IJC Report: Several Moldovan Media Outlets Are Politically Driven and Manipulate to Influence the Public

Several Moldovan media outlets favor certain political parties, and some of them resort to manipulation techniques – primarily labeling, generalization, dissemination of false information, and use of internal or external enemy techniques. These are some of the findings of the report titled  Elements of Propaganda, Information Manipulation, and Violation of Journalism Ethics in the Local Media Space (January 1 – March 28, 2018), presented by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) on Thursday, March 29.

According to the author of the report, media researcher Victor Gotisan, media outlets continue ignoring the rules of writing news and covering current events by disseminating incomplete and tendentious information. Another finding is that most of the political events were presented in the light of the outlets’ political preferences.

“Publika TV, Prime TV, Canal 2, and Canal 3 used manipulation techniques and committed the following violations of the Journalist’s Code of Conduct: labeling, selective presentation of facts, opinions, and statements, lack of the right to reply, use of the enemy technique, and suggestion. Accent TV and NTV Moldova had omissions in newscasts, referred to sources that cannot be checked, spread false information, excessively used the generalization technique, and in some cases resorted to the enemy technique,” the report says.

Besides, the report notes that Moldova 1 public television covered some topics in a way similar to Prime TV, Canal 2, and Canal 3, while in other cases it presented information neutrally and without bias. Jurnal TV used labeling, lacked the right to reply, and mixed facts with opinions. Online media also made errors that led to the manipulation of the public – Deschide.md used irony and the priority information technique, and Noi.md referred to sources that are impossible to check in one of its news reports.

In January-March 2018, the IJC monitored televisions Publika TV, Prime TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, Accent TV, RTR Moldova, NTV Moldova, and online portals Noi.md, Sputnik.md, and Deschide.md. The report analyzed how these 12 media outlets covered the appointment of new ministers in the Moldovan Government, the adoption of the anti-propaganda law, the resignation of Dorin Chirtoaca from Chisinau mayor’s office and that of Alexandru Tanase from the position of the Minister of Justice, as well and the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on the Republic of Moldova.
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The monitoring report has been prepared by the Independent Journalism Center as a partner in the project “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M), funded by USAID and implemented by Internews. The MEDIA-M project aims to promote the development of independent and professional media in Moldova, giving citizens access to a variety of perspectives and helping develop a media sector more resilient to political and financial pressures.