A number of media nongovernmental organizations requested the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) to renounce some of the restrictions concerning the powers of the institution’s press service, which are defined in the new regulations drafted by the Council. Oleg Postovanu, head of the Policy and Legislation Department of the Independent Journalism Center, has told IPN that if the draft regulations are approved in the proposed form, they will create impediments to establishing viable communication between the judicial system and the mass media.
“The journalists will be affected by these changes. The right to obtain information of public interest will be infringed,” said Oleg Postovanu. The expert voiced hope that the new regulations are not aimed at secretizing the judiciary and the proposals submitted by the media NGOs will be taken into account.
The NGO demand that the specialist of the public information service should ‘ensure the appropriate dissemination of information of public interest’ and should ‘grant the requests of the mass media and the public’. These sentences were removed from the current regulations. The NGOs also request that the press service should be obliged to provide information, while the phrase ‘in a reasonable timeframe’ should be replaced with ‘swiftly’. The information must be given not only verbally, but also ‘by telephone or mail, including email’.
The civil society organizations consider that point No. 10 of the regulations, which imposes restrictions on oral provision of information over the phone, should be excluded as it can hinder the media outlets’ access to information and there is a risk that the journalists will not be treated equally.
The NGOs proposed keeping some of the old rules in the new regulations, especially those saying that the service’s specialist will take into account the presumption of innocence, the judicial independence, the impartiality and objectivity of the legal system and will contribute to gaining and maintaining confidence in justice among the people.
The demands were submitted to the Supreme Council of Magistrates.
