PPCD MP Stefan Secareanu excluded from Journalists’ Union

The MP of the Christian-Democratic People’s Party (PPCD) Stefan Secareanu was excluded from the Union of Journalists of Moldova (UJM). The decision was made by the organization’s Standing Bureau at the last meeting of 2008, Info-Prim Neo reports. Under the decision, the membership card No. 0787 of Stefan Secareanu was withdrawn following the extremely serious statements made by the MP at the plenary sittings of the Parliament of Moldova on October 23 and 30, 2008. In his speeches, Secareanu accused the television channel Pro TV Chisinau of being a channel that attacks, undermines, discredits and blames the institutions of the state of law, makes calumnies and free labeling and intentionally provokes artificial states of instability and panic in the society. He also said that the activity of Pro TV is aimed at undermining the national interests of Moldova, with the help of the country’s enemies from outside. He demanded that the police find out who the owner of the channel is and what relations exist between the TV channel, its owners from outside the country and certain politicians given the flagrant lack of independence and equidistance towards some of these politicians at the given channel. The Bureau said that by his behavior, the jurist-MP violated the Status of the UJM, including the principles of the Deontological Code of the Journalist of Moldova. It also found violations of the Journalist’s Code of Professional Ethics of Moldova, especially of the article that says that “in all the issues that concern the fulfillment of the professional obligations, the journalist recognizes the exclusive jurisdiction of his colleagues, rejecting any attempt by the government or anyone else to exert pressure and interfere.” Another article says that “the journalist gives up the mission if the principles stipulated in the present Code of Ethics must be infringed in order to carry the mission out.” Earlier, media nongovernmental organizations issued a joint statement, expressing their concern about the situation of Pro TV Chisinau channel. “We have reasons to believe that the Broadcasting Coordination Council’s actions form part of a campaign to intimidate the independent press and monitor the main mass media outlets orchestrated by the Moldovan authorities. This way, the people are deprived of alternative sources of information in the run-up to the election campaign. On this occasion, we remind that representatives of the parliamentary group of PPCD for several times leveled groundless and unprecedented accusations at Pro TV, while the Deputy Speaker and president of PPCD Iurie Rosca on November 29 threatened Pro TV openly that it would be closed,” the media NGOs said in the statement.