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Transnistrian MPs made this decision after examining and analyzing materials about the activities of the supreme council that appeared in the media beginning in January. Journalists believe that MPs disliked those materials because they expressed different opinions. Another reason invoked by authorities was lack of space in the meeting room.
Thus, beginning on April 6, only the press service of the supreme council will have the right to film and photograph in the institution’s building. To have access to video and photo materials, media outlets will have to submit special requests.
Official media, which are dominant on the region’s media market, will also have to comply with the supreme council’s decision. Official television, Pervy Pridnestrovsky, which informed about it, asked Inna Deleva, official responsible for the media in the region, to share her opinion on the issue: “I understand that someone might not like what journalists say, but that is why we have freedom of expression.” And the fact that there might not be enough space for journalists in the meeting room was commented by Deleva, too: “There had been space for 25 years, and now there is no more. Such rhetoric is surprising.”
Luiza Dorosenco, director of the “Media Center,” Tiraspol, finds this decision non-democratic. “It is a non-democratic step, and it has been unclear so far why it was made. Why even the official television will have no access to the meetings of the supreme council? Also, we can’t say exactly how requested video materials will be obtained and how long it will take. And I believe that freelance journalists are the ones who will suffer the most: they won’t be able to request video and photo materials because they are not formally employed…,” Luiza Dorosenco told us.
We asked Nadine Gogu, director of the Independent Journalism Center, to comment on the decision of Transnistrian authorities and on how it might affect journalists’ work.
Nadine Gogu: It seems that Transnistrian MPs adopt the bad practices of the Parliament in Chisinau, invoking the same unjustified reason of lack of space. Regrettably, those who adopt laws forget about them and flagrantly violate them. Journalists’ access shouldn’t be restricted, regardless of the level or rank of the public institution where meetings take place. The media should and can do their job only if they have access to firsthand information, without intermediaries. Otherwise, they might become mouthpieces for those intermediaries.
