How Might the Newscasts Look Like, if the Journalists Did not Have Access to Data of Public Interest

The media representatives supported the campaign against the abusive and erroneous interpretation of the Law on the protection of personal data, launched on Thursday, 26^th of January, by a number of NGO-s in the field of media and human rights. Anticoruptie.md, Ziarul de Gardă, Ziarul Naţional, SP from Bălţi, Agora.md, Unimedia.info, Deschide.md, Moldova.org, Realitatea.md, Timpul.md, Report.md, Independent.md, Newsmaker.md, Ecopresa.md, Diez.md, Crimemoldova.md, Rise Moldova, Mold-Street, TV 7, Noroc TV, Pro TV, Today.md published articles without giving the names of the main subjects, thus pointing out that public information cannot be depersonalized. The journalists wanted to draw attention to how the newscasts might look like, if they are not allowed the access to data of public interest and if the officials interpret the Law on the protection of personal data in their own way.
 
Realitatea.md published on Friday, 27^th of January, a news story entitled “The ruling coalition, in session! The initiative to impeach President XY discussed – DETAILS”. Quote: “The Board of the ruling coalition met yesterday. Among the topics discussed was the Liberals' initiative to suspend President XY from office”.

In its turn, Unimedia.info published the story: “The letter of minister XX to President YY: “You are a traitor, a braggart and a perjury” in which the names of the concerned officials are avoided: “The Minister of Environment XX addressed an official letter to President of the country YY. In his letter, the Minister calls YY “a traitor, a braggart and a perjury”.

Jurnal.md wrote about another event that took place on the same day. The article is entitled: “The godson of XX, President of the Parliament YY, at the ceremony held on the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the General Prosecutor’s office: “Those corrupt feel an increased degree of discomfort in Moldova”.

A range of other topics were covered by the journalists from the perspective of the depersonalisation of articles: “The ruling coalition discussed about a referendum to dismiss XW! YZ: “We have no right to make mistakes”. (Zdg.md); “The President of the Parliament X promised that all would be equal before the law after the prosecution reform” (Newsmaker.md); “Minister XX warns President YY: the Constitutional Court is on the side of ZZ. You will be suspended from office” (Independent.md); “The General Prosecutor’s office celebrates its 25^th anniversary. XXX: We have a noble profession”. (Agora.md); “President XXX rejected ХХХ out of XXX candidates for the position of judge” (Esp.md), etc.

The campaign proved to be viral on the social networks, too. A lot of people wrote on their Facebook pages.

 “X, Y, Z? Have you understood that? Well, know that they want to keep us in a fog, blindfolded and deaf ears”, Lorena Bogza from PRO TV wrote in a post.

“How beautiful my news feed looks today! Even if one cannot get definitively rid of the reports about “the country’s important people”, at least everyone’s name is XX or YY today and they look pretty much the same – with a black face. I would say, let the protection of the personal data become a tradition, but not in all newscasts, only in those about the “great achievements” of XX-ists or YY-ists”, Alina Țurcanu from Radio Free Europe wrote.

 „A.C., E.H., X, Y, Z and blurred faces. Or, news about “nobody” can be found on the page of Natalia Morari, a journalist at TV7.

The campaign for support of the investigative journalists will be followed-up in the coming weeks with other actions.