‘More about NATO’ // Over 20 Journalists Trained and Informed First-Hand

More than 20 journalists from media outlets in Chisinau and a number of regions of the Republic of Moldova learned ‘More about NATO’ during a training organised on 16 and 17 November by NATO Liaison Office in Moldova, in partnership with the Embassy of Poland in Chisinau and Independent Journalism Center. The participants in the training have learned from NATO representatives in Brussels, where the headquarters of the international body is located, as well as officials from Chisinau, about the way the organisation operates, and about NATO partnership policy.

‘We decided to provide journalists with fist-hand information, presenting them the tools they need in order to be able to make balanced and objective journalistic materials’, said Kristina Baleisyte, Head of NATO Liaison Office.
James Mackey, representative of the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division of NATO Headquarters, told the participants about NATO’s role in guaranteeing security in the world, highlighting the key findings of the 2018 NATO Summit and introducing the current agenda of the international body.

During a joint meeting, HE Bartlomiej Zdaniuk, Ambassador of Poland, and HE Daniel Ionita, Ambassador of Romania, presented the advantages of being part of the NATO community from the standpoint of their countries.
Veaceslav Iatco, Head of NATO and Military and Political Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, talked about the neutrality of the Republic Moldova, its relationship with NATO, as well as about the projects implemented by the Alliance in our country.

In addition, journalists have learned from Alina Coca, from NATO Headquarters Press Office, about the key communication mechanisms of the body.
Journalist Liliana Barbarosie, one of the authors of ‘Cui îi este frică de NATO’ [Who’s Afraid of NATO] rubric from Radio Free Europe, spoke to the participants about the experience of being a correspondent at NATO summits and how to identify topics of public interest for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.
‘Such trainings explaining the structure, mission and activities of an institution as important as NATO are very useful. In our society, there is information about NATO, mostly from the perspective of a military bloc, which is not true. It’s not just a military organisation, but also a political-military one, which implemented in the Republic of Moldova a number of projects in different areas, such as public health, education or environment. These things should be reported by trained and well-informed journalists, and this training has given us this opportunity’, said Irina Tabaranu, journalist at TVR Moldova, participant in the training.

‘The training was an opportunity for me to learn first-hand about relevant analyses on topics I’m interested in, e.g. terrorism, cyber defense and fake news. Today’s focus is mostly on a critical and powerful journalism, especially under conditions of unscrupulous international players’, Alexandru Bordian from Radio Free Europe said.