Public Hearings at the Parliament: Disagreements between the Publishers of Periodicals and “Posta Moldovei” to Be Examined by a Working Group

The parliamentary commission for culture, education, research, youth, sports, and mass media organized on Tuesday, May 30, public hearings on the topic of “Situation of Periodic Press: Impediments in the Publishing and Distribution of Periodicals.” The discussion was attended by MPs and representatives of State company “Posta Moldovei”, Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (MITC), Chisinau Mayor’s Office, civil society, and the media.

Journalists invoked problems in two segments: collaboration between publishers and “Posta Moldovei” and removal by Chisinau Mayor’s Office of newsstands from the city, motivated by street repairs.

Representatives of periodicals and of public institutions had divided opinions about the existing problems. On the one hand, journalists accuse “Posta Moldovei” of not negotiating service contracts with the outlets and of imposing additional payments for the packaging of each newspaper. On the other hand, representatives of “Posta Moldovei” claim that the company acts under the current law and that these additional costs are needed in order to avoid losses.

According to Petru Macovei, Director of the Association of Independent Press, a solution to this problem could be for the State to create a fund for the support of periodicals, and the Parliament to demand explanations from “Posta Moldovei.” If communication continues in the same manner and the Parliament does not get involved, then “things will get even worse.”

In her turn, Director of “Ziarul de Garda” newspaper Alina Radu mentioned that, besides additional tariffs, there are other complaints to “Posta Moldovei”: newspapers do not arrive in time, they are damaged, etc. “A newspaper creates jobs without asking for help from the State; it pays thousands of lei tax without taking anything from the State; it pays rent, again to some State-owned companies; it provides information; and behind each newspaper there are thousands of readers who consume this information,” noted Alina Radu.

“Posta Moldovei” Director Serghei Nastas explained that the tariff for the packaging of each newspaper is a necessity because “Posta Moldovei also has employees,” and its losses on the segment of periodicals are 13 million lei per year. In support of the State-owned company, MITC Deputy Minister Vitalie Ciolac said that the analysis of the situation at the post, including the one conducted by the Competition Council, “did not find violations of the current legislation in terms of collaboration between ‘Posta Moldovei’ and periodicals.”

To draft a short-, medium-, and long-term plan, Vladimir Hotineanu, the head of the parliamentary commission for the media, suggested a working group to be created, which should first of all discuss contract provisions.