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Who are the press enemies in 2019?
The ‘Press Enemies’ panel was divided into three sections: Physical and verbal assaults on journalists; Restricted access to information; Intolerance. The first section included Ilan Sor for threatening journalists with a video on Facebook, Marina Tauber for aggressive behavior towards Radio Orhei journalists and Oleg Savva for verbal assault on a journalist at the Center for Investigative Journalism. The Restricted access to information section had the MP Vladimir Andronache, who refused several times to answer the questions of the Ziarul de Garda journalist. Andrian Candu was included in the Intolerance section, for the tough statements made about media organizations and journalists who attended the Press Solidarity March on 3 May 2018; Maria Ciobanu, the former PLDM MP, elected in the new Parliament from the ‘ACUM’ Electoral Bloc – for intolerant attitude towards the opinions of journalist Victor Nichitus; and Andrei Nastase for taking the microphone from Prime TV channel at a press conference.
Two MPs from the panel – Maria Ciobanu and Andrei Nastase – attended the journalists’ event and came with some comments and explanations. The PPDA leader has emphasized that he has ‘particular respect’ for the press that criticizes the behavior of politicians. Andrei Nastase said that, in his opinion, politicians must be more tolerant and more patient with the press, ‘even with those who often forget what deontology means, what true journalism means’.
In her turn, Maria Ciobanu said she was a ‘friend of the press’. ‘I am not the enemy of the press and I’m looking forward to the press becoming what we want – the fourth power. Only in such a way we will rescue all state institutions from captivity’, the MP of the ‘ACUM’ Electoral Bloc told the flash mob participants.
Note that journalists came with a special message addressed to MPs, which was shown to the public: ‘The role of the press = to notify about governance issues. The role of government officials = to solve problems, not ... journalists!’.
What do Journalists Think About Their Freedom?
Exactly how free did the journalists feel during this period? The editor-in-chief of Moldova.org, Ana Gherciu, told Media-azi that her editorial office is one of the few where journalists feel free. ‘I have the luxury of working in a free editorial office, and the pressures on Moldova.org are low compared to other editorial offices. Respectively, for me, 2019 was a more of an administrative touchstone, because we had to ensure the editorial costs, and because it is harder for us to cover all the subjects of national importance than to fight with politicians. After all, our purpose is to write for the population, not for politicians’, Ana Gherciu said.
Moldova.org Editorial Office. Ana Gherciu (on the right) PHOTO source: Media-azi.md
Nicolae Paholnitchi, reporter of the Russian portal NewsMaker, told us that the work of the editorial staff is affected by the fact that the representatives of the authorities are not always responding timely to the journalists’ information requests. ‘Like all other fellow journalists, I face the phenomenon of lack of transparency of the political power, the fact that governors do not respond to information requests’.
Nicolae Paholnitchi, the reporter of Newsmaker.md (on the right), discussing with Alexandru Slusar, the Deputy Chair of PPDA. PHOTO source: Media-azi.md
In her turn, the head of the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJM) Cornelia Cozonac claims that in general, Moldovan journalists have a certain freedom and have the opportunity to publish their materials, including journalistic investigations. However, the share of free media outlets is smaller than the share of politically engaged ones. ‘Unfortunately, only 30% of press in the Republic of Moldova is free. There are 20% of partially free media outlets and 50% of those connected to party and oligarchic structures’, Cozonac highlighted.
The journalist added that the issue of the insecurity of investigative journalists is still open, and the authorities do not do their job properly to give them certain guarantees. ‘The past year was worse than others. Unfortunately, we find that the situation is getting worse every year. Journalists are often attacked, pressured by trials. There have been cases of insecurity. Some journalists have been stalked, and here appears a serious issue related to journalistic insecurity, especially of investigative journalists’, Cornelia Cozonac said.
Memorandum: About Concentration, Political Control and Difficult Access to Information Again
The issues journalists told us about were also referred to in the Memorandum on the Freedom of the Press in the Republic of Moldova (3 May 2018 – 3 May 2019), signed by the media non-governmental organizations.
Among other things, the document draws attention to the fact that during this period, Moldovan media continued to degrade, reaching alarming levels, and the last years’ issues have increased. For instance – the guild has been further divided, with an even more visible political control over certain media outlets, de facto concentration of media ownership and lack of pluralism. These issues, as well as the difficult access to information of public interest, the lack of independence of journalists and the low quality of the media content, along with the increase in the number of cases of verbal assault, intimidation and harassment of the media, led to the fall of Moldova’s rating in international rankings. The biggest changes refer to the journalists’ security, which has regressed dramatically over the last two years, as well as to the economic environment, which has moved from a serious situation in 2017 to an extremely serious one in 2018.
The IJC Executive Director Nadine Gogu, said at a press conference on launching the Memorandum that the decline in journalistic quality is also correlated with the media concentration phenomenon. ‘The quality of media content and media concentration are interconnected. Thus, the media institutions that are owned – by politicians or politically-related individuals, are usually used by these patrons to promote their agenda, to manipulate, to misinform. During the election campaigns we saw them being used as electoral agents as propaganda tools’, Nadine Gogu said.
Another serious issue mentioned in the Memorandum is the lack of proper reaction and punishment for those guilty of aggression and intimidation of authorities’ representatives. The Executive Director of the Association of Independent Press (API) Petru Macovei, mentioned: ‘2018 was the year with the highest number of statements and calls launched by non-governmental organizations. We even counted them – they’re almost 50. If we think that a year has 52 weeks, it would mean that practically on average, once a week, NGOs had to report an abuse or a situation that diminishes or hinders the activity of journalists or the media in general’, Petru Macovei said.
The Director of the Electronic Press Association, Vasile State, said that in 2018 a new regional holding appeared, and, coincidentally or not, the representatives of the parties that own media holdings reached the current Parliament. State added that the phenomenon of media ownership concentration was the one that raised the most concerns at European level as well. He told the journalists that an extensive study on the financing of the Moldovan media, the first one in the Republic of Moldova, will be carried out soon. The memorandum signed by the non-governmental media organizations comes with certain suggestions and recommendations that would improve the situation in media sector. Among them, there are: abandoning the use of the media in narrow, party or personal interests, the involvement in the editorial policies of the media outlets they finance as patrons. Besides this, the Broadcasting Council should effectively monitor media outlets to prevent concentration of media ownership and to identify and sanction cases of information manipulation and dissemination of fake news.
