Ro
En
Рy04 May 2016
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Alina RADU, Director of the Ziarul de Garda 
On the 3rd of May 2016, there were conducted worldwide the activities dedicated to the World Press Freedom Day. Thus, the countries were divided into two types: those ones, where the Governments openly spoke about significance of the fourth estate, met and carried on discussions with the reporters and media entities; and those ones, where the Governments pretended that the Press Freedom was beneath contempt.
Presidential Dinner with the Reporters
On the 2nd of May, while the Chisinau Government delegation led by the executive coordinator of the Council of Governing Coalition Vlad Plahotniuc was making their steps on the American lands, the US President Barack Obama was making a speech on press freedom in the front of hundreds of reporters at the Reporters’ Dinner at the White House. This is a tradition for an American President to meet the journalists and to speak to them, to joke, to drop phrases and to draw conclusions.
I tried to imagine such a spree in Chisinau. I felt some kind of easiness and it is good that we do not have something like this. Since a dinner with the reporters, who were not given even an interview throughout the validity of the mandate, would be very choking. Nevertheless, I opened the web-page of the Chisinau Presidency. The last heading was ‘The President Nicolae Timofti taking part in the ceremony of Descent of the Holy Fire meeting’. Probably, this indeed would be right for a President of a secular state to screen for several days behind the Holy Fire ceremony, and for the issues related to press freedom to be ignored in a captured state.
I have been opening the web-page of the Chisinau Government for 3 days, looking for appearance of a heading related to importance of the press freedom. The last communique of the secular Chisinau Government was dated the 1st of May 2016 and was similar to that one of the Presidency. The heading ‘Pavel Filip taking part in the Resurrection Mess’ was followed by the resume ‘The Prime-Minister Pavel Filip together with the President Nicolae Timofti and Parliament Chairman Andrian Candu taking part on the Saturday evening in the Descent of the Holy Fire’.
No press communique on the printed media situation was placed on the web-page of the Parliament on the 3rd of May too. This is despite the fact that, starting with this year, the legislative body has received several drafts of laws and, as well, issues not included in the laws but related to printed media access to the Parliament: Law on Postal Services, Television and Radio Code, access to information, Internet regulation, drone issues, Russian propaganda etc.
I also visited the web-page of the executive coordinator of the Council of the Governing Coalition. The top position on this page is immovably held by the last article placed as early as in November 2014 and headed as ‘Moldova as a Significant Point on Washington-Brussels-Moscow Axis’. This is an article placed within the period of great banking frauds in Moldova and it does not relate to the printed media.
Maybe, this ‘executive coordinator of the Council of the Governing Coalition’ must not even dwell on press freedom, except for responding to the Reminder issued on the 3rd of May by the Centre for Independent Journalism within the framework of a public event.
This Reminder recalls that one of the major problems of Moldavian press is its concentration in the political hands. It seems that another problem, even more severe, results from this one: Russian propaganda seizing more and more greedily the Moldavian public space.
Why does an independent state allow the foreign printed media issued in Moldova to belong preponderantly to the sole country? Why do we have so many tens of non-stop TV channels from the Russian Federation, both on-air broadcasting and cablecasting ones? The first reason that allows the printed media from another country to be accepted in the proportions greater than those ones of the media from other countries and even greater than our own Moldavian broadcasting volume, would be that this refers to a high-quality press, irreproachable professional standards, equilibrium and exemplary pluralism of opinions. According to the Organisation ‘Reporters without Borders’ assessing the printed media situation worldwide for tens of years, the 2016 Russian Federation is a country with the most dangerous conditions for the journalists. Why do we allow the printed media of a country blamed by the whole world for mass propaganda to prevail in the TV, radio and printed media space in Moldova? Why does the Republic of Moldova allow to import so many media products from the Russian Federation and to intoxicate all the population with the propaganda? Evidently, the answer is simple: this is because the businessman affiliated to those ones, who have power, holds a licence for rebroadcasting of several Russian channels, including the greatest channel of the Moscow Government.
I believe that the Chisinau Government should assess the printed media standing for corruption combating and for elucidation of the cases of human rights violation. I believe that its name shall be known and shall be pronounced. Since a country governed by a ‘pro-European’ coalition does not mean the sole Government and the sole power merged with the political party’s press through a ‘genetic mutation’. The ‘state’ means both the institutions separated from the political powers and printed media institutions critically analysing the activities of all the Governments.
_____________
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.
On the 3rd of May 2016, there were conducted worldwide the activities dedicated to the World Press Freedom Day. Thus, the countries were divided into two types: those ones, where the Governments openly spoke about significance of the fourth estate, met and carried on discussions with the reporters and media entities; and those ones, where the Governments pretended that the Press Freedom was beneath contempt.
Presidential Dinner with the Reporters
On the 2nd of May, while the Chisinau Government delegation led by the executive coordinator of the Council of Governing Coalition Vlad Plahotniuc was making their steps on the American lands, the US President Barack Obama was making a speech on press freedom in the front of hundreds of reporters at the Reporters’ Dinner at the White House. This is a tradition for an American President to meet the journalists and to speak to them, to joke, to drop phrases and to draw conclusions.
I tried to imagine such a spree in Chisinau. I felt some kind of easiness and it is good that we do not have something like this. Since a dinner with the reporters, who were not given even an interview throughout the validity of the mandate, would be very choking. Nevertheless, I opened the web-page of the Chisinau Presidency. The last heading was ‘The President Nicolae Timofti taking part in the ceremony of Descent of the Holy Fire meeting’. Probably, this indeed would be right for a President of a secular state to screen for several days behind the Holy Fire ceremony, and for the issues related to press freedom to be ignored in a captured state.
I have been opening the web-page of the Chisinau Government for 3 days, looking for appearance of a heading related to importance of the press freedom. The last communique of the secular Chisinau Government was dated the 1st of May 2016 and was similar to that one of the Presidency. The heading ‘Pavel Filip taking part in the Resurrection Mess’ was followed by the resume ‘The Prime-Minister Pavel Filip together with the President Nicolae Timofti and Parliament Chairman Andrian Candu taking part on the Saturday evening in the Descent of the Holy Fire’.
No press communique on the printed media situation was placed on the web-page of the Parliament on the 3rd of May too. This is despite the fact that, starting with this year, the legislative body has received several drafts of laws and, as well, issues not included in the laws but related to printed media access to the Parliament: Law on Postal Services, Television and Radio Code, access to information, Internet regulation, drone issues, Russian propaganda etc.
I also visited the web-page of the executive coordinator of the Council of the Governing Coalition. The top position on this page is immovably held by the last article placed as early as in November 2014 and headed as ‘Moldova as a Significant Point on Washington-Brussels-Moscow Axis’. This is an article placed within the period of great banking frauds in Moldova and it does not relate to the printed media.
Maybe, this ‘executive coordinator of the Council of the Governing Coalition’ must not even dwell on press freedom, except for responding to the Reminder issued on the 3rd of May by the Centre for Independent Journalism within the framework of a public event.
This Reminder recalls that one of the major problems of Moldavian press is its concentration in the political hands. It seems that another problem, even more severe, results from this one: Russian propaganda seizing more and more greedily the Moldavian public space.
Why does an independent state allow the foreign printed media issued in Moldova to belong preponderantly to the sole country? Why do we have so many tens of non-stop TV channels from the Russian Federation, both on-air broadcasting and cablecasting ones? The first reason that allows the printed media from another country to be accepted in the proportions greater than those ones of the media from other countries and even greater than our own Moldavian broadcasting volume, would be that this refers to a high-quality press, irreproachable professional standards, equilibrium and exemplary pluralism of opinions. According to the Organisation ‘Reporters without Borders’ assessing the printed media situation worldwide for tens of years, the 2016 Russian Federation is a country with the most dangerous conditions for the journalists. Why do we allow the printed media of a country blamed by the whole world for mass propaganda to prevail in the TV, radio and printed media space in Moldova? Why does the Republic of Moldova allow to import so many media products from the Russian Federation and to intoxicate all the population with the propaganda? Evidently, the answer is simple: this is because the businessman affiliated to those ones, who have power, holds a licence for rebroadcasting of several Russian channels, including the greatest channel of the Moscow Government.
I believe that the Chisinau Government should assess the printed media standing for corruption combating and for elucidation of the cases of human rights violation. I believe that its name shall be known and shall be pronounced. Since a country governed by a ‘pro-European’ coalition does not mean the sole Government and the sole power merged with the political party’s press through a ‘genetic mutation’. The ‘state’ means both the institutions separated from the political powers and printed media institutions critically analysing the activities of all the Governments.
_____________
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.
