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Рy04 May 2017
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The most pressing problems faced by Moldovan media outlets are of financial nature. This is the opinion of the media managers and journalists who participated in the launching of the "Study on the Needs of the Media in Moldova", organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) on Thursday, May 4.
According to the IJC Executive Director Nadine Gogu, this study contains a radiograph of the media, showing the changes that have taken place in recent years in online, television, radio, and print media segments. Financial resources, training, and modification of the legal framework were the top three needs. Nadine Gogu said that in terms of finance, media managers do not have enough funds to rent offices, pay salaries, purchase equipment, "which indicates that, unfortunately, we do not have too many media in Moldova that are profitable or can cover their expenses, so colleagues from media outlets are often forced to apply to different donors and thus somehow try to survive."
All participants noted that in recent years the situation in the media segment has not changed for the better. "A media outlet should, in principle, ideally allocate 65% of its costs for salaries and 35% for operational and development purposes. Most of us, however, are either under the level of sustainability or at its limit," said Dumitru Tira, General Director of the Realitatea media group. In his opinion, there are three legal solutions for media funding: advertising, election campaigns, and collaboration with foreign donors.
Valeriu Vasilica, Director of the Info-Prim Neo news agency, also noted that the money from subscriptions is not enough to stay on the market, and a solution for this situation is only the support of foreign donors. At the same time, new trends, including bloggers and vloggers, are more attractive than the journalists who create informative content for the public. These areas should be regulated, at least professionally and deontologically, in order to clearly determine what the press is and what it is not. In the absence of this definition, "corruption processes in the media are in bloom," and it compromises journalistic work, the media, and journalistic deontology, according to Valeriu Vasilica.
A proposal for efficient use of advertising is also to know the audience it targets. This opinion was expressed by the co-founder of the Agora news portal, who believes that the media must be regarded as a business, and in order to look at it like this, several types of training are necessary: how to produce a short and attractive content and how to use graphical aspects both in text and in video. "I think we have a big problem today in all that means management and, in particular, work with advertising: attracting it, providing qualitative service to an advertising client, creating statistical reports that must be then presented, correct targeting, etc.," Tudor Darie said.
Grants, financial problems, lack of good beginner journalists were the aspects the director of Ziarul de Garda newspaper spoke, too, adding, however, that an important point is "to better connect universities with media outlets." It would make the graduates from the departments of journalism better prepared when they leave universities and seek employment in a media outlet.
The study was prepared by the iData company at the request of the Independent Journalism Center, with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency through the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau.
According to the IJC Executive Director Nadine Gogu, this study contains a radiograph of the media, showing the changes that have taken place in recent years in online, television, radio, and print media segments. Financial resources, training, and modification of the legal framework were the top three needs. Nadine Gogu said that in terms of finance, media managers do not have enough funds to rent offices, pay salaries, purchase equipment, "which indicates that, unfortunately, we do not have too many media in Moldova that are profitable or can cover their expenses, so colleagues from media outlets are often forced to apply to different donors and thus somehow try to survive."
All participants noted that in recent years the situation in the media segment has not changed for the better. "A media outlet should, in principle, ideally allocate 65% of its costs for salaries and 35% for operational and development purposes. Most of us, however, are either under the level of sustainability or at its limit," said Dumitru Tira, General Director of the Realitatea media group. In his opinion, there are three legal solutions for media funding: advertising, election campaigns, and collaboration with foreign donors.
Valeriu Vasilica, Director of the Info-Prim Neo news agency, also noted that the money from subscriptions is not enough to stay on the market, and a solution for this situation is only the support of foreign donors. At the same time, new trends, including bloggers and vloggers, are more attractive than the journalists who create informative content for the public. These areas should be regulated, at least professionally and deontologically, in order to clearly determine what the press is and what it is not. In the absence of this definition, "corruption processes in the media are in bloom," and it compromises journalistic work, the media, and journalistic deontology, according to Valeriu Vasilica.
A proposal for efficient use of advertising is also to know the audience it targets. This opinion was expressed by the co-founder of the Agora news portal, who believes that the media must be regarded as a business, and in order to look at it like this, several types of training are necessary: how to produce a short and attractive content and how to use graphical aspects both in text and in video. "I think we have a big problem today in all that means management and, in particular, work with advertising: attracting it, providing qualitative service to an advertising client, creating statistical reports that must be then presented, correct targeting, etc.," Tudor Darie said.
Grants, financial problems, lack of good beginner journalists were the aspects the director of Ziarul de Garda newspaper spoke, too, adding, however, that an important point is "to better connect universities with media outlets." It would make the graduates from the departments of journalism better prepared when they leave universities and seek employment in a media outlet.
The study was prepared by the iData company at the request of the Independent Journalism Center, with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency through the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau.
