The Participants In the Mass-Media Forum Urge the Authorities To Expedite the Real, Not Faked Implementation of Their Commitments to the Media

The resolution of 2016 Mass-Media Forum reproves “the lack of any response from the authorities (the Parliament, the Government, the Broadcasting Coordinating Council, the Competition Council) to the influence of harmful factors on the media development in the country based on democratic principles”. At the same time, the participants in the forum “urge the employees of mass-media outlets to oppose the political and / or economic control; to come back to the observance of professional standards; to exercise their natural mission for the benefit of the citizens, not of the employer-politician; to display skills that motivate and legitimise the existence of journalism as a profession”.
 
The more than 180 journalists, editors, managers, media experts, communicators, bloggers, activists or representatives of public institutions who attended the event have announced their determination and commitment to contribute to building a favourable environment in the country for media development based on democratic principles. They also pointed out “the unfair competition in the mass-media field and in the field of advertising business that seriously harms the media pluralism, in particular, and the democracy, in general; the unprecedented degradation of the quality of media products provided by multiple major mass-media, especially during the presidential election, when they have rather misinformed, than informed the electorate”.

The authorities were requested “to renounce the counterproductive practice of making triumphalist commitments in relation with the mass-media sector, as a purpose in itself, because it generates the perpetuation of the pressing problems faced by the media, to the detriment of the citizens; to expedite the real, not faked implementation of the provisions of Section XV of the Programme of activities of the Government of the Republic Moldova for 2016-2018; to complement the Government’s Action Plan for 2016-2018 with a missing commitment stipulated in the Programme of activities, Section XV, p. 9: “Set up a favourable framework for the development of the advertisement field, counter the unfair competition in this sphere and proportionally dose the external advertising in the domestic media area; ensure that the digitisation process will not lead to the disappearance of the local audio-visual content produced by local broadcasters broadcasting over-the-air".