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The study evaluates the state of the Moldovan media environment since the presidential elections in 2016 and analyzes the major issues faced Moldovan media struggles with.
The author notes that the promotion of biased editorial policies, and the spread of propaganda may be used by influential political forces to win votes during the 2019 parliamentary elections. ‘By exerting political pressure on independent media outlets and hindering research about sensitive subjects, society’s opinion will be shaped based on biased narrative patterns.
Due to weakened critical thinking, much of the Moldovan population will be easily manipulated by political campaigns. The political opposition will be restricted to perform and present their vision at controlled media outlets, which most probably will show them in a negative light. In conclusion, the excessive monopolization of media outlets presents an obvious risk for freedom of expression and Moldova’s democratic progress’, Ludmila Nefit highlighted.
Although in recent years most of media outlets are concentrated in the hands of a few political actors, little has been accomplished to address the lack of media pluralism. ‘Instead, there is a growing flood of fake news and propaganda. The oligarchic monopoly over the Moldovan media market raises serious concerns, particularly ahead of the forthcoming 2019 parliamentary elections. Media outlets will have an extremely important role in this democratic exercise in terms of informing, or vice versa, in manipulating the public opinion’, Nofit mentioned.
Public access to free and impartial media is another problem mentioned by the study. Reference is made to a recent survey conducted by Internews, according to which only 16% of respondents in Moldova believe that they receive information from independent sources.
According to the author, this statement is directly linked with another worrying issue – media ownership. ‘Moldova’s major media institutions are concentrated in the hands of a few political actors and businessmen with political connections. In other words, even though there are many sources of mass information, it does not mean that there is a diversity of unbiased opinions’, the document says.
The lack of quality journalism in Moldova represents another problem that has a negative impact on media consumers. Affiliated media products are not truly informative but rather highly politicized, the researcher points out.
Among the major challenge that the independent media must confront are: the political pressure exerted against them by ruling elites, hindering journalists’ access to information or public press conferences, verbal and physical threats against journalists, and politically motivated legal proceedings.
‘All these issues make objective coverage more difficult, and the upcoming elections will not make the current situation any easier’, reveals the Freedom House study.
The document made the following recommendations: promotion and monitoring of the implementation of the new Audiovisual Code by civil society, media experts and international community; encouraging political parties, independent candidates, and voters to consult independent media outlets at the local and regional levels, especially during the electoral campaign period; raising public awareness by organizing public campaigns on media literacy for citizens; and developing professional, independent journalism.
The analytical note was published in January 2019 in the ‘Media Forward’ policy brief series, which is part of the ‘Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M)’ Project.
