Manipulation by Means of Media: Moldova, where are you going?

In February this year I was involved in an exercise led by IREX organization, which aimed to assess mass media condition based on the opinion of a group of about 12 people – civic activists, university lecturers, sociologists etc., or, in other words, of a group of professional and social active intellectuals. This exercise was carried out for the first time in this year and represents a development of the methodology of Mass media viability index, an annual and traditional tool governed by IREX by involving a new group and separated questionnaire. Contrary to the assessment carried out by / on a statistically representative group of citizens, this exercise1 offers us the opinion of an informed person, of a person with a developed critical reasoning that can valorise the concealed sides of a situation.

The first and the most important aspect where the opinion solidarity existed is that mass media is biased and manipulative. Even though people could list certain professional and objective sources of information, for which they show all due respect, the strength / pressure and influence of these information sources do not compete with the strength of manipulation perception, which is linked, in particular, to the name of several televisions.  

A similar perception is related to media degradation process and condition. The degradation process of mass media enhances the perception of manipulation, more than the proper manipulation, which is not something new for Moldova: people make comparison between current press and the one from the last 2-4 years. The conclusion is that people are fooled by the press and current talk shows do not have that necessary unbiased approach anymore, that moderators change the incisiveness of the questions and approach depending on their grace for invitees, that debates became kind of fair where the invitees shamelessly make change of gossips and suppositions.

A separated phenomenon are political analysts, which represent a group somehow stable at Publika TV and, respectively, Jurnal TV and have an absolutely predictable speech. Less people know that these analysts are employed under contract, and have generous honorariums, and those who allow themselves to express their opinions, which do not correspond to the editorial policy of the owner, may find themselves with terminated contracts.

How do you fight against manipulation?

It would be difficult to fight against manipulation by means of the Law on freedom of expression, Civil Code, Criminal Code or jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, except for concrete cases related to spreading hate speeches and violence, committing acts of censorship or violating private life and disseminating false information or opinions with no sufficient evidence that violates the honour of a particular person.

However, the main provisions that may be currently applied in fighting against manipulation are those from Article 7 of the Audiovisual legislation – Political and social balance and pluralism, which, among other provisions, specify (4) ,,In order to ensure the observance of the principles of social and political balance, equidistance and objectivity within informative broadcasts of broadcasters, they will publish each news so that: a) the content of information to be true; b) the meaning of the reality by means of montage tricks, comments, formulation manners and titles to be preserved; c) in case of subjects related to conflict situations, the principle of information from many sources to be observed”. These provisions, enhanced by monitoring and sanctioning system detained by Audiovisual Coordinating Council, should be sufficient in fighting against manipulation.

Moldova, where are you going?

We find ourselves in a situation where the information is very much: it abounds everywhere – Internet, printed press and TV, new information and traditional means. The attention of people is sought by many ways, but at the end, people choose an information means that he prefers and which is often right their social networking page, where they can choose their friends and, respectively, what information there are interested in. Therefore, people do not follow anymore the full program of a television or radio, but are used to follow the ,,full program” broadcast on his social networking page. This circumstance does not decrease at all the level of manipulation of people, but offers them the satisfaction of introducing themselves within a certain group that corresponds to their way of thinking.

One of the current questions of the moment is what can we do with the legislation, how can we complete it so that we could fight against media manipulation. I consider risky the method of strengthening the regulation of manipulation. I would choose another method – boosting the diversity. I would avoid the development of new legislative instruments, which would impose new rules, new penalties and would contribute to the disappearance of many press institutions. Many of them will disappear anyway due to the challenges the new realities in technologies impose.
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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.