The media holdings in the Republic of Moldova remain concentrated in the hands of political leaders. The given media organizations promote the interests of owners and do not inform the population about the most important events. The press in Moldova is financed from outside and does not necessarily represent the interests of Moldovan citizens, U.S. Ambassador in Chisinau James Pettit said in an international conference entitled “Mass media in Moldova, audience and pluralism” on September 14, IPN reports.
To change things, the authorities should lay emphasis on the development of local media content and should develop resistance to manipulation from outside, said the diplomat. “Democracy needs an independent press, while the plurality of sources should not be affected by personal business interests. All the voices should be heard, including those that are not liked by someone. This is an indicator of a healthy democracy,” stated James Pettit.
Silvio Gonzato, Director for Strategic Communications, Parliamentary and Legal Affairs at the European External Action Service, said the misinformation of the people is a global problem. There were many cases of misinformation in the interests of the Russian Federation, including about the Moldova-EU Association Agreement.
Nadine Gogu, executive director of the Independent Journalism Center, said the phenomenon of misinformation in the Republic of Moldova started to develop in 2014. Since then, a number of forums have been staged to agree the required measures, but not much was done. “Today we have much more propagandistic media outlets. They daily disseminate media content produced in the Russian Federation through TV screens. The number of people who believe what they see on TV, hear on the radio or read in the press and online is great,” stated Nadine Gogu. She reminded that a number of monitoring reports were compiled and these showed that the Russian TV channels that are retransmitted in Moldova incite hatred and disseminate propaganda.
Corina Cepoi, the representative of Internews Moldova, said it is useful for Moldova to learn from the experience of the Balti states how to fight media propaganda. Ukraine, for example, introduced the subject “Media education” in schools. “It is a long-term investment that produces results in time: work in schools, with teachers, through youth organizations and other initiatives. We should also take such measures,” stated Corina Cepoi.
Dumitru Lazar, Project Officer at the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, said work has been done on a number of legislative proposals to improve the situation in the media sector and it is important for these to reach the legislature. “Parliament has the power to adopt new laws or amendments to laws until next June or July and will then enter the election campaign and will be thus harder. Rapid works should be done,” he stated.
The international conference “Mass media in Moldova, audience and pluralism” was organized by Parliament in partnership with Freedom House and Internews with the assistance of USAID. The goal of the event was to identify practical recommendations for amending the legislation and management instruments compliant with European practices and standards.
