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Monthly Bulletin, June 2021
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Nine media organizations, including the Independent Journalism Center, the Independent Press Association, the Electronic Press Association, the Association of Environmental and Ecological Tourism Journalists and others released a joint statement condemning the behavior of forester Dorin Merzancu, from the Bujor Forest District, who threatened the Ziarul de Garda (ZdG) team. During the documentation of a journalistic investigation about illegal deforestation, journalist Victor Mosneag from ZdG, became the target of intimidation and threats from this forester. Merzancu tried to hit Mosneag with the car he was driving. He then watched the ZdG team for several kilometers, threatening them with physical fights saying, “Do you want someone to hit you one day…on your head?” The signatories of the declaration warned that such actions constitute a violation of individual freedom and security of the person, as well as a violation of the rights of journalists which are guaranteed by law. The media organizations asked Merzancu to apologize publicly to the ZdG journalist. At the same time, they appealed to the law enforcement agencies of Moldova to initiate the procedures provided by law to hold Merzancu accountable. |
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Non-governmental media organizations have condemned the aggressive behavior of the president of the Party of Regions of Moldova, Alexandr Kalinin, towards journalist Lorena Bogza, from Pro TV. During the election debate on June 28, 2021, Kalinin had an inappropriate reaction in response to the fact that the debate’s moderator did not ask her questions in Russian. Kalinin launched insults against the journalist and other candidates and threw a bottle of water at the television station panel. In a joint statement, the Independent Journalism Center, the Independent Press Association, the Electronic Press Association, RISE Moldova, and other media organizations described this behavior as inappropriate and inadmissible for an electoral contestant. The signatories asked Kalinin to publicly apologize to Bogza, mentioning that the damaging the assets of media institutions is a deed punishable by law. At the same time, media NGOs called on all politicians to behave appropriately in relation to journalists and to refrain from any form of intolerance.
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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) promises that it will "examine and analyze more broadly, and as appropriate, include in draft regulations" the recommendations contained in the Memorandum on Freedom of the Press which were sent to the authorities in early May. However, the recommendations will only be submitted for approval after the inauguration of the new government. According to the document released on World Press Freedom Day by the Independent Journalism Center and other media organizations, the legal framework "has not been supplemented with new laws necessary for the field nor adjusted to the needs of the sector," and several legislative amendments proved to be "dangerous and contrary to Community standards." The authors of the Memorandum made several recommendations to the government and Parliament, which, if implemented, would help to protect and encourage the free media in accordance with the principles of a democratic society. Among other things, they recommend resuming the Working Group for the Improvement of Media Legislation, which will be concerned with the implementation of the National Concept of Media Development, diminishing the influence of politics on media activity by expanding the independent press sector, and the implementation of the public legal-economic policy to ensure the media institutions fair, transparent, and competitive conditions, etc.
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The Broadcasting Council (BC) unanimously rejected the proposal for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to be responsible for audiovisual media and the press. At its public meeting on May 27, the BC examined the draft and gave a negative opinion, stating that the authority is "the guarantor of the public interest in the audiovisual field and has the mission to contribute to the development of audiovisual media services." The members of the BC proposed to modify the draft decision by reformulating the phrase "the field of audiovisual media services and the press." On the document, proposed for approval and public consultation, several institutions will be presented with opinions: the State Chancellery, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, the National Anticorruption Center, and the Independent Press Association.
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The Lux GSM company obtained the broadcasting license for the new radio station Drive FM, during the public meeting of the Broadcasting Council (BC) on June 24. On the same day, Drive FM was declared the winner of four radio frequencies from different districts of the country and Hit FM and Jurnal FM each won a frequency in the contest organized by the BC.
Drive FM will start operating within six months of obtaining the license. In the business plan of the provider, it is mentioned that the activity of the radio station will be financed by “the financial sources of its founder - Lux GSM SRL.” The director and administrator of Lux GSM is Serghei Basiuc-Brinzei, municipal councilor from the Socialist Party and member of the Republican Council of PSRM. The company appears in the declaration of Basiuc-Brinzei’s wealth and personal interests submitted to the National Integrity Authority.
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On May 20, The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced the case of Transnistrian journalist Sergei Ilcenco and his son, Nicolae Ilcenco, against Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation to the Governments of Chisinau and Moscow according to a press release issued by Promo-Lex, whose lawyers represent the applicants at the Strasbourg Court. Serghei Ilcenco was detained in March 2015 and accused by the administration of the left bank of the Dniester of inciting extremism. Sources from the activist's entourage did not rule out that it was a scenario devised by the Tiraspol authorities because he had a critical position towards the then leader of the region, Evgheni Shevchuk.
Four months later, Sergei Ilcenco was released from prison and he and his son left the Transnistrian region due to persecution. Initially, they were accommodated in a placement center on the right bank of the Dniester, which they were forced to leave due to a lack of support from the constitutional authorities. According to Promo-Lex lawyer Vadim Vieru, the case of Serghei Ilcenco and Nicolae Ilcenco shows that anyone in the Transnistrian region who tries to criticize the administration can be accused of extremism, intimidated, detained, and arrested, and constitutional authorities have no means to defend their rights.
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Free press is practically lacking in the Transnistrian region where local authorities have strong control over public media institutions, according to Freedom House's 2020 report on assessing respect for political and civil rights. According to the report, “the authorities closely monitor and control the public media, and the Sheriff holding company dominates in private broadcasting. All this generates widespread self-censorship." The report notes that the few independent publications are limited to circulation and dissemination, and "critical materials can end with the initiation of a criminal case." Moreover, the local administration abuses bureaucracy to not provide journalists with data of public interest. Freedom House experts also noted restrictive legislation on defamation, insult to the authorities, and the expression of disrespect for the peacekeeping mission on the left bank of the Dniester.
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The London-based organization Justice for Journalists states in its "Report on Attacks on Post-Soviet Media Employees" that in 2020, the number of attacks on journalists and media representatives in Moldova increased, in particular allegations of defamation, slander, and damage to professional reputation. Over the past year, researchers have identified 68 cases of attacks or threats against representatives of the media, traditional newsrooms, and online publications in Moldova. The most common forms of intimidation and harassment of media representatives were non-physical attacks and threats, including in 49 cases in cyberspace. Specifically, these cases relate to defamation, slander, unlawful obstruction of journalism, refusal to provide access to information and more. The main source of attacks and threats on the press were representatives of the authorities which accounted for 82% of cases. In 11% of cases individuals or companies threatened and attacked media and in 7% of cases the source of the threat was not identified.
The study includes statistical data for daily monitoring of attacks on media employees in 12 post-Soviet countries (excluding the Baltic States). Data are available from 2017.
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On June 17, the members of the Supervisory Board of Teleradio-Moldova (SC) decided to examine at one of the future meetings the report of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) on how Moldova 1 informed citizens about the events on the public agenda between May 24-30.
According to the report, during the monitored period, Moldova 1 largely relayed the events in the main news bulletins in a neutral way. However, there was a predilection for topics related to the city of Chisinau, to the detriment of other regions of the country, and the representatives of the Capital City Hall were slightly favored by public television. The research, launched on June 10, revealed that, out of the 154 monitored news, about 25% addressed topics related to Chisinau, the region to which the public station most often refers in their "Messenger" editions.
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Representatives of the Joint Action Party Civic Congress (PACCC) addressed the Broadcasting Council (BC) with a complaint alleging that the public media service provider ignored the June 7 press briefing, in which the party's leader, Mark Tkaciuk, spoke about the danger of invalidating the early parliamentary elections, an event that was covered "by all broadcasters except the public television station Moldova 1." The PACCC requested that the violation be included in the coverage of the election campaign and that the public service be required to allow broadcasting time to provide the right of reply.
The administration of the Moldova 1 television station claimed that it did not receive the invitation to the press conference announced by the PACCC and stated that it respects the principles of covering the election campaign in accordance with the legislation in force.
The members of the Broadcasting Council unanimously rejected the PACCC's petition as unfounded. BC member Larisa Manole suggested to the editors "not to use selective methods in reflecting electoral events," and the PACCC to include the address of the public station in its communiqués.
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The Public Association of Lawyers for Human Rights won a case about access to information against the Center for Forensic Medicine (CFM). In May 2019, the representatives of the association and the citizen Silvia Rotari requested from CFM more information of public interest, including the list of licensed/certified judicial experts working within the center and those who were held on disciplinary liability from October 10, 2014, to April 30, 2019, for the violations committed in the activity of judicial expertise, as well as the disciplinary sanctions given to each of these persons. The association also requested information on the total amount of money collected by CFM for the provision of forensic expertise services against the actual payment between January 1, 2017, and April 30, 2019, the procurement procedures carried out by CFM regarding the procurement of services and goods and the economic agents designated as winners, and the amounts of the offers presented by them in tender. CFM responded late and partially to requests for information, citing personal data. Dissatisfied with the answer, the applicants challenged CFM in court. The trial lasted for two years and on June 16, 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) ruled in favor of the Public Association of Lawyers for Human Rights, adopting an irrevocable decision on the case.
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| The volume of sales of pay-tv services increased by 3.1% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period of 2020 and amounted to about 47 million lei, according to the National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI). The increase in revenues from the sale of tv services was because sales by IPTV (Internet TV) providers increased. The volume of these sales increased by 13.6% and amounted to 34.8 million lei. At the same time, the sales made by cable network providers decreased by 18.4% and totaled 12.2 million lei. The statistical data presented to ANRCETI by pay-tv service providers, during the reporting period, show that out of the total number of subscribers, depending on the reception technology, 59.2% used IPTV networks, and the others used cable tv networks. The same data show that in the first three months of this year, the share of subscribers who received the tv signal in digital format reached 80.7%. According to ANRCETI estimates, at the end of the first quarter, the largest providers of paid tv services had the following market shares: Moldtelecom 35.1%, TV BOX (StarNet) 34.8%, and Orange Moldova 5.6%. The cumulative market share of the other suppliers was 24.5%. |
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| The press influenced the electoral preferences of a considerable group of voters among those who changed sympathies from one political actor to another, according to the sociological study "Socio-political options of citizens around the early parliamentary elections of 11.07.2021." According to the survey launched on June 23 by the Association of Sociologists and Demographers of the Republic of Moldova, of the respondents who changed their electoral preferences under the influence of the press, 46% said that the media influenced their decision to a large and very high extent, and 16% to a small extent. 11% of respondents said that the media did not influence them at all in this regard, and 27% could not comment on the subject. When asked what they think about the degree of influence of the media on the socio-political situation in the country, about 40% of respondents answered that the media influences the socio-political situation to a very large extent, 20% to a large extent, almost 16 % to a small extent, 10% to a very small extent, 8% not at all. 7% could not determine to what extent media influenced the socio-political situation. The survey was conducted based on a questionnaire at the respondents' homes June 10-20, 2021. A sample of 1,167 people from 81 localities, without the Transnistrian region, was collected with a maximum error of +/- 3.0%. |
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Jurnal TV, Pro TV Chisinau, and Prime TV are among the top television stations chosen by citizens to watch the news, according to an opinion poll conducted by CBS-AXA in partnership with the Institute of Public Policy and made public on June 9.
According to the results, Jurnal TV was mentioned by 24.1% of respondents, Pro TV Chisinau accumulated 23.2%, and Prime TV 22.4%. The top choices are followed by the public channel Moldova 1 (21.2%) and TV8 (19.1%). Lower were the television stations NTV Moldova and Publika TV, with 14.9% and 14.6% respectively. RTR Moldova accumulated 11.2%, and Primul in Moldova 9.9%. Channel 2, Channel 3, TVR Moldova, N4, Accent TV and Bălți TV collected between 3.5% and 0.3% of mentions.
The opinion poll was conducted between June 2-8 and included a sample of 1,154 people. The interviews were conducted by telephone. The survey admits a maximum error of +/- 2.9%. |
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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) sent three petitions to the Broadcasting Council (BC) based on the first report on monitoring media behavior in the election campaign, launched by the organization on June 14. The complaints target Primul în Moldova, NTV Moldova and TV6 channels, which, according to the research, massively favored certain electoral contestants between June 1-10.
In the petitions, the IJC warns that NTV Moldova and Primul în Moldova did not offer equal access to media for all electoral contestants, reflecting biased and unbalanced events related to the campaign. The researchers found that the two channels massively favored the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS), both by the presence of direct interventions and by positive tones of reflection. On the other hand, the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) was obviously disadvantaged, being mentioned or cited only in a negative context. TV6 reflected correctly and equidistantly the activity of most candidates in the elections, except for the Sor Political Party (PP Sor). The representatives of PAS and Maia Sandu, were disadvantaged by the large number of accusatory news, based either on the statements of an electoral contestant or on the information from the online environment, the report shows. |
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According to the first monitoring report by the Broadcasting Council (BC) of the behavior of tv and radio stations between June 12-25, analyzed in the June 30 meeting of the Council, most media institutions did not violate the legal rules on the correct coverage of the election campaign. The exceptions were 10 TV, Primul în Moldova, NTV Moldova and TV6. Most violations committed by 10 TV who was sanctioned 10,000 lei (about 500 euros) for violating the provisions of the broadcasting license and publicly warned twice for violating the correct information of the public and for failure to interpret the message in mimetic language gestural. The proposals to sanction the NTV Moldova, Primul în Moldova, and TV6 television stations did not meet the required number of votes from the members of BC. Only four members voted in favor of sanctioning them and five were against. Several media experts have harshly criticized this decision of the BC. Nadine Gogu, executive director of the Independent Journalism Center, said that "the sanctioning of a single television station, given that at least four others are clearly partisan in favor of electoral contestants, illustrates the political affiliation of members of this institution. Although they receive salaries from public money, they do not serve the public interest.” In the opinion of Petru Macovei, the executive director of the Independent Press Association, the audiovisual authority showed that "it has no use" during the election campaign, because it does not sanction media service providers who violate the law. In his turn, Ion Bunduchi, the executive director of the Electronic Press Association, wonders: “What article and paragraph of the law says that only the most violating television should be punished?! And what law says that the violations of one television must be reported to the violations of other televisions and not to the norm of the law?!” In his opinion, "some members of the BC value (decisively, by vote!) what they believe and not what the law says."
The Broadcasting Council began monitoring 16 media service providers on June 12. BC analyzed the election-related news from the main bulletins of 15 television stations - Moldova 1, 10 TV, Publika TV, Prime TV, Primul în Moldova, TVR Moldova, TV6, Channel 2, Channel 3, TV8, NTV Moldova, Jurnal TV, RTR Moldova, BTV, PRO TV Chisinau and the public station Radio Moldova.
Earlier, several media researchers recommended to the audiovisual authority to submit reports on a weekly basis, to be able to intervene promptly in case of irregularities and urged the BC to properly sanction all tv and radio stations that violate the law. |
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| The Independent Press Association (IPA), which monitored the online press in the July 11 early election campaign, drew attention to the fact that some electoral contestants were massively favored in online media, many of whom became sources of electoral agitation. The monitoring focused on both Romanian-language news portals and Russian-language online publications, as well as a regional site. According to the first monitoring report, in the first ten days of June, the sites Actualitati.md and Kp.md promoted the BECS candidates. At the same time, both publications presented PAS and Maia Sandu, in an unfavorable context in their materials. Noi.md and Spunik.md had a similar approach. The only monitored regional portal, Gagauzinfo.md, published a small number of articles about the election, and the experts did not notice obvious trends in the editorial behavior. However, there was a slight disfavor in the case of PAS and a slight favoritism of the BECS, the Sor Party and the Political Party Dignity and Truth Platform (PPDA). In Unimedia.info materials, PPDA was most often favored compared to other electoral contestants. The news portals Newsmaker.md (Russian version) and Agora.md demonstrated a relatively balanced policy in terms of media coverage of electoral topics. Realitatea.md also covered the electoral issues in a relatively balanced way. The Timpul.md news portal massively favored the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, both in the video images taken from 10TV and in the editorial comments. The second monitoring report of the API, which covers the period June 11-20, finds that most portals promoted the agenda of some electoral contestants and did not present the information in a balanced way. Two publications (Agora.md and Newsmaker.md) demonstrated an editorial policy "relatively balanced in relation to all electoral candidates," and Agora "had the most equidistant editorial behavior among the monitored publications." |
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| The Broadcasting Council (BC) found in a special monitoring report that nine television stations were in breach of the requirements for the permitted level of sound in broadcast programs. Thus, during the meeting on June 24, the members of the Council examined the results of monitoring the channels Moldova 1, Primul în Moldova, Prime, TV8, TVR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Publika TV, Agro TV Moldova and Jurnal TV in terms of compliance with sound level in the services of audiovisual programs. According to the head of the Control and Digitization Department within the BC, Vitalie Bujnita, following the analysis, it was found that, between May 28 and June 3, all monitored television stations broadcasted advertising with sound levels above the allowed norms. The members of the BC verbally warned the targeted televisions and offered them a grace period until September 1, 2021, to comply with the legal requirements. |
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| In the election campaign for the early parliamentary elections on July 11, 2021, several civil society organizations began monitoring the press. For example, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) monitored the campaign behavior of ten television stations. In a new edition of Media Azi, Nadine Gogu, executive director of the IJC, and Ion Bunduchi, executive director of the Electronic Press Association, explain what details experts draw attention to when they keep an eye on the press and what monitoring reports they use. |
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The IJC Has Publicly Presented Three TV Monitoring Reports on the Election Campaign. The Conclusions and Recommendations of the Organization Were Submitted to the Broadcasting Council
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| During June, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) monitored the behavior of ten broadcasters in the election campaign for the early elections of July 11, 2021: Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, RTR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Primul în Moldova, Pro TV, TV8, and TV6. In the three public monitoring reports, the organization drew attention to the main violations committed by tv stations and made recommendations for their removal. At the same time, the IJC notified the Broadcasting Council of the violations detected and asked the audiovisual regulatory authority to take appropriate measures against the stations that admitted various deviations from the legislation in force. |
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| On June 14, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) released the first media monitoring report on the election campaign. "The first report reveals that some positions do not take into account either the self-regulatory norms, such as the deontological ones, or the legal provisions," underlined Nadine Gogu, the executive director of the organization, at the launch event. The report reveals that two television stations, NTV Moldova and Primul în Moldova, massively favored the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS), and one, TV6, favored the Sor Party. All three disadvantaged the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). The other seven monitored television stations, Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, RTR Moldova, Pro TV, and TV8, reflected relatively neutrally the events and activities of the electoral contestants between June 1-10, 2021. The IJC recommended to the Broadcasting Council to self-assess and use monitoring data to assess whether television stations offer equal access to all candidates and respect the right to full, objective, and truthful information. |
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On June 21, the second media monitoring report about the election campaign was released on June 11-17. This time, the IJC found that only four of the ten monitored stations (Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, Pro TV and TV 8) correctly and equidistantly reflected the campaign for the early parliamentary elections. The public station Moldova 1 showed equidistant behavior and presented neutral electoral issues but was limited to a single source of information. The private stations, Jurnal TV, Pro TV, and TV8, largely reflected correctly and impartially the information and events related to the electoral campaign or candidates and offered the right to reply, but the sources were not balanced.
The other monitored stations committed various legal violations. NTV Moldova and Primul în Moldova, for example, behaved tendentiously and biased, continuing to massively favor the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS). At the same time, the tone when speaking of the Action and Solidarity Party and of President Maia Sandu was predominantly negative. Prime TV and RTR Moldova slightly favored PP Sor. TV 6 favored PP Sor and slightly disfavored the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), while Publika TV slightly favored BECS and disfavored PAS. |
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On June 29, the IJC publicly presented its third monitoring report for June 18-24. According to the report, the public television station Moldova 1 offered access to news to most electoral contestants, which it reflected neutrally, without obviously favoring or disfavoring any of them. From the perspective of the selection of topics, but also of the angle of approach, however, there was a slight favoring of the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS), which had several appearances, including in a positive light. The private stations, Jurnal TV, Pro TV, TV8 and RTR Moldova, correctly and equidistantly reflected the electoral campaign, offering access to news to most electoral contestants. Prime TV and Publika TV largely informed impartially about the progress of the campaign for the early parliamentary elections, approaching in a neutral way most of the candidates registered in the race. From the perspective of the selection of topics and the angle of approach, the positions gave priority to BECS candidates. Two stations, NTV Moldova and Primul în Moldova, continued to show partisan behavior in relation to BECS, which benefited from the largest space of interventions and the tone of reflection being positive and neutral. The electoral contestant, the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), was predominantly disadvantaged, being mentioned more often than quoted in the news, just like Maia Sandu. The private television station TV6 favored PP Sor, both by the frequency and the larger space allocated and by a positive tone. TV6 provided access in the news to less than half of the electoral contestants, which it treated equidistantly.
The three monitoring reports were prepared with the financial support of the Office of the Dutch Embassy in the Republic of Moldova. |
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In June, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) launched three editions of the cuMINTE Podcast, in which topics of interest to listeners were discussed. In the first edition, the author of the podcast, journalist Ana Sirbu, made a selection of the most popular online documentation and information platforms, which journalists can use - among them Scribd, Enciclopedia Britannica, The Lancet, Google, Google Play Books, Google Translate or Wikipedia. In another edition, she discussed with Viorica Budu, a researcher in digital media, about journalists’ behavior on social networks, emphasizing that journalists must be creative, equidistant, and not different from their normal behavior. The third edition of the podcast referred to advertising on the influencer’s pages and the great impact it has on the media consumer. You can find previous editions here.
Podcast CuMINTE is aired on Mediacritica.md on the most popular podcasting platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Soundcloud.
The Podcast cuMINTE is made by the Independent Journalism Center with the support of the Finnish Embassy in Bucharest, within the project "Innovative tools of media education for well-informed citizens." |
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In July 2020, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) created the T (V) E Priveste platform, to assist citizens with the urge to report on the irregularities they observe on TV stations. By June 2021, they had sent over a hundred complaints targeting 24 audiovisual media service providers that broadcast TV content in the country. NTV Moldova, Accent TV, and Primul în Moldova had the most complaints from viewers in terms of lack of impartiality, a mixture of facts and opinions, and the lack of the right to reply. Prime TV, Orhei TV, and TV6 (formerly Central Television) hold the "record" according to the number of social reports in which political advertising was hidden from certain parties. RTR Moldova (which broadcasts RTR Rosia) and Primul în Moldova, in the opinion of media consumers, "stood out" due to biased accents and propaganda information. Following the collection of complaints submitted by citizens, the IJC sent 38 petitions to the Broadcasting Council (BC). 12 television stations were sanctioned by the BC with public warnings and fines amounting to 5,000 lei (250 euros) and 10,000 lei (500 euros).
T (V) E Priveste Platform was created within the project "Strategic communication and support for the media in the Republic of Moldova" with the financial support of the European Union and is administered by the IJC. The platform was updated with the financial support of the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest, within the project "Innovative tools of media education for well-informed citizens." |
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15 journalists from both banks of the Dniester participated in the training "Journalists on the right and left of the Dniester create multimedia content," which took place on June 9-11 in an online format. For three days, participants were guided on how to develop multimedia content by two trainers with extensive experience in the field of new media: Gulim Amirkhanova, television journalist and author of training programs in the field of TV and online journalism in Kazakhstan and Ana Gherciu, journalist and editor-in-chief at Moldova.org. The participants got acquainted with digital storytelling, the evolution of the new genre of press, and the features that distinguish multimedia content from traditional materials.
After the training, the 9 journalists from the media institutions on the right bank and 6 journalists from the left bank of the Dniester will form mixed teams of 2-3 people and identify topics in common that they will work on. Three mixed teams will be declared winners for the most original material ideas and will be given financial support of 1,500 euros for the creation of two multimedia materials that will be published by media institutions on both banks of the Dniester.
The training was organized by the IJC, with the financial support of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova in the project "Promoting media dialogue on both banks of the Dniester River." |
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Between May 24 and 30, Moldova 1 largely reflected the events in the main news bulletins of the day. However, there was a predilection for topics related to Chisinau, to the detriment of other regions of the country, and the representatives of the Capital City Hall were slightly favored by public television, according to a new monitoring report, released on Thursday, June 10, by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC).
According to the research, the municipal authorities of Chisinau were the most frequently cited sources both directly and indirectly, and by the frequency with which they were presented in the news, but also by the slightly laudatory character, the representatives of Chisinau City Hall, especially the mayor and the deputy mayor were favored by Moldova 1. On the other hand, Victor Gotișan, the author of the report, concluded that Moldova 1 reflected mostly neutral and equidistant information, without major deontological deviations. Moreover, the moderators and presenters of the debate shows were well documented as having neutral and equidistant attitudes towards those on the set.
This report was made possible by the generous support of the American and British people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK. |
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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) announced three winners of the contest "Media education, a priority in my school," during an event in which 12 participating institutions presented their activities to colleagues and members of the jury. The event took place in Chisinau on June 2. The competition was launched to support and encourage teachers' efforts to educate students in the spirit of critical thinking. Thus, the winners of the second stage of the competition are: Theoretical High School "Dimitrie Cantemir" from Chisinau with coordinators Aliona Pintea, Cristina Tataru, and Aliona Tarus; Brinzenii Vechi Gymnasium from Brinzenii Vechi village in the Teleneşti district with coordinator Galina Sirbu; Slobozia Chiscăreni Gymnasium from Slobozia Chiscăreni village in the Singerei district with coordinator Valentina Turcan.
During the event, Olena Ponomarenko, director of the DW Akademie program, highlighted the fact that Moldova is one of the few countries in Europe where the subject of media education is taught. Corneliu Ciorici, head of the Information and Communications Technology Service within the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and member of the jury, mentioned that in the 2020-2021 academic year this optional subject was studied by approximately 3,000 students. The jury also included Ina Grejdeanu, director for Strategic Development at the IJC, Liuba Petrenco, associate professor and head of the Continuing Education and Management of UPS "Ion Creanga," and journalist Diana Răileanu.
The competition was organized within the project "Strengthening media education skills," with the support of Deutsche Welle Akademie and with the financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.
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IJC and Internews Updates
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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) announced on June 27, 2021, the winners of the seventh edition of the Media Hackathon "The Fifth Power." For three days, between June 25-27, 2021, eight teams entered the competition and tested their creativity to develop online tools to interact effectively with media consumers. In the end, four of them were named winners: the NewsMaker team, which proposed a bot that will interact with the platform's readers, in order to personalize their information consumption experience; the Moldova.org team, which will develop a news aggregator attentive to the quality of information and will be guided by the results of the monitoring available on the Media Radar platform; the Cu Sens team, the author of a platform for monitoring the activity of the deputies from the Parliament of Moldova, in which the followers of the media institution will be involved; and the TV8 team, which will monitor how public money is spent in an interactive way and by involving reporters and media consumers.
The four teams were awarded $5,000 each. The projects were judged by Elnara Petrova, director of the NextMedia marketing agency in St. Petersburg, Russia, Oxana Iuteș, deputy director of Internews in Moldova, Dona School, co-founder, Generator Hub, Vitalie Esanu, IT expert, and Dumitru Talmazan, digital communication expert.
The seventh edition of the Media Hackathon “The fifth power” was organized by the IJC within the project "Press in support of democracy, inclusion and responsibility in Moldova (MEDIA-M)," funded by USAID and UK and implemented by Internews in Moldova.
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Over the years, the Media Hackathon "The Fifth Power," organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), has highlighted the creativity of young people whose innovative ideas have proved useful and could be applied in practice. Below, we present the top five most successful applications created in previous editions of the hackathon.
Trolless: a platform for detecting fake Facebook profiles. The activity of the Trolless platform also came to the attention of Facebook. As a result, it eliminated 168 Facebook accounts, 28 Facebook pages, and eight Instagram accounts, whose coordinated behavior targeted Moldovan people.
"The Adventures of Literatus:” an online game developed by members of the Caucasus Hack Pack team (Georgia and Armenia) and launched in Romanian by the IJC in March 2019. The media education game is aimed at high schoolers and teenagers.
"Media Quiz:" created by the Youth Media Center, in two versions - online and offline. The game helps young people discover tools to use against misinformation, thus contributing to the development of their critical thinking.
ONCE-EDU: a platform developed by the Evrica team, during the 2020 edition of the hackathon, which provides teachers and students a set of exercises to facilitate the process of teaching education for the media in school. Also, 40 quizzes created based on the content of the manual for education for media in high school can be found on the platform.
The Media Education series: also developed at the 2020 edition by the Youth Abrasive Online team, from the Youth Media Center, is a teaching support tool for teachers who teach media education at the middle and high school levels. Media education topics are presented in ten episodes, lasting 2-4 minutes each, in an active and accessible format for students. |
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The Independent Journalism Center (IJC), in collaboration with the Association "Talinka" and the Municipal Puppet Theater "Guguta" launched the Russian subtitled version of the video show "A Click from the Fangs or the Manipulating Wolf" (Russian: Зубами «щелк» или волк манипулятор), after the educational story of the same title signed by the media researcher Solvita Denisa Liepniece from Latvia. The premiere of the show (in Romanian) took place on June 1, International Children's Day.
Prior to the launch, Nadine Gogu, the executive director of the IJC, said that "through this show we set out to get closer to preschool and primary school children, who are part of a rather vulnerable age group."
"I hope that this show in video format will reach all children in our country, because those in Chisinau will have the opportunity, very soon, to watch it on the stage of the Guguta Theater," the artistic director of the theatrical institution, Gabriela Lungu, commented for the IJC's Media Azi portal.
The show is a premiere for the media space in Moldova and aims to help young media consumers understand and correctly analyze information from virtual sources. In the next period, the show will reach kindergartens so that it can be watched by the youngest media consumers and in the fall, primary school students studying the subject of media education will also be able to watch it.
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Freedom House Media Freedom Matters Partner Media Guard Analyzes the Transparency of Media Platforms and Highlights Access to Information Issues
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MEDIA-M partner Media Guard published an article summarizing the findings of their media monitoring platform, Presscheck. Currently, Presscheck monitors twelve of the most popular news sites across the Republic of Moldova, utilizing a unique methodology that captures their transparency and journalistic integrity along ten indicators. According to Media Guard's report, only three websites have public information that address all ten indicators – Tv8.md, and MEDIA-M key partners Newsmaker.md and Ziarul de Garda.
In another article, Media Guard reveals how two requests for identical information submitted by journalists were treated differently by the same public institution. The first request for information was answered within one business day, whereas the second request was not fulfilled within 60 days, violating the legal deadline of 15 working days |
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