TV Channels Owned by Politicians Charge High Fees for Election Advertising
 

Several TV channels affiliated to politicians are charging high fees for one minute of election advertising. Vlad Plahotniuc’s channels are the most expensive ones. Prime TV has set a price of EUR 4,000 per minute, and Publika TV - EUR 2,000 per minute. EUR 1,500 is charged for one minute of advertising on Canal 2 and Canal 3, stations officially owned by Oleg Cristal, Vladimir Plahotniuc’s political advisor. The same price was established by the Central Television affiliated with Ilan Sor. Some media experts think that the tariffs are exaggerated and meant to hinder the access of opposition contestants to media platforms controlled by politicians running in the Parliamentary Elections.
 

Jurnal TV Sued by the Democratic Party
 

First Signatories of the Code of Conduct of elections
 

TV channels TV 8 and Jurnal TV were among the first signatories of the Code of Conduct on the coverage of the election campaign during the Parliamentary Elections and the Consultative Referendum on February 24, 2019, according to a press release issued by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC). So far four electoral competitors have signed the code – the Democratic Party of Moldova, the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, “ACUM DA Platform and PAS” Electoral Bloc and “Șor” political party. The Code regulates the behavior of election candidates/referendum participants and media representatives that cover the campaign.

A small victory in the case of seized copies of the newspaper “Cuvantul”
 

Orhei Court annulled a previous decision of the Rezina Police Inspectorate against the employee of the printing house from Rezina, Ion Panfilii. He was stopped by the police on May 10, 2018 while transporting the print run of the newspaper “Cuvantul” from the printing house to the Central Post Office in his personal automobile. They seized the newspapers and fined him MDL 3,000 (approximately USD 175) for “purchasing, keeping, transporting tangible assets for illegal sale.” The editorial office of the “Cuvantul” in an ongoing proceedings still awaits the decision of the court on the seizure of the newspaper copies.

Impact TV Suspended Its Activity for Half a Year
 

The Broadcasting Council (BC) suspended the broadcasting license of Impact TV for a six-month period, at a meeting held on January 11. The owner of Impact TV, Marcel Darie, submitted a request to the BC to suspend the license for the channel as he did not have enough funds to support the said media project. The BC members voted unanimously for the suspension of the license.

The First Monitoring Report in the Election Campaign
 

The Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) and the Association of Independent Press (API) have presented the first Media Monitoring Report during the Election Period for the 2019 Parliamentary Elections. The monitoring was carried out as per the methodology developed by the Oxford Media Research Center and updated at the end of 2018. The basic methodology focuses on quantitative and qualitative analysis of 28 media outlets, of which 12 TV broadcasters and 16 news portals and newspapers. The report covered the period from 9 to 24 January and assesses social and political pluralism in the media, which implies measurement of the diversity of opinions and plurality of voices in election materials.

The BC Will Monitor 13 TV Channels During the Election Campaign
 

The BC decided on January 21 to monitor 13 television broadcasters during the election campaign in terms of the observance of the electoral legislation and coverage of the election campaign during the Parliamentary Elections and the referendum of February 24. The list of channels includes Moldova 1, TV8, Prime, Publika TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, PRO TV Chisinau, Jurnal TV, RTR Moldova, Orhei TV and Central Television. According to the Chair of BC, Dragoş Vicol, these channels were chosen as the most representative channels that “have a strong opinion, regardless of their vision.”

TVC 21 Publicly Warned for Moderator’s “Insufficient Intervention”

The BC issued a public warning against the TVC 21 broadcaster because the moderator of the TV show “Important” Liviu Moraru failed to intervene sufficiently when the guest of the show (leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform Andrei Nastase) made “rude statements and gave his own opinion about other election candidates.” A representative of the Democratic Party (PD) was the one who brought the case to the attention of the BC. After reviewing the show in question, the BC established that the TVC 21 broadcaster violated the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code on “ensuring impartiality, balance and promotion of the free formation of opinions by presenting the main points of view in opposition, during a public debate about certain issues.” It was found that the moderator had not intervened enough when Andrei Nastase made “unbalanced” political statements.
 

Media-M Project Updates

IJC Report: a Number of National Media Outlets Broadcast Politicized News, with Labels and Omissions
 

During the last three months of the previous year, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) monitored 12 media outlets. All of them neglected at least one ethical rule or used at least one manipulation technique during that time. This and other conclusions of the monitoring are included in the report “Elements of Propaganda, Information Manipulation, and Violation of Journalism Ethics in the Local Media (1 October – 31 December 2018)”. The report was presented on January 22 during the meeting of the Press Club of IJC. According to the media researcher and author of the report Victor Gotisan, many media outlets showed their predilection for some politicians or political parties. Also labelling has gained momentum and the manipulation through video and audio materials has become more and more frequent. The IJC recommended the Broadcasting Council to take action in the case of TV channels which disseminate manipulative or false information. In turn, the editors of those TV channels are recommended to monitor the content, which must be in line with the mission of the media – to inform the public. The Monitoring Report was developed by the IJC, within the framework of the “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M) Project, funded by USAID and implemented by Internews.

Online Workshop: Editorial Fact-Checking – from Theory to Practice
 

The IJC has launched an online workshop “Editorial Fact-Checking – from Theory to Practice,” encouraging journalists to document and thoroughly verify facts before publishing them. The workshop videos are presented by the journalist Dumitru Stoianov from RISE Moldova - the only media institution in the Republic of Moldova that checks the facts at a professional level since 2015. This workshop consists of three parts and allows journalists and editors to learn what fact-checking is and how should it be applied. The online workshop was developed by the IJC, the Internews partner within the “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M) Project, funded by USAID.

IJC training for Secondary Education Teachers to Teach Media Literacy in Schools
 

IJC held a new training program on media literacy for 24 secondary school teachers from Chisinau and its suburbs on January 18 - 20. The training was organized in partnership with the General Directorate on Education, Youth and Sport of Chisinau municipality. During the training, the participants learned about the contents of the Media Education study course and methods of teaching this optional subject to students of 7^th and 8^th grades. The trainers Loretta Handrabura, PhD in Philology, and Natalia Griu, Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, both authors of the Media Education curriculum and manual for secondary education, tackled the most important topics included in the study program. To date, over 1500 primary and secondary school students from approximately 40 schools have been studying Media Education. The training was organized by IJC under the “Strengthening Freedom of Opinion in the Republic of Moldova” project, implemented with the Deutsche Welle Akademie support and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

Freedom House Publishes Sixth Media Forward Policy Brief

Freedom House released the sixth Media Forward policy brief – a series of analytical papers by local Moldovan analysts that cover dynamics in Moldova’s media sector. This latest brief by Ludmila Nofit of the Foreign Policy Association of Moldova covers state capture and disinformation in Moldovan media ahead of the February parliamentary elections, with attention to lessons from Moldova’s 2016 presidential elections. The brief is available in English, Romanian and Russian languages. Two more policy briefs on the dynamics of the media environment in the context of the parliamentary elections will be published in February and March 2019.  The Media Forward series is supported under the MEDIA-M Project funded by USAID and implemented by Freedom House and Internews.

 The December 2018 Issue of ‘Mass Media in Moldova’ Magazine

The December 2018 issue of Mass-media in Moldova magazine came out in January. It is the only periodical that describes thoroughly the media issues in the Republic of Moldova. Among the tackled problems were the lack of confidence in the press, a phenomenon noted both in Moldova and in the world, the negative role of false news, the discussion on the new draft Law on Advertising, voted by the Parliament only in first reading, the politicians' “pocket press,” which is becoming a PR tool in election campaigns, respecting gender equality in the media, hate speech against journalists and other topics. The magazine includes an interview with Natalia Morari, the Chair of the “Media Alternativa” Association, and the review of the book “Fear: Trump in the White House” by The Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. The magazine was issued in Romanian, Russian and English, in electronic and print versions. The December 2018 issue was published with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation, via the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau.

How should the February parliamentary elections be covered so that the public is well informed and journalists do not turn into PR tools of politicians? The topic was tackled at the Media Azi Talk Show by journalist Nicolae Negru and his guest, Viorica Zaharia, Chairperson of the Press Council.
Last year the Promo-LEX Association identified eight serious cases of hate speech against journalists by politicians. These ranged from intimidations with broom and belt to threats of violence, beating and even death. How to punish politicians who use hate speech? The journalist Irina Gotisan-Sotnic and her guests – Dumitru Sliusarenco, lawyer at Promo-LEX, and Cornelia Cozonac, Director of Center for Investigative Journalism, answered this question at the Media Azi Talk Show.
In the third issue of Media Azi Talk Show journalist Nicolai Paholnitki discussed with Veaceslav Soltan, head of the Information Technology and Cyber Crime Investigations Unit at the General Prosecutor's Office about sanctions prescribed by the law to punish people who disseminate fake news.

Our mailing address is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list