The amendments to the Journalist’s Deontological Code of the Republic of Moldova adopted a year ago were designed to help the journalists to easier solve the deontological dilemmas that they can face in their work. “I want to believe that the journalists’ preoccupation with the observance of the deontological norms improves year by year, no matter whether there is an enhanced Deontological Code or not,” president of the Press Council (PC) Viorica Zaharia stated for IPN.
According to Viorica Zaharia, the most serious problem is the fact that the journalists accept to work for politicians and to present this activity as journalism. “In Moldova, the media outlets that are directly or indirectly affiliated to the politicians are not independent or impartial in what they produce. Consequently, these journalists violate the deontological norms concerning the balance of information, pluralism, equidistance, etc., while the public is this way misinformed and manipulated,” stated the president of the Press Council.
She noted that the journalists who assumed the Deontological Code make effort to produce high-quality content and to respect the deontological norms and when they are warned they made mistakes, they correct these. “Genuine journalists who care about their reputation and the reputation of their editorial offices react appropriately when they are notified of a mistake – they put it right, apologize. There are yet media outlets that prefer not to respond to the notifications of the Press Council and not to correct the mistakes. These are usually media outlets that publish tendentious, unilateral articles and work in favor of politicians or political groups,” stated Viorica Zaharia.
She recommends the journalist to do their job in accordance with the standards of the profession, impartially and equidistantly, in the interests of the public, not of politicians. “We should have less “copy-paste” journalism and more original content.”
The Press Freedom Days are traditionally celebrated in May. A number of media organizations of Moldova will stage activities to underline once again the necessity of the freedom of the media. On May 6, the Press Council launches a campaign titled “We Sign Deontological Code” as part of which it will urge the media outlets and journalists to join in the campaign and to publicly declare their adherence to the professional norms, confirming thus their commitment of responsibility before the public.
