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Monthly Bulletin, May 2020
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For the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, the Independent Journalism Center launched Press Freedom Days (PFD) in Moldova with the campaign “Public Interest Trumps the State of Emergency.” This year, the event took place in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The campaign aimed to draw authorities’ attention to the need to demonstrate greater openness towards the media and transparency in decision making. On the occasion of the PFD, the journalists presented the petition “We demand the media's right to information of public interest” to the authorities and created the #SUSTINEMPRESA group on Facebook. The campaign was organized by the Independent Journalism Center, the Press Council, the Association of Independent Press (AIP), the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM), and the Association of Independent TV Journalists. The PFD takes place in a series of events throughout May.
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In the context of World Press Freedom Day, the Independent Journalism Center launched the online flashmob “Public Interest Trumps the State of Emergency,” urging civil society organisations and the public to stand by journalists in a joint action organised on Facebook. The flashmob aimed to reveal how closed public institutions became during the state of emergency, and to encourage authorities to show greater openness towards the media, so that people are informed correctly, impartially and on time. Media associations, media outlets, journalists and information consumers joined the online flashmob by adding a frame to their profile picture with the inscription “Public Interest Trumps the State of Emergency,” as well as by signing a petition on access to information of public interest. They also shared a cartoon with the same title on social networks. |
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A petition submitted to the authorities by the Journalists' Crisis Cell, set up by the Independent Journalism Center, calls on state institutions to ensure access of media to information of public interest. According to the document, restricted access to information of public interest is a huge problem for Moldovan journalists. In past years, access to data held by authorities was restricted under different pretexts – personal data protection, state and trade secrets, classifying requests for information as petitions, imposing the obligation on journalists to request information through letters instead of emails or telephone calls, etc. The current restrictive administrative practices are also due to the existing legal framework, which contains drawbacks that restrict the access of the media - and implicitly, of the people - to information. The petition began gathering signatures on May 3, the same day when the Press Freedom Days began, and accumulated over 400 signatures. Copies of the document were sent to the Government and the Parliament.
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In the context of the Press Freedom Days, the IJC launched the White Paper of the Moldovan Media. The publication contains the stories of nine media outlets that, over the years, have managed to grow and cope with their challenges. Nadine Gogu, Executive Director of the IJC, explained to Media-azi.md that the purpose of the White Paper was to talk about media institutions’ achievements, not only about their problems: “Despite the turmoil on the media market, often caused by politicians, we still have institutions that withstand the pressures and financial difficulties, and are managing to do quality journalism.” The White Paper includes the stories of nine Moldovan media outlets that made themselves heard over the last year: Agora.md, Center for Investigative Journalism, Moldova.org, NewsMaker, Observatorul de Nord, RISE Moldova, SP Balti, TV8 and Ziarul de Garda. The selection criteria were professionalism, integrity, and credibility before their readers.
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Government representatives claimed that the tripling the time allowed to review requests for information during the state of emergency approved by the Commission for Emergency Situations – from 15 to 45 days – did not affect access to information of public interest. Journalists claim otherwise. The Center for Investigative Journalism’s Madalin Necsutu stated that he was unable to put together some investigative material in time because the Ministry of Health responded to his request for information only after 20 days. Ion Preasca, Editor-in-Chief of Mold-Street and Editor of RISE Moldova, had similar complaints about the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health. One of the other problems that journalists have encountered is that some official sites have not been updated during the state of emergency, on the grounds that government employees are quarantined.
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During the May 15 edition of the ‘President Answers’ talk show, broadcast on Facebook, journalists from Ziarul de Garda (ZdG) asked President Dodon why he sued the publication after it published an investigation of the President's luxury vacations. Dodon responded that he encouraged “all politicians who see the media spreading fake news to go to court,” and added: “One of these days I’ll check and then I’ll tell you, in the following editions, about all the lawsuits – not only against you, but against everyone who has produced fake news. There have been dozens of them only in the last 18 months.” Media experts criticized the statement, arguing it contradicts the spirit of freedom of the press and could be interpreted as intimidation of journalists. Nadine Gogu, Executive Director of the Independent Journalism Center, noted that “encouraging politicians to go to court to “bring order” sounds like a subtle threat against journalists,” and pointed out that journalists have the right to publish information about public officials, including about their private life, if the information raises questions about their integrity. Olga Manole of the Promo-Lex Association, a Press Council member, also characterized the President's speech as “hostile towards the media.”
The ‘President's luxury vacations’ investigation reviews the exotic places visited by the politician and his family while he was a Member of Parliament. In March, Dodon challenged the story in court on the grounds that it contains false and denigrating information about him. The Independent Journalism Center provides journalists with legal assistance on this case. |
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Only one day after the launch of the Press Freedom Days in Moldova, Prime Minister Chicu published on a post [1] on social media in which he accused the Pro TV Channel of promoting unfair and inappropriate information, because “objective information does not bring much money to media owners.” The day after, Vitalie Dragancea, communication adviser to Chicu, attacked journalists in a statement to Ziarul de Garda [2], saying that the Government doesn’t need the media to dismantle fake information: “We communicate with people without you because we don’t believe you all the time.” In response, eight media NGOs, including the Independent Journalism Center, Association of Independent Press, and the Center for Investigative Journalism, signed a declaration pointing out that such statements defame journalists’ status and incite hate against media outlets. The signatories of the statement called upon the Prime Minister and his adviser to publicly apologise to media representatives and Pro TV for spreading unfounded accusations against the press, and demanded that Dragancea immediately resign due to his incompatibility with his position. |
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In a May 5 press release, Ombudsperson Mihail Cotorobai urged authorities to stop denigrating the press and described “attempts to suppress critical voices,” especially those made by high-ranking government officials, as alarming. This reaction came the day after Prime Minister Chicu’s social media post attacking Pro TV was denounced by eight media NGOs. The Ombudsperson pointed out that according to international standards, “people have the right to express their points of view, even if their opinions are offensive or shocking, provided they do not incite violence or hatred.” Cotorobai stated that the press must have unrestricted access to information of public interest in a timely manner and pointed out that the media’s access to information was being restricted during the state of emergency. |
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Eight media NGOs took a stand against the restriction of the right to freedom of expression by the Ceadir-Lunga Police Inspectorate in the case of Natalia Cebotari, journalist at the district newspaper Znamea. In March, several employees of a local clothing factory sent the journalist information about working condition violations committed by their employer. After she posted the information on her Facebook page, Cebotari became the target of a campaign of intimidations and threats by the factory manager. A complaint was filed with the Ceadîr-Lunga Police Inspectorate against Cebotarii, and on May 14 she was fined MDL 2,400 for slander [1]. In a joint declaration, eight media NGOs claimed that these sanctions were groundless and made legal arguments in support of the journalist, stating inter alia that according to the Law on Freedom of Expression [3], the protection of honor, dignity and professional reputation cannot prevail over the freedom of citizens to receive information of public interest. They asked the Ceadir-Lunga Police Inspectorate to check whether the actions of the official examiner were lawful and, if found to be unlawful, to hold the employee liable according to the law in force. |
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On May 20, the Nordnews.md portal team was not allowed to access the headquarters of the District Council Drochia, where President Dodon met representatives of local public authorities. Employees of the State Protection and Guard Service also prohibited filming of the presidential motorcade. At the same time, according to Nordnews.md, reporters of a TV channel affiliated with the Socialist Party were given unhindered access. In a joint statement, several media NGOs condemned granting selective access to events of public interest, noting that this infringes on national law and international standards. The signatories asked the Presidency and the State Protection and Guard Service to investigate the case and to sanction those who showed abusive behavior towards the Nordnews.md journalists. |
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The General Prosecutor's Office (GP) claims that it found no grounds to intervene on the matter of the March decision of the Broadcasting Council (BC) Chairperson on how radio stations and TV channels should cover the coronavirus pandemic during the state of emergency, per the institution’s official response. According to prosecutors, the GP had no grounds to intervene, as the decision signed by the BC Chairperson was issued “on the basis of a Parliamentary decision,” “in order to effectively manage the information-related crisis and ensure objective information of the population in connection with the Covid-19 epidemiological situation.” Note that by this decision, BC Chairperson forced TV and radio journalists not to “voice and favor, without permission, their own opinions” in addressing the topics on the coronavirus pandemic during the state of emergency and to include the authorities’ position in their broadcasts. His decision, characterised in the press as “on the verge of censorship,” aroused harsh criticism in society, and two political parties – PAS and PPDA – reported the case to the GP, believing that the BC Chairperson should answer to the law for abuse of his position. As a reminder, the day after issuing the order, Dragos Vicol cancelled it under the pressure of public opinion.
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The Independent Journalism Center monitored 12 TV channels and online portals for their reporting on five events of major public interest that took place between January 1 and April 30. The monitoring report, released on May 11, finds several deviations from the provisions of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics, among the most serious being the failure to ensure the right to reply, mixing facts with opinions, selective presentation of facts, generalisation and labelling. According to the author of the study, media researcher Victor Gotisan, more than half of the monitored media institutions presented the topics from a particular political perspective. For example, Prime TV and Publika TV broadcast mostly the same content, favoring the Pro Moldova parliamentary group and its representatives. NTV Moldova, Accent TV, Primul in Moldova, Sputnik.md, Kp.md had a pro-PSRM approach, favoring President Dodon. Televiziunea Centrala, Prime TV, NTV Moldova, Accent TV, Sputnik.md and Primul in Moldova resorted to generalisations. Only Jurnal TV and RTR Moldova covered the five events in an impartial and balanced way. The public channel Moldova 1 and the portal Unimedia.info covered the information in a neutral way in general, but both outlets still slightly favored President Dodon.
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In a May 29 meeting, the Audiovisual Council (AC) unanimously decided to fine the TV8 TV station 10.000 lei (about 500 euros) for broadcasting the May 8 edition of the satire and humor show ’Internetu Grăiește’ (The Internet is Talking). In the show, broadcast on YouTube and taken over by TV8, presenters Nata Albot and Andrei Bolocan referred to a post by the journalist Elena Pahomova from NTV Moldova. Pahomova wrote on Facebook that the president of the Constitutional Court, Domnica Manole, had dyed her hair red in the context of the CC’s decision to cancel the Russian credit agreement and that she had dyed her hair illegally because the activity of hairdressers was suspended during the state of emergency. Albot and Bolocan called Pahomova's post inappropriate for her journalistic status and urged Internet users to send her private messages with their thoughts about "her schizophrenic deductions." As a result, TV8 was sanctioned for violations of correct communication of information.
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The Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) developed and offered to the Academy of Public Administration (APA) the online course “Access to Information” for public servants. The course was launched on Monday, May 18, on the APA’s E-learning Platform, and will allow civil servants to familiarize themselves with the legal provisions on access to information, deadlines for meeting requests for information, sanctions for violating the right to access information, and other issues.
In September 2019, IJC concluded an agreement with the APA on joint organisation of trainings meant to increase the knowledge of civil servants of all levels in the field of media law. Previously, IJC trained about 70 civil servants and APA’s trainees how to apply the law on access to information.
This series of lessons were developed as part of the “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M) project, funded by USAID and UK Aid and implemented by Internews.
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It has now been three years since the Media Education course was first taught in schools in Moldova. The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) launched the course in 2017 with the consent of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research. In 2018, it began to be taught at the gymnasium level, and a year later - at the high school level. In total, over 2,700 students are now voluntarily studying Media Education. The IJC trained 148 teachers, 101 middle school teachers and 36 high school teachers to teach the course. Of these, 72 teachers work in Russian-language schools. At the same time, over 7,000 Media Education textbooks were printed, both in Romanian and Russian. These media education activities are organized by the IJC within the projects: "Strengthening freedom of opinion in the Republic of Moldova," supported by Deutsche Welle Akademie and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany; "Press in Support of Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M), developed in partnership with Internews and funded by USAID and UK Aid; and "Increasing support for independent Russian-language media institutions and efforts in the field of media education," funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
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Freedom House Seeks Proposals for Next Media Forward Policy Brief
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In May, Freedom House opened a call for proposal submissions for the next policy brief in the Media Forward series. The topic of the brief will be "Finding the Right Balance: Rights to Privacy and Free Expression in Moldova.” Interested researchers should submit a concept proposal and a CV to eurasia@freedomhouse.org by June 8.
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Pilgrim-Demo Begins Implementing Project on Promoting Freedom of the Press in Gagauzia
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On May 26, Freedom House partner Pilgrim-Demo announced the launch of the project "Promotion of Freedom of the Press in Gagauzia.” As part of the project, Pilgrim-Demo will analyze media-related laws and regulations, monitor the state of local media, and discuss their findings with journalists, government officials, and international partners. The ultimate goal of the project is to introduce legal amendments to bring Gagauzia’s media laws in line with national and international standards. The project is supported by the Media Freedom Matters small grants program, facilitated by Freedom House under the MEDIA-M program, funded by USAID and UK Aid, developed in partnership with Internews and IJC.
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What does it mean to do quality journalism at a prestigious American publication and win the Pulitzer Prize for it? Monica Ulmanu, graphics editor at The Washington Post and winner of this award, tells the story behind the award on the Media Azi show and points out the difference between explanatory and investigative journalism.
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The situation of the press in Moldova continued to worsen last year, according to Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2020 report, launched in early May. On the Media Azi show, journalist Dumitru Stoianov analyzes the main causes that led to this: intimidation of journalists, restricting access to information, concentration of the advertising market.
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