The mass media continues to reflect events of public interest through the prism of political preferences. It is one of the conclusions of the monitoring report "Elements of propaganda, disinformation and violation of the rules of journalistic deontology in the local media space", presented by the Independent Journalism Center (CJI) at an IPN press conference.
Anastasia Nani, CJI deputy director, said that between July 1 and September 29, 12 media institutions, nine TV stations and three news portals, selected by audience, coverage area and language - Russian or Romanian, had been monitored. "It concerns Moldova 1, Prime TV, Accent TV, Channel 3, NTV, Central Television, Jurnal TV, TV8, PRO TV as well as Sputnik, Unimedia and KP.md portals," mentioned Anastasia Nani.
Victor Gotișan, media expert and author of the report, said that the media coverage of the following five events has been monitored: the increase of taxes in the HoReCa sector, the reform of justice, Igor Dodon' s visits to Moscow and Brussels, the lifting of parliamentary immunity and the detention of MPs Marina Tauber and Reghina Apostolova and the report on 100 days of activity of Maia Sandu Government.
According to the report, Prime TV, Central Television, TV8, NTV, KP.md, PRO TV and Accent TV admitted mixtures of facts and opinions in the news presented on one or more of the five events.
The lack of the right to reply was found on NTV, Prime TV, Central Television, Prime TV, Sputnik and Unimedia, while the generalization was noticed on Prime TV, NTV, Central Television, KP.md, Channel 3 and Accent TV.
Another violation of the media rules shown in the CJI report is the reference to sources that cannot be verified, found in the news presented by Channel 3, KP.md and Accent TV. Other violations found pertain to the selective presentation of opinions and facts, to biased titles, omission and manipulation through the priority information technique.
The authors of the report found that all 12 media sources had violated the deontological norms and / or used manipulation techniques during the monitored period. "Great emphasis was placed on the emotional, sensational elements, these being used by some media sources to politically capitalize on someone and to disadvantage another political entity," said Victor Gotișan.
CJI deputy director Anastasia Nani said the purpose of monitoring was to increase the vigilance of media consumers, so that they could distinguish between a quality media product and one that misinforms.
The report is part of "Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova" project implemented with the financial support of the US Agency for International Development and the United Kingdom.