Ro
En
Рy
Since we work in the new premises of Parliament, not being allowed to be in the same room with the lawmakers, it has happened to me quite often that I could not find out how some bills were voted. It has happened not only because of the noise in the press room, where dozens of journalists crowd, but for another reason as well - because of the MPs who want to make statements during plenary sessions. The statements are also made in the press room, and the sound of what is going on in the meeting room in Parliament is hushed down. One just cannot hear a thing! While one MP or another makes his statement, his colleagues are busy voting laws.
As a journalist, I should have access to the meeting room of Parliament, to see clearly who votes what, so that I can report it. Also, whenever I need some clarification from the authors of the bills, I could get it more easily. Currently, my reports ate incomplete, as I rely only on the statements I manage to watch and the info published on the screens.
Another difficulty is that the Internet connection has been down repeatedly these days. The lawmakers decided that their meetings would be held behind closed doors and used signal jamming devices. I do not know what devices they used, but because of them the Internet connection in Parliament went down as well. Many journalists did not have any additional Internet connection solutions at hand and could not broadcast their news. TV stations could not broadcast images from the open/protocol part of the meeting, in real time. In short, I think that we have reasons to complain not only about the lack of transparency of the MPs, but also about obstacles hampering our work.
Another predicament for me was that I could not get the list of persons who had submitted applications for CCB membership. I called the Commission for Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sports and Media that was in charge of the tender and the adviser in charge replied that they could not share who had applied before applications were seen by the members of the Commission. I inquired repeatedly, several days in a row, but I never found the adviser in charge in office. I also called the Chairman of the Commission, Vladimir Hotineanu, who told me that he did not remember who was on the list and that there was no one at the office at that time, to provide him that information. I tried once more to ask the adviser in charge about the list, but he refused to share it on the grounds that ... the Chairman had not instructed him that the list be made public... This is the kind of communication the Parliament has with the media.
More Transparency, Dear Lawmakers, and Do not Hamper Our Activity!
NOTE: the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) holds awareness raising events under the slogan "We Want Access into Parliament!" on all days when Parliament holds plenary meetings. The Campaign aims to ensure free access of the media to Parliament meetings, so that the media can freely perform their duties.
____________
The We Want into Parliament! campaign is conducted 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.
