The journalistic guild must expert pressure on the colleagues who manipulate the people and report false information. This should also penalize the promotion of manipulation because the actions of the journalists who manipulate demoralize the honest reporters. The issue was discussed by the participants in a club discussion organized by the Association of Independent Press (API), IPN reports.
“The freedom of expression of the media is very closely related to their responsibility. The journalists have the right to express themselves freely, and it’s good that they have this right and are democracy watchdogs, but the manipulation of public opinion must be discouraged by all ways,” said the API executive director Petru Macovei.
There were presented the results of a case study showing how the April 24 protests were covered by different media outlets. Media expert Viorica Zaharia, who carried out this case study, identified violations of the Journalist’s Deontological Code at Publika TV, Publika.md, Sputnik.md, Gagauzinfo.md, Novostipmr.com, Kp.md, Jurnal TV, Moldpres Agency, and Newsmaker.md. A number of media outlets resorted to manipulation and misinformation.
“Among the manipulation techniques that are most often met in the Moldovan media are the hiding of facts, mixture of the truth and lies and selective presentation of facts. Particular information is intentionally omitted,” stated Viorica Zaharia.
Director of the weekly “Ziarul de Garda” Alina Radu noted a method should be identified to encourage high quality journalism. “We should be more united and discuss more often and should exert pressure as the reporters who do their job honestly, but whose employers do not have money can become disappointed,” she said.
The May 3 debate was held within the discussion club “STOP FALS!” that was launched by the API.
