Democratic reform in media must be zero priority of post-Communist governance: Journalists Union

The democratic reform of media should be the zero priority of the post-Communist governance, states the Journalists Union from Moldova (UJM). It is also a title of a memo launched Tuesday at Info-Prim Neo agency, by which the UJM asks the parties to gain most of the votes or forming a democratic majority in the future Parliament to urgently start strengthening and stabilizing the media sector in a democratic way. UJM president Valeriu Saharneanu has stated “those 8 years of rule have led to destroying the public media, and to delaying the development of private media.” “Public broadcasters display total obedience to several people from the present rule, and a fair amount of the private broadcasters reached in the hands of the ruling parties. The people live in an info vacuum and this is due to the anti-media work of the Communist rule,” Valeriu Saharneanu said. Believing that the future parliamentary majority will be made by democratic parties, the UJM calls on parties to urgently start to reform the media. The UJM asks the MPs-to-be to establish it in the Constitution a guarantee expressly meant for the freedom of the media; to pass a law with economic and social leverage to support media and the organizations representing journalists; to modify the Broadcasting Code so as to allow setting up local and regional TV and radio stations. The UJM asks to abrogate the press law and to depoliticize the Broadcasting Coordinating Council. The UJM asks the future governance to reconsider the motives of delaying the transformation of Teleradio-Moldova state company into a genuine public broadcaster, the legality of the privatization of the municipal stations Euro TV Chisinau and Radio Antena C, the government's newspapers Moldova Suverana and Nezavisimaia Moldova, the legality of withdrawing the license of TVR The UJM warns the opposition parties about a possible reversal of the situation after the April 5 elections. “We don't want the press supporting the opposition now to become pro-government after the elections. In fact the existence of governmental media as an abnormality in a democracy, since all the media should be pro-opposition because of its role of an watchdog,” said the UJM deputy president, Petru Bogatu. According to him, the political parties do not pay enough attention to the media sector: “Except for two parties – PL and PLDM, the parties do not have this item in their electoral programs.” The chairman of the National Ethics Commission, Efim Josanu, concluded that “joining the European Union – the most important objective of all the parties – is possible only the European standards concerning the democratic institution of the media will be recognized and implemented by the state.