The situation of the media in Moldova hasn’t improved, but even worsened. Such a conclusion was reached not only by national NGOs, but also by foreign institutions. Nadine Gogu, director of the Independent Journalism Center, said the press in Moldova is placed 76th in the rankings of the organization Reporters without Borders, four spots down compared with last year. In a news conference at IPN, a number of representatives of media NGOs said the press in Moldova is concentrated in the hands of politicians-patrons, while the competition on the media market is unfair.
Nadine Gogu noted that the authorities delay the adoption of a new Broadcasting Code at a time when they promised to do this by the government program. Civil society insists on the necessity of adopting a new code that would solve a number of problems in the area of broadcasting. The access to information is another problem. Investigative journalists complain about the too high taxes for obtaining particular information of public interest.
Petru Macovei, executive director of the Association of Independent Press, told the same news conference that the access to information is more problematic. The investigative journalists have to spend more money to obtain data that in the EU, for example, are made public. “The theme of the Press Freedom Days this year is “Access to information”,” he said.
Executive director of the Electronic Press Association (APEL) Ion Bunduchi said the media NGOs can do a lot, but cannot do everything, while a climate that favors journalism must be the result of the effort of all those involved. “Since we started to celebrate these days in Moldova, we have witnessed a simulation of reforms. Since we are concerned about high quality journalism, the Government has pledged to do many things, but didn’t do much,” he said.
According to the representatives of civil society, misinformation and manipulation are possible even in an information era. The government does not want to promote media pluralism because the uninformed voters can be easier manipulated.
