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Рy24 December 2014
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Doru PETRUTI, director of the Institute of Marketing and Polls IMAS-INC Chisinau 
During one single cycle of governance, the media from the Republic of Moldova and along with it, the manner of using and processing the provided information, have undergone significant changes. Today, the agenda is rather detached from the news bulletins broadcast on Prime TV, Pro TV, Publika TV and Jurnal TV (the latter two televisions appeared a few years ago, specialized initially only on news), each focused on different audience segments. In the following article you will find some benchmarks on this “transition”, but also some other phenomena such as the online information impact, the association of different information sources with politics and disappearance of the pluralism of opinions within one particular source.
The confidence in the media is probably one of the indicators with the most constant evolution in the period 2010-2014. Two key moments are worth mentioning here:
The confidence in the media is probably one of the indicators with the most constant evolution in the period 2010-2014. Two key moments are worth mentioning here:
- March 2011: the highest level of trust in the media (69%), which can be explained by the “capitalization of confidence” phenomenon. This is a natural phenomenon accompanying the first months of the new governance in the country. During that period, most institutions, political parties and politicians registered significant increases in terms of credibility.
- October 2014: the lowest level of trust in the media (48%), caused by the election period when the proximity of the media to the different political forces became apparent as to the population, as well as to some agencies that provided monitoring reports.
Chart 1. Trust in the media reflected in the surveys IMAS polls (2010-2014)
Broadly speaking, those who consistently had more confidence in the media were persons with higher education, employed, living in small towns from the country. The low confidence was most often associated with the residents of municipalities and consistently lower among people belonging to various ethnic groups (Russians, Ukrainians, Gagauzians, and Bulgarians etc.).
Since a study on the mass media phenomenon has not been yet conducted, we had to “collect” information from several polls and try to analyze the situation of each separate type of media (television, print, radio, Internet). The most important source of information in 2010 was considered to be the Television (74%), followed by the Internet (10%), Radio (7%) and written press (2%). At the end of 2014, the ranking remained the same but the percentages suffered significant changes: Television (66%), followed by internet (23%) Radio (5%) and print media (2%). In just a few years, we have witnessed a major change in the role of the online environment as a source of information; in 2013-2014, was registered a continued growth in the popularity of the Internet as an information source that was 18%. The election campaign period and its specific character made us witness a new growth (up to 23%) which proved that a part of the electoral battle was deployed in a not so traditional environment.
This “mutation” is explained by several factors:
- The steady decrease in credibility of the information presented on TV: even though in 2010, 74% of the respondents said that the TV is the main source of information (including political one), only 55% considered it as the most credible as well (lower figure in 2014– 52%). Moreover, the degree of satisfaction vis-à-vis the level of information on topics of interest is rather low (September 2014). 22% of respondents are satisfied and very satisfied with the provision of information regarding the political life, 20% - information relating to the Government activity, 20% - information about the country economic situation, 18% - information about the country security level, 11% - information about the way in which he money received from external donors are spent, 10% - information on the public money spending.
- The increasingly clear political bias of some TV channels: NIT, Publika TV, Jurnal TV etc. The survey participants’ opinions coincided with the data presented in the monitoring reports, in the context of an increasingly apparent proximity of the media, in terms of ownership and content, to certain political forces. In a survey conducted in 2013, 28% of the respondents were firmly convinced that the media institutions (TV, radio, print) are politically controlled, while 32% tended to believe in the same reasoning but were not sufficiently sure. Less than 20% believed in the media institutions’ independence. In one of the qualitative research conducted during the 2014 election campaign, one of the participants said with pride and satisfaction that: “finally, it became clear what TV channel is ours”.
- Increase in the number of Internet users:
| Noiembrie 2010 | Octombrie 2014 | |
| Ieri | 18.1% | 34.3% |
| În ultimele 7 zile | 9.1% | 16.4% |
| În ultimele 4 săptămâni | 4.0% | 4.5% |
| În ultimele 12 luni | 2.1% | 2.2% |
| Cu mai mult de 12 luni în urmă | 1.3% | 11.5% |
| Niciodată | 61.0% | 29.4% |
| Nu ştie | 1.5% | 0.2% |
| Nu răspunde | 3.0% | 1.4% |
- And, certainly, the increased attention to blogs containing socio-political information: in April 2013, 4% of the respondents declared to visit/access them daily (5-7 times per week), other 5% - several times a week, and 8% - few times a month. Considering that before 2010, impact of blogs was barely 2%-4%, this growth can be considered a breakthrough.
The radio and the print media have failed to maintain their already small degree of influence in regard to the publication of information on current events. This can be seen when comparing the ratings of the major publications included in the report, in 2010 and in late 2011:
| 2010 | 2011 | |||
| Publicaţia | Cititori pentru ”Ieri” | Cititori pentru ”Ultimele 7 Zile” | Cititori pentru ”Ieri” | Cititori pentru ”Ultimele 7 Zile” |
| Komsomoliskaia Pravda | 4.3% | 11.9% | 2.2% | 11.4% |
| Timpul | 1.7% | 6.6% | 0.8% | 7.0% |
| Jurnal de Chişinău | 1.7% | 5.7% | 0.8% | 5.9% |
| Argumenti i Fakti | 2.0% | 7.8% | 1.2% | 8.2% |
| Presa locală | 3.0% | 10.5% | 1.8% | 8.9% |
The “gold rating” period of the Moldovan media (when the level of credibility was 69%) ended rather quickly. It was due to the change of the political vector in 2010, by the emergence of some new news TV stations as well as by the rapid diversification of the online information sources. Many people believed in what they heard and saw in the newscasts, while many TV channels enthusiastically created reports on the intense and effervescent political life, whose degree of transparency was incomparable to that provided before 2009 by Moldova 1 and NIT. It is no coincidence, by the end of 2011, 1st among citizens' satisfaction ranked the freedom of expression – 8% being very satisfied and 40% satisfied.
During these years, we have witnessed a change into the media consumption pattern: the Moldovan consumer of information becomes an active one, communicates increasingly active through the social networks, begins to create his own information consumption form throughout the day and in the evening, when he gets home, starts searching new forms such as the debates, analytical programs and looking for sources disproving or confirming the information that he had received.
After a short period of suspicion, the patronage and the partisanship lying behind some TV channels are perceived also by the common citizen and then extended to radio and the printed media. In 2013, nearly two-thirds of the respondents were of the opinion that the Moldovan media is controlled by certain politicians. The decrease in the audience and credibility of some TV news programs was an immediate consequence. People note that they are, more and more often, forced to browse through several channels in order to find all the opinions existing upon one particular issue. The plurality of views within the same source of information is slowly disappearing, and, alongside, the online environment becomes an easy alternative, with a variety of opportunities. Thanks to the widespread dissemination of the Internet (including in rural areas), the larger volume and the highest degree of credibility in the information available on the Internet go hand in hand, gaining, as a source of information, more than 10% in less than 4 years.
Taken as a whole, the media from Moldova is more a hope than a reliable source of information. A hope that the persons involved in media are the only ones who can stay on the side of the population in an environment where politicians are increasingly moving away from the real lives of the ordinary citizens.
During these years, we have witnessed a change into the media consumption pattern: the Moldovan consumer of information becomes an active one, communicates increasingly active through the social networks, begins to create his own information consumption form throughout the day and in the evening, when he gets home, starts searching new forms such as the debates, analytical programs and looking for sources disproving or confirming the information that he had received.
After a short period of suspicion, the patronage and the partisanship lying behind some TV channels are perceived also by the common citizen and then extended to radio and the printed media. In 2013, nearly two-thirds of the respondents were of the opinion that the Moldovan media is controlled by certain politicians. The decrease in the audience and credibility of some TV news programs was an immediate consequence. People note that they are, more and more often, forced to browse through several channels in order to find all the opinions existing upon one particular issue. The plurality of views within the same source of information is slowly disappearing, and, alongside, the online environment becomes an easy alternative, with a variety of opportunities. Thanks to the widespread dissemination of the Internet (including in rural areas), the larger volume and the highest degree of credibility in the information available on the Internet go hand in hand, gaining, as a source of information, more than 10% in less than 4 years.
Taken as a whole, the media from Moldova is more a hope than a reliable source of information. A hope that the persons involved in media are the only ones who can stay on the side of the population in an environment where politicians are increasingly moving away from the real lives of the ordinary citizens.
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The article was published within the Advocacy Campaigns Aimed at Improving Transparency of Media Ownership, Access to Information and promotion of EU values and integration project, implemented by the IJC, which is, in its turn, part of the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project, implemented by FHI 360.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
The article was published within the Advocacy Campaigns Aimed at Improving Transparency of Media Ownership, Access to Information and promotion of EU values and integration project, implemented by the IJC, which is, in its turn, part of the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project, implemented by FHI 360.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
Photo: Radio Europa Liberă
