Journalists demand shorter response times to media queries

Moldovan journalists seek the modification of the Access to Information Law in an effort to reduce to minimum the term of 15 days during which a public institution must respond to a request for information, Info-Prim Neo reports. “This would make our job more efficient, the impact on the audience would be greater, and the respective media institution would gain reliability”, said Cornelia Cozonac, director of the Investigate Journalism Center, at a meting of the Public-Private Working Group (PPWG) for Strengthening Media, which took place on November 21 in Vadul lui Voda. Journalists from various media outlets had the possibility to express their opinions and suggestions concerning the activity of the press units working at different public institutions, whose representatives attended the event. The general opinion was that the press services act as “information filters”, which block the access of the journalists to accurate and complete information. “As a rule, after waiting long periods of time for an answer, we get an evasive response, which hardly has any relevance to the asked question”, says Diana Lungu, reporter at “Ziarul de Garda” paper. The journalists discussed with the spokespersons the way the queries are being handled, the unjustified delays, and the defects in the cooperation between the media representatives and the public institutions. Petru Macovei, executive director of the Independent Press Association(API), spoke of the problems that a reporter has in obtaining information from the State Registration Chamber, for which a fee is required, and, in contrast, mentioned the example of other European countries, where journalists have access to similar information for an annual fee. The spokespersons, for their part, lamented the great workload and complained about exaggerated requests, asking the journalists to show compassion, since all the information they present is discussed with the administration of the institutions. One of their suggestions was to have reporters assigned to a particular domain, so that the spokespersons would not have to explain the same thing again and again to novices. In retort, the reporters said that the information is destined to the general public, therefore it should be explained in simple and clear language. The Public-Private Working Group for Strengthening Media in Moldova was created within the framework of the project “Improving the Media Sector’s Legal Framework and Economic Status” implemented by the Association of Independent Press (API). This project is part of the Strengthening Civil Society Monitoring Capacity in Moldova (SCSMCM) program, implemented by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) with technical assistance from the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX). The SCSMCM program is funded by the Millennium Challenges Corporation (MCC) and managed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the Threshold Country Program (TCP) for Moldova. The PPWG gathers together 21 representatives of media institutions and public officials, and seeks to elaborate concrete recommendations for improving the framework for mass media in Moldova in accordance with the Threshold Country Program. The general objective of the PPWG is to build and develop a transparent dialogue between public and private sectors to enhance mass media’s capacity to monitor public policies, especially with regard to corruption and access to information.