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Vasile State, the Electronic Press Association (APEL) representative and one of the authors of the project, mentions that the need to approve the strategy also results from the Government’s program for 2020-2023, as well as from the other regulations. He also lists three key objectives of the document: developing a functional regulatory framework, creating an economic environment that stimulates media activity, and increasing professionalism within the journalistic community.
The APEL representative specifies that each objective is completed with specific actions to be achieved by 2030, which include “planning and conducting scientific research with practical applicability in the sphere of media; updating deontological standards to be accepted by the entire sphere, including online press; improving the work of the Press Council and the ombudsman’s service.”
His colleague, Ion Bunduchi, the executive director of the organization, mentions that the document also reflects the state of affairs in the media sphere, which operates within a new paradigm and faces “unprecedented challenges”, such as the impact of social networks. “Either we care about media because we need it, or it disappears because it loses its motivation to stay any longer and is replaced by rumors on the platforms, so that we could wake up tomorrow or the day after and find out that we do not need any media at all,” the media expert shares his apprehension.
Ion Bunduchi adds that the development of the sphere also depends on accessibility of the data to be processed by media researchers. “We have no relevant statistics to be guided by. Without any statistical data and research, planning is difficult,” he explains.
THE CONCEPT IS A “DEAD ISSUE”
Vasile Nastase, the vice-president of the profile parliamentary commission, has specified during the discussions that the document is supposed to be subsequently examined in a small group of specialists, such as the officials from the State Chancellery, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, and other central authorities.
Petru Macovei, the executive director of the Independent Press Association (IPA), insists in the context of the executive authority’s delay in implementing the steps related to the National Concept for Media Development approved in August 2018 and refers to the state of the press in the Republic of Moldova and eventual solutions.
Media Azi has previously written that, within half a year from the concept’s entry into force, the Government was supposed to prepare and approve the program of steps for its implementation, which was not completed yet. The executive authority has barely identified the organization in charge of the sphere in question and decided on the number of persons required to manage it.
“The law clearly stipulates that, within six months, the Government shall prepare these documents and implement the concept. I have an impression that that it has taken them six months six more times, yet there is no such document yet. The concept is a dead issue,” he recalls.
At the same time, Petru Macovei mentions that civil society sent to the Parliament the draft strategy to boost the progress; meanwhile, the current interim Government has limited powers. “Throughout 2020, we, the non-governmental media organizations, were trying to establish cooperation with the State Chancellery, with the Ministry of Justice to prepare and assist them in implementing these documents which we regard as crucial for the development of the media sphere. We had a very modest success, and that is why we have drafted these documents with the support of the Soros Foundation Moldova and filed them to the Parliament,” Petru Macovei explains.
