Activists of the public association “Moldova Mea” said the mass media of Moldova now need protection more than ever, especially after the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia proposed a legislative initiative by which they want to subdue the regional public broadcaster. In a news conference at IPN, the association’s leader Fiodor Ghelici said that as the ambassador of the International Organization for Economic Development, he will prepare a report on the situation of the mass media and will submit it to the country’s development partners.

Fiodor Ghelici informed that last week he was invited to the public TV channel of Gagauzia, where he saw that the employees fear they can anytime be laid off by the political forces that want to take over the regional public broadcaster. The politicians do everything possible to subdue the mass media because the media outlets are the most efficient weapon for manipulating the population.

The leader of “Moldova Mea” also said that while the politicians from Chisinau are concerned about the election campaign and do not see the chaos in the regions, the Gagauz political forces struggling between them managed to divide the local population.

A member of the association Mihail Lupashko said the journalists working in Gagauzia are held hostage by the politicians from the region. “They work in accordance with the deontological norms and report correctly and the politicians from there do not like this,” he stated, adding that any intention to modify the broadcasting legislation in Gagauzia represents an attack on the freedom of expression.

Another member Alexandr Kolotovkin called on the forces that want and can protect the media outlets from politicians’ abuses to unite. He urged the people to filter out the information they hear on TV and radio and to try to distinguish between truth and manipulation.

Last week, the Broadcasting Coordination Council condemned the actions of the Gagauz authorities that want to adopt a bill to amend the broadcasting legislation so as to be able to regulate the broadcasting sector in Gagauzia, instead of the Council. The bill is now being discussed at public debates and one of the submitted proposals was to postpone its adoption until after the parliamentary elections of this autumn and the local elections of 2015.