Why can’t the media in the Republic of Moldova be the fourth estate?

Tudor IASCENCO,
director of the CUVÂNTUL weekly, president of the API

I have analysed within some projects carried out by the Association of Independent Press (API), the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC), and the Press Council etc. the situation of my colleagues and of the media as a whole in some ex-Soviet countries and in the European Community. It seems to me that in terms of the place and role in the society, its relations with different branches of the official power, freedom of expression, journalists complying with their professional deontology, the Moldovan media is way before the Russian Federation, Belarus, Bulgaria and so forth.
On the other hand, after the parliamentary elections of the last year, experts acknowledged that the journalistic product, as well as the level of freedom of the press in the Republic of Moldova decreased lately.           
 

Since Moldova declared its independence, there were many trials to transform the media in an agitprop tool of the Power and an instrument the society uses to control the authorities. First, the “Periodica” association controlled all the local newspapers in the country, created according to an Estonian model, aiming to obtain gradually district newspapers independence from authorities by keeping their subsidizing from the state budget without the authorities being entitled to intervene in the newspapers’ editorial policy. It turned out that neither we, not the authorities were ready for such an essential change. The authorities liquidated “Periodica” arbitrarily, against the will of the founders. After having returned to power, communists reinstated the old territorial and administrative structure, with all its traditional features, including the LPA press instruments. However, the initial reforms of the early 90s in the Republic of Moldova stimulated several democratic processes, including the media. Consequently, in the middle of the 90s emerged the first local newspapers independent from the authorities and political parties, which created in 1997 together with the Independence Journalism Centre the Association of Independent Press. This association had a decisive role in the development of the free press and in enhancing the quality of the journalistic product.
 

The Alliance for European Integration work program for 2010-2014 provided the first time for the authorities of the Republic of Moldova a range of specific objectives on the liberalization of the media, guaranteeing the freedom of expression, stimulating investments in the local media market, stimulating investigation journalism etc.

Unfortunately, most of these provisions remained just intentions. In the reference period, our mass media passed through certain positive changes as compared to the international deontological standards, and such changes are due to the efforts and assertiveness of the AIP, IJC, the Press Council, and Centre for Investigative Journalism, “Acess-Info” APEL (Electronic Press Association) and the support of certain international bodies.
 

The efforts of the journalistic branch and the support of the international bodies are insufficient for the Moldovan media to occupy the place it deserves in the hierarchy of power. We need more regulations of the judicial, economic, tax relations between the media institutions and the government structures. API and IJC submitted the Government and the Parliament several specific proposals on the media development, increasing their role in society democratization and involving media in solving the problems Moldova confronts with. Nevertheless, the thing remained at the level of discussions and promises. On the contrary, given some processes specific for our country (population massive migration, poverty, internet development etc.) the situation of the written press worsens every year.

“This year (2014, A/N) the journalistic product decreased and the political powers interfered in the Moldovan media, which, as a whole, led to a decrease in the level of press freedom.” (P. Macovei, CEO at API).

„Our journalists do not have a favourable climate to work in. This was particularly obvious especially during the recent electoral campaign.” (N. Gogu, IJC director).

 “The electoral campaign showed that, from the political point of view, the media institutions aren’t but instruments of manipulation.” (I. Terguta, MIR director in Moldova).
 

In civilized countries, the legislation imposes several restrictions meant to prevent media from being own by only a few owners. Everyone knows that information means power. In our country, things are quite the opposite. In 2011, the legislative decided that one owner might hold not more than 5 broadcast licences. Indeed, since 2009, the media institutions spectrum in our country, especially in the field of broadcasting and the electronic press increased significantly. But, almost all the TV channels and news portals with national coverage have been overtaken by politicians who subordinated the advertising market and hinder from declaring their properties. 
 

The local press, with the biggest audience, confronts with a severe deficit of expert journalists, even if every year more than 500 students graduate journalism departments in Moldova.  The dean of the journalism department admits that about 5% of the graduates follow a carrier in journalism. When asked what the purpose of all these pseudo-specialists “factories” is, the dean said that so is the system.
             

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The article was published 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.
 
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Photo: www.api.md