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The December edition of the magazine “Mass-media in Moldova”: hot issues, missed targets and inertias in the local press

17 January 2018
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The new edition of the magazine “Mass-media in Moldova” (see the electronic variant in Romanian on the website Media-azi.md) presents a cycle of original materials that concern both the media events in the second half of 2017 and subjects of general interest. The authors who collaborated on this edition include Aneta Gonța, Ion Bunduchi, Tatiana Puiu, Alexandru Dorogan, Mariana Onceanu-Hadârcă, Ioana Burtea, Victor Gotișan and others.

Why are things stagnating in the local media? Aneta Gonța tried to find an answer to this question in the article “The media situation in Moldova or the level of our democratic values”. The media expert highlights a number of violations and abuses in the media sector and her conclusion is far from optimistic: “We cannot talk about total freedom of the media”, the author says.

In this issue of the magazine you can learn about the Code of Audiovisual Services, a document that will replace the current Code of the Audiovisual. According to the author Ion Bunduchi, “The audiovisual is a set of interests that need to be balanced and harmonized”. Ion Bunduchi also says that the authors of the draft start off with the principle that the audiovisual is not just business and is not a public asset used against the public. Therefore, the rules of the game must reflect both the state policies on the audiovisual and the society’s vital interests, the author says.

“The access to information vs protection of personal data” is the title of the article signed the by expert in media legislation, Tatiana Puiu, who writes about the harmonization of the domestic legislation to the European acquis.

Another subject raises another problem: Why did our society lose as a result of the postponement by the Government of the shift to digital television by March 2020 while it was supposed to finalize on December 31, 2017? The APEL member, Alexandru Dorogan, lists the following losses: quality of the image that is higher than the analog one; possibility to receive more TV stations; reception of stations in High Definition format; a more diverse offer of services: radio, teletext, EPG, interactive services, etc.

The following material is also about the audiovisual. In this material, the former ACC member, Mariana Onceanu-Hadârcă, publishes her reflections at the end of mandate about the autonomy and independence of the institution where she has been working in the last six years. In her view, an important factor in triggering a prompt reaction of the Council in cases when materials that contravene the legislation are broadcast must be the consumer, either individually, via the civic organizations, or via the notifications sent to the institution.

The New Media rubric has an article signed by the Romanian journalist Ioana Burtea: “Stories for waking up people” “…Today, when the journalism is fighting to find a place in the digital world, we must not forget that the information pills and the news cycles 24/7 cannot replace the stories that are well documented, well written and well produced and explain, investigate, create emotions and communities”, the author says. She believes that “it is the reorientation of the press to similar stories and initiatives that can give a new perspective and increase again the credibility of the profession in people’s eyes”.

The internet, which, in the view of the researcher Victor Gotișan, “is like milk, you may oversee it as much as you want, but one day it will boil over anyway” is also the subject of the material “Freedom on the internet in Russia… Till where, till when?”. The researcher makes a review of the book signed by the Russian investigation journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, “The fight for RuNet: How the authorities manipulate the information and watch each of us”.

You can also read an interview with the photo-reporter Constantin Grigoriță in this edition under the Experiences rubric. In the Annexes, we return to the Survey “People’s perceptions on fake and distorted information in the media” (October 2017).
The “Mass-media in Moldova” magazine is published twice a year - in June and December - in Romanian, Russian and English, in electronic and printed versions.