MJU Congress: Free press cannot be in conditions of corruption, fear and poverty

A free press cannot exist in conditions of corruption, fear and poverty. This has been the leitmotiv of the 14th Congress of the Moldovan Journalists Union (MJU), which joined journalists representing all types of media on Friday, May 30, in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. The MJU president, Valeriu Saharneanu, has said the slogan was suggested by the Journalists International Federation to all the member-states, and it is an evocative one for Moldova, as well. Valeriu Saharneanu says although the MJU faces a more difficult financial situation, now it as stronger as ever because it yields no centimeter in the fight for the journalists' rights, it protests firmly against censorship and attacks on independent media. The last MJU's congress took place in 2004, when journalists used to complain of unfavorable conditions for the development of free media. “The difficulties of 2004 seem childish now; the change has not occurred, as our claims are the same,” said the MJU president. Valeriu Saharneanu points out the ruling party has waged, during 8 years, an open war against the free press and the media organization dealing with the defense of the media's freedom. The congress has adopted a resolution in this respect that it titled “The evidence report on anti-media facts committed by the Communist party in power in 2001-2008”. The journalists accuse the rulers of imposing the state ideology, maximumly restricting the public space for debates in the public broadcasting, organizing reprisals against independent media, of refusing to conform to the law transforming Teleradio-Moldova into a public institution, of illegally exerting the political control upon the Broadcasting Coordinating Council, of launching a campaign aimed at nationalizing the local press etc.. The congress adopted a resolution on the professional ethics, through the journalists condemn the personal attacks in the media servicing the power and insist “such escapades pretended journalistic are incompatible with genuine journalism”. At the same time, journalists called on all the municipal and district councils led by democratic coalitions, asking to prove loyalty to the principles of democratic organization and functioning of local administrations. “Developing the media at local level, drafting strategies supporting and consolidating the independent press would lay the basis to develop a necessary process of genuine democratization of the public life in Moldova,” reads the appeal-resolution. Valeriu Saharneanu and the deputy presidents Petru Bogatu and Corina Fusu were reacted in their positions at the congress. The MJU has now circa 350 media workers active and 150 journalists pensioners. MJU is affiliated to the Romanian Mediasind Union and to the Brussels-based International Journalists Federation.