable.
About (not)understanding things
At the beginning of the Forum, the (then) Prime Minister V. Strelet said: “I wouldn’t make much difference between a politician, irrespective of their position, who lies and a journalist who lies”. Let’s see: what happens when a journalist lies? We either believe them or not. What happens when a politician lies? A social catastrophe, if such politician is a decision maker. The journalist may be wrong – nobody is required to follow their indications. The politicians’ decisions however, be it laws, decrees, decisions, etc. are compulsory even if they are wrong. The journalist cannot send anybody to jail even if they can demonstrate the guilt. The politician, on the other hand, can send to jail an innocent person.
About (i)responsibility
At the Forum, the media was called the “fourth power”. Let’s throw some light on it: the first three powers in the state are full of faults. So, any other power must be like the first three so that it is not considered the “black sheep”. Therefore, the media must stay as they are.
The officials asked us to be responsible, cooperative, sincere, etc. What a perfect tool logocracy continues to be!
Some years ago I was talking to a manager from Teleradio - Moldova and asked him why the institution was not criticizing the governance when it was necessary. The answer was: even the Europeans recommend the social cohesion. So, we put our pink glasses on, do not criticize, do not discuss our problems in public and have a solid social cohesion! ... Or a large pink dump.
An honest answer would have been: because we conduct propaganda. We continue to do it today. We waited for answers from the authorities on how to combat propaganda. The authorities do not have these answers.
About (ab)normality
The first Strategy for covering the national territory with audiovisual programs stated that the information sovereignty of the state is at stake. The state has not paid attention. The authorities only woke up when the hybrid war from Eastern Ukraine got very close to Moldova. They saw that we do not have an information security strategy; that we do not have laws to define propaganda; that we have a lot of propaganda. Why do we not have what we need and we do have what we don’t need? Why do we have an army of paid civil servants and non-functional state institutions? Why do we pay them all? To listen to their complaints that they don’t have political will although they are able to reverse the mountains during the elections? Apparently, we are all dunderheads since we vote as we vote and we govern as we govern.
They wanted to ban foreign propaganda by law. The civil society was asked to say what it thinks about it and it said: bullshit. The authorities also asked high-rank European institutions. The answer was: bullshit. The propaganda can be fought through the openness of the mind. To reading and critical thinking.
About (non) worries
Times goes on. The propaganda stays. We do not systemically address media literacy, nor the stimulation of healthy competition on the media market, nor the encouragement of media pluralism – activities that might really eradicate propaganda instead of just pretending to eradicate it. This is the sort of plans of the officials we wanted to hear about at the Forum. But all we heard were requests to all of us to be worried about the crisis and propaganda. The crisis and propaganda are triggered by the governance, but the worries should concern all of us. This is a very specific approach.
About the (in) efficiency of communication
The “weak point” of the Forum was, in my view, the debate with the current chairman of the Parliamentary Committee, two previous chairmen, the president of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) and me. The debate had to identify best practices in developing public policies in the media field. However, this was not a debate, but three reports on how efficient this committee was and a report on how the BCC does what it can, but something prevents it from doing what it must do.
When the Parliamentary Committee was asked what prevents it to force the BCC to stop propaganda, the answer was that the Members of Parliament, according to the law, cannot intervene in the work of the BCC. This is only partly true. The law stipulates exercising parliamentary control, including on the BCC. Another thing is that the control is missing.
About the (i)real
At the Forum, I promoted honesty in the profession while the former chairman of the line committee, Ch. Lucinschi promoted the common sense in the audiovisual. We are both very romantic people. If we were full of common sense and honesty, the Bible would be sufficient for us.
Ch. Lucinschi asked us to solicit the “assignment of state functions to the Press Council. I will be the first to vote with both hands!”. We request: the Press Council must distribute the slots in the national digital multiplexes. Appoint the structure of the BCC and of the CO. But we are not sure whether two hands, accepted as two votes will be enough.
About who we (do) not shake hands with
There were many things at the Media Forum: speeches, workshops, master classes, discussions, etc. and many televisions. This was all at the opening when the officials were there. In the evening, we had to swallow a new dose of propaganda. We cannot hit the hands of propaganda journalists. We may not shake hands with them.
The journalists undertook to do what they must do. The official promised to do what they need to do. I think that they will continue to do what they did so far, i.e. what is good for them. And I ask them to demonstrate that I’m wrong.
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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.
