Moldova 1 lectures CoE in journalism: media watchdogs

Media observers have commented on the recent exchange of replies between the secretary general of the Council of Europe (CoE), Terry Davis, and journalists from public Moldova 1. “The Moldova 1 reporter tries to give lessons in journalism to the CoE secretary general,” stated Petru Macovei, an expert in a monitoring project unfolded by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), at a news conference at Info-Prim Neo, on July 15. Last week, Terry Davis stated about Moldova 1 that “clearly it has much to learn about responsible journalism.” The CoE secretary was unhappy that Moldova 1 had aired a report on July 8, hinting that the CoE representation to Moldova would have facilitated the issuance of an entrance visa for a Serbian, who'd allegedly participated in the April 7 events. Terry Davis is indignant that Moldova 1 did not asked for the opinion of the Council of Europe regarding the case. “Moldova 1 airing this material triggered a huge scandal,” the IJC finds in its third report about the coverage of the race by Moldovan broadcasters from July 7 through 12. On July 11, the same reporter returns to the subject, but cuts off the quote about the quality of journalism on Moldova 1 from the CoE's communique. “Moreover, instead of proving that it did not pursue to misinform the public, Moldova 1 tries to present the reality slightly differently. The reporter maintains that “taking materials from print media is a journalistic practice, and the materials from Moldova 1 are not made to please anyone,” Petru Macovei stated. “The public stations Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova go on selectively applying the principles of fair, balanced and impartial coverage of the elections. The principle of pluralism of sources is observed only in the news envisaging the PCRM and is ignored in most of the cases when the question is about opposition parties,” reads a communique distributed to journalists. IJC interim director Nadine Gogu has said that “NIT continues to openly promote the PCRM. Most of the stories issued by NIT were biased to the PCRM, while the ones about the opposition parties were often denigrating.” Eu TV favors the PPCD and the PCRM both in news from electoral events, and by image stories about Vladimir Voronin and Iurie Rosca, the communique reads . The IJC carries out the project on monitoring the stations Moldova 1, Radio Moldova, Prime TV, NIT and Eu TV within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Coalition, 2009. Namely these stations were selected because their signal cover all or almost all the territory of the country. The monitors say their notifying the CEC and BCC on the breaches allowed by these broadcasters, but have got no reply yet.