The public authorities, behind the screen of the state of emergency, allow serious violations and limitations of the right of access to information. The three-time extension of the period for responding to requests for access to information of public interest is not only a disproportionate and unjustified measure, but also an encouragement of the propagation of untrue and speculative information that the state authorities themselves should fight, runs a petition initiated by the Independent Journalism Center (CJI) by which the signatory media outlets ask to ensure the mass media’s access to information of public interest, IPN reports.
The petition is addressed to Parliament Speaker Zinaida Grechanyi and Prime Minister Ion Chicu. The CJI notes the restriction on the access to information of public interest is a serious problem for journalists in Moldova. During the previous years, the access to data possessed by the authorities has been barred to journalists on different pretexts – protection of personal data; state and commercial secret; classification of requests for information; obligation for journalists to request for information by letters, not emails or phone calls, etc.
Over the last three years, the Independent Journalism Center, alongside other civil society organizations, made continuous efforts to improve the legal framework that regulates the area, including the law on the access to information. A bill registered in Parliament in July 2018 contains the recommendations of media NGOs, but this hasn’t been at least debated by the MPs, says the petition.
The signatories call on Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Moldova to abrogate the legal provisions that limit access to information of public interest during the state of emergency; to initiate legal procedures for improving the legal framework concerning the access to information of public interest, to stop and penalize abusive administrative practices that limit access to information of public interest.
The petition, which can be countersigned until May 18, can be downloaded from the portal Media Azi.
