Next parliament should denationalize media outlets by 2011, API

The Independent Press Association (API) on Friday, January 23, presented a legislative initiative for media denationalization to the Public-Private Working Group for Strengthening the Media. The project aims to ensure equitable conditions in the area of mass media and attempts to institute a clear mechanism in denationalizing the press, said API expert Eugeniu Ribca, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Our intention is to stimulate the appearance of media outlets which would contribute to the information of the society, and not engage in political propaganda”, said Ribca. Under this legislative proposal, media denationalization should end by 1 January 2011. There are three ways for a media outlet to become denationalized, according to the draft: privatization, transformation into official gazettes, or liquidation. “We don't want these publications to disappear. Many of them are needed in the future, too, and for this purpose we will include in the draft the possibility for the Parliament to compile a list of periodicals which will not be subject of denationalization, and this could be the case of the Official Gazette, specialized publications dedicated to such areas as energy, public procurement, which should be kept”, Eugen Ribca added. This bill cannot be passed by the current parliament in its last 6 months of term, due to a ban on the passage of organic laws in this period, the expert informed. According to statistics, some 30 percent of periodicals are financed by district authorities. The annual costs of publishing a district paper are roughly half a million lei. The Public-Private Working Group (PPWG) for Strengthening Media in Moldova brings together media and government officials to recommend concrete ways to improve the environment for media development. The activity of the Group was initiated by the Association of Independent Press (API) with support from the US Government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the framework of the Threshold Country Program (TCP) for Moldova.