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Defending the country’s information space from foreign and domestic propaganda and learning from other countries’ experience in this field were the main topics of “Media, Audience and Pluralism in the Republic of Moldova” international conference, held on Thursday, September 14 in Chisinau by the Parliament of Moldova in partnership with Freedom House and Internews representative office in Moldova. The event was attended by MPs, diplomats, journalists, and civil society representatives. Several experts and officials from Lithuania were invited to share their experience in fighting Russian propaganda through the media and their methods of ensuring the information security of their country.
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Seven media NGOs – the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Electronic Press Association, the Journalistic Investigations Center, the “Acces-Info” Center, the Press Freedom Committee, and the Association of Independent TV Journalists – have signed a statement expressing their concern about the improper attitude of the public employees who behaved aggressively with a crew of TV8 television on September 14. Journalists were covering the issue of continued repairs in 10 pre-school institutions in Chisinau when they were verbally aggressed and prohibited access to kindergartens no. 23 and no. 81. The signatories of the statement appealed to the Ministry of Education to investigate these situations and to inform the public about the measures applied to the persons who restricted the media’s access to information.
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Media NGOs – the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, and the “Acces-Info” Center – have condemned in a statement the bans of Action and Solidarity Party against the team of Prime TV station, who were denied access to the works of the party’s second congress on the grounds that their station would not be impartial in covering this event. Signatories appealed to political parties to be more open in their relations with representatives of the media and called on journalists to abide by the Code of Ethics and not commit missteps in the coverage of political topics.
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A Prime TV crew was denied access to the hall where the second congress of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) was taking place on Sunday, September 10. According to the station’s representatives, PAS Secretary General Igor Grosu justified this decision by lack of trust in Prime TV journalists. Inquired by Media Azi, PAS spokesperson Cristina Bujor confirmed the party’s political decision to deny access to the party’s events to all journalists of the GMG media holding until Publika TV, which is part of the holding, publicly apologizes for airing fake images of a PAS press conference in a program on July 27.
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Mihai Poalelungi, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), abrogated his own directive of February 15, 2017 on online publication of judgments and adopted a new decision, on September 7, about the content and functioning of the Court’s website. Thus, in the SCJ judgments published online, the names of minors will be anonymized if they appear in court acts; the publication of court acts in cases concerning sexual offences will be forbidden; personal data about a person’s state of health (regardless of the disease they have) and bank details will be hidden upon publication of court acts.
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The members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) took note on Tuesday, September 5, 2017, of Minister of Justice Vladimir Cebotari’s request to assess Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) compliance with the Regulation on the publication of judgments on the web portal of courts. SCJ Chair Mihai Poalelungi commented that the Minister of Justice’s request had been based on SCJ’s different approach to the Regulation on the publication of judgments. In his opinion, some Moldovan courts apply this Regulation wrongly, with the names of judges, lawyers, and other parties in court proceedings being hidden in the judgments published on the website. Poalelungi finds such practices exaggerated and contradictory to Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which protects freedom of expression.
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There is journalistic solidarity in Moldova, but not enough for the media to be a power feared by the government, says Cornelia Cozonac, director of the Journalistic Investigations Center of Moldova (JICM) in an opinion for Media Azi on the occasion of the International Journalists Solidarity Day. The journalist underlined that certain media representatives in Moldova accept to serve politicians, thus impeding the journalistic community to gain strength. From time to time, some journalists raise their voices and appeal to professional solidarity. One such appeal came in Timpul newspaper from journalist Pavel Paduraru. He reminded of the case of photojournalist Constantin Grigorita, who was forbidden access to events organized by the presidential administration by the guard of President Igor Dodon. Paduraru suggested that journalists go to presidential press conferences but refuse to enter the conference room without Constantin Grigorita.
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The implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) for 2017-2019 to fulfill the commitments in the field of mass media undertaken under the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU needs to be sped up. The actions planned for the period of June-August 2017 on the media segment gained only 6 of the 12 possible points, according to the second monitoring report of the Association of Independent Press that was released on Monday, September 18. Media researcher Aneta Gonta, one of the authors of the report, is of the opinion that the actions planned for the period of June-August 2017 on the media segment were insufficient and they mainly concerned the broadcasting field, leaving out print and online media.
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The Government examined in its meeting on Wednesday, September 6, a draft law presented by MP Grigore Cobzac of the Liberal Democratic Party, on amending and supplementing several legislative acts that aim at reducing monopolization and concentration in the media. The Government’s opinion contains several objections, and some of the proposals were not accepted. Among other things, the author of the draft law proposed that political parties be deprived of the right to own television and radio stations. Also, the MP insisted that party leaders and public dignitaries, as well as their first-degree relatives, must not cumulatively hold “more than 20% of the share capital or shares of a broadcaster.” Members of the Government deemed these proposals “unjustified and unacceptable.”
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The administration of public television Moldova 1 disagreed with the protest in front of its head office organized by Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) and Dignity and Truth Platform Party (PPDA) on September 17. In an appeal to international organizations and the media released on Monday, September 18, the leadership of the public television characterized the protest of the opposition as an attempt “to discredit and defame the image of national television.”
Participants in the protest called for “depoliticization of the national public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova and for providing airtime to the extra-parliamentary opposition at least once a week in prime time in order for it to present its position on the country’s social and political state of affairs.”
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The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure (MEI) proposed postponing the deadline for switching over to digital terrestrial television in Moldova from December 31, 2017 to March 1, 2020. A draft law to this effect prepared by MEI is at the stage of public consultations now. The formal reasons for postponement are regional broadcasters’ lack of funds and the fact that the Government has not yet identified money in the budget to secure vulnerable families with set-top boxes. Experts do not rule out that the MEI initiative could have been based on political reasons before the election year. “They realize and are aware that after the implementation of digital television local studios will disappear, and so for political reasons we keep delaying, putting off, letting analog television exist so we can get a result in elections,” commented Alexandru Dorogan, member of the Electronic Press Association (APEL).
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The television station TV7, reorganized into TV8 on June 13, 2017, was expected to switch formal ownership to a public association founded by journalists in the proportion of 75%, but its attempts have failed so far. In a September 4 meeting, members of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) decided to postpone the examination of TV8’s cession application after receiving requests from the Republican Copyright Office (ORDA) and from the National Copyright Association (ANCO) not to admit the application for cession of the broadcasting license issued to Analitic Media Grup. ORDA and ANCO claimed that the current owner of TV8, Analitic Media Grup, owes them MDL 1.2 million-worth copyright fees. Analitic Media Grup rejected the accusation claiming it has made all due payments to other copyright associations. However, in a second meeting on 27 September, BCC decided to postpone once more the examination of TV8’s application, this time citing requests from Content Media and TV MR MLD companies, which referred to an existing dispute in court and asked to postpone the examination of TV8’s application until a final decision is issued. BCC agreed despite TV8 lawyers arguing that a final decision could take up to three years.
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The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) addressed Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) in connection with Publika TV airing fake images from a PAS press conference on July 27, 2017 during one of its evening shows. BCC issued a statement reminding PAS that its leader may request the right to reply and informed her that the broadcasting regulator had requested the TV station to present its opinion about the program in question. On her personal Facebook page, Maia Sandu called this reply “cynical and hypocritical” and said that the institution enforcing the Broadcasting Code should be the guarantor and representative of public interest, but “it is actually the guarantor and representative of Publika’s interests.” Contacted by Media Azi, BCC Chairman Dragos Vicol rejected Maia Sandu’s accusations, claiming they have a “tendentious political undertone” and “attempt at the apolitical status” of the broadcasting regulator.
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What happens if you are assaulted with improper compliments on the street, at school, at university, or even at work? What is the difference between being courted and being sexually harassed? This topic was discussed in the new episode of the show “Divided by Two” [“Împărțit la doi” in Romanian] by Promo-LEX lawyer Tatiana Chebac and psychologist Sorin Scutelnic. The guests of the show answer the question: What does the law provide for and what should a person do in such a situation?
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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) has given awards to several young journalists for their investigations focused on Russian propaganda. The event was held in Chisinau as part of the “Propaganda in Public Discourse. How Do We Avoid It?” project implemented by the Independent Journalism Center between January and September 2017. The investigations were carried out following a complex training program focused on combating propaganda in the information space by means of investigative techniques, which was held by the IJC in April. Participants formed teams and identified topics for investigations, which they then worked on for four months. Students were guided and assisted by media expert Viorica Zaharia.
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| How will Moldova 1 TV station evolve in the next five years? Journalist Nicolae Negru discusses this issue with newly elected director of the public television Ecaterina Stratan, in the 54th edition of “Media Azi” [Media Today] show. The guest spoke about the reforms she intends to initiate to ensure the financial autonomy of the station and to avoid government involvement with its editorial policy. The 55th edition of “Media Azi” addresses the issue of leaked CCTV footage in the case of Braguta, a young man who died under suspicious conditions while in police custody. Host and journalist Anastasia Nani debated professional ethics with media expert Petru Macovei, director of the Association of Independent Press, and Svetlana Maftei, journalist of Deschide.md, the portal that disseminated the footage leaked by police. In the 56th edition of “Media Azi” host Nicolae Negru discusses with Freedom House representative in Moldova and lawyer Tatiana Puiu what legal leverage journalists have in order to exercise their right to information. |
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