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"What they show these days on Russian channels, with few exceptions, does not qualify in any way as journalism, it is pure propaganda - they do not comply with professional ethics and the events are staged, as if it were a show," said Alex Grigorievs, Vice Chair of the Baltic to Black Sea Alliance.
The expert highlighted a number of key moments. According to Grigorievs, information warfare is not a metaphor but real warfare, and should be treated as such. "Russia's First TV Channel is a tank, and NTV Channel - a nuclear bomb," said he while describing the situation. "While targeting Latvia, the informational warfare is also targeting Moldova - where there is regional aggression there should be regional response to it," concluded the Latvian expert. As one of the needed measures, he urged for cooperation with Russian media, "as there are many Russian journalists who deserve to be met and embraced."
How is information warfare conducted online? The Executive Director of Agora.md portal, Tudor Darie, gave as an example the false commentators, the users with multiple accounts, whose task is to manipulate and misinform public opinion. According to the Press Circulation and Internet Audit Bureau, there are 1.9 million users in Moldova, i.e. about 70 percent of population are connected to the Internet. Of these, 1.2 million users have accounts on Odnoklassniki, a social network with many followers promoting Russia's interests. According to Tudor Darie, a national project is needed to ensure prompt response to Russian propaganda.
Mariana Onceanu-Hadarca, member of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council, said that the products of Russian media broadcast in Moldova do not qualify as products of authentic journalism. "The news are full of propaganda and do not meet professional requirements". When asked what needs to be done to change things, she advocated for radical measures, such as "banning, at least for a certain period, the broadcasting, rebroadcasting, purchasing news and analytical programs produced in Russia".
Corina Fusu, Liberal member of the Parliamentary Commission on Media, reminded about the first steps taken by the Broadcasting Coordinating Council in 2014, namely penalizing the broadcasters "for failure to ensure social and political balance, equidistant and objective reporting during newscasts and informative programs". With reference to the controversial bill on amending the Broadcasting Code, she claimed that the group of lawmakers from the Liberal Democrat and Democrat factions, under the guise of securing the information environment, had actually attempted "to amend not only the Broadcasting Code, but also the Law on the Freedom of Expression".
Mrs. Fusu also commented on the bill proposed by the Liberals, which aimed solely at securing the information environment, providing that broadcasters and service distributors shall broadcast exclusively local informative and analytical programs, of which 80% - in Romanian and 20% - in the languages spoken in Moldova.
"We cannot talk about freedom of expression when referring to some programs and newscasts produced in Russia, the country that has resorted to information warfare that is just as dangerous as warfare conducted with real weapons", concluded Corina Fusu.
