Independent Press Association advocates for a fair media coverage of local elections

The Independent Press Association (IPA) calls on mass-media of Moldova to cover the general local elections in 2007 fairly and equidistantly. According to a statement made by IPA, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, the politically unaffiliated media member-institutions of the Association, aware of the responsibility mass-media bear in the election campaign, pledge to cover the unfolding of the elections in an unbiased and equidistant manner, in compliance with IPA statutory provisions. During the election campaign, the Association’s members will continue to do their jobs professionally and will not admit political partisanship in the media outlets they represent. Space for election advertising will be offered to all the political parties and officially registered independent candidates, following the principle of free access and equal prices for all the electoral candidates. IPA members will run for mayors or councillors only as independent candidates, stepping down from editors-in-chief during the election campaign, the statement reads. IPA members subscribe to the Charter of Fair and Free Elections, worked out by the Civic Coalition for Fair and Free Elections, and call on all colleagues of print and electronic media in Moldova to refrain from any actions of displaying their own electoral choices, observing the Code of Ethics, opinion pluralism and objectivity in the way the events related to the 2007 elections would be covered. The Independent Press Association is a public association, constituted to support politically unaffiliated mass media. IPA’s mission is to increase the impact of independent press in Moldova and to contribute to the creation and consolidation of an open society. At present, IPA has 22 active members, representing 17 newspapers and local and national magazines, in Romanian and Russian language, on both banks of the Nistru River, two news agencies, 1 media organisation and 2 freelancers.