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Veaceslav Perunov, the founder and director of ‘SP’, told the audience that the idea to set up the newspaper appeared spontaneously and that it started as a business with friends without any journalistic education whatsoever, which then developed into a successful independent regional publication.
Ruslan Mihailevschi, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said that global phenomena, such as the post-truth and fake news, affect them too and make them reconsider the role of journalists, who ought to be the guardians of democracy. External pressure and limited access to information are just two of the challenges that the newspaper is struggling with. The editor-in-chief presented a guide containing seven ‘Information Hygiene Rules’, which help media consumers distinguish between manipulation and unbiased news. He also used an animation to tell the young people at the event that feelings can be used by the press with bad intention, but the readers must use their judgement sensibly when interacting with any piece of information.
Marina Bzovaia, the deputy editor-in-chief, described how investigations are tackled at the ‘SP’. She told the young people about the role of the visual media used in investigation articles to attract the audience and how important it is for the journalists to serve the public interest, even if this could affect the relations of the editorial with some politicians or local public institutions.
We asked the young people what they thought about such meetings. Nonna Mihalcean said that they are welcome and that she would be happy if this practice is continued in the future, to tackle other issues, for example – how important it is to provide accurate information to young people to create thus a social, civic and personal development environment in the community. ‘It’s very important for young people to be heard and supported when it comes to their ideas and needs’, Nonna said.
Marius Frecauteanu, another participant, mentioned that such events are a good opportunity for journalists and readers to get to know each other. He would like to learn more about the methods of marketing and promotion of content in the online environment.
In his turn, Ruslan Mihailevschi mentioned that this European Café gave the ‘SP’ journalists the opportunity to meet a large number of young readers following their work, which was a real challenge for the team. ‘To our surprise, many participants were interested in the print newspaper and in the future of the publication. And, in general, judging by the questions, the participants wanted to find out what was the vision of the newspaper about its future, which we were happy about’, said the editor-in-chief.
The ‘European Café’ meetings with the youth take place in several places across Moldova. They are part of the ‘Strengthening Independent Media in Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia’ Project, implemented by the Independent Journalism Centre in collaboration with Internews.
