Members of the Press Council in the last meeting ascertained a number of violations of the Journalist’s Deontological Code of Moldova committed by a number of media outlets. These refer to the provisions on the protection of minors, tolerance and non-discrimination and to correctness and equidistance in presenting information, IPN reports.
The first complaint examined by the Press Council was submitted by the National Coalition “Life without Violence in the Family” against Curaj TV, which published a video entitled “Kidnapped and raped at 14 by six men from northern districts” on its website on August 22. The Coalition’s representative Natalia Rezneac said that is an alarming case for the reason that the author of the video report presented data that can help identify the minor victim of sexual abuse and intimidated this with provocative questions. In its response to the Press Council’s notification, Curaj TV says the author of the report is not a journalist by profession, but is a simple user of the channel’s blog and the interview was published because there was a risk that the competent institutions could have hushed up this case. After the Press Council notified the channel, the video was modified to protect the identity of the minor, but the Council members established that the new version also didn’t meet the journalistic standards on reporting about children. The Council identified violations of the deontological provisions on the protection of persons in vulnerable situations, protection of minors and tolerance and non-discrimination and recommended reediting or withdrawing the interview from the website. The Council warned that the observance of children’s rights is not a deontological obligation, but a legal one.
A similar complaint was filed by the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention against Publika TV. The Center’s representative Rodica Koretski-Mocanu said that in a program of the series “Moldova, a country of miracles”, broadcast on September 24, there was related the story of three children victims of violence, one of whom is possibly the victim of sexual abuse. She said that she gave an interview for the program, but warned the reporter about the necessity of protecting the identity of the protagonists so that these are not re-victimized or stigmatized, but the TV channel didn’t take these recommendations into account. The Press Council established that the authors of the content violated the deontological provisions on the protection of victims of accidents, calamities and offenses of a sexual character and of minors involved in events of a negative character, such as accidents, offenses, family disputes and cases of suicide, including as witnesses. It requested Publika TV to reedit the content and also asked the Broadcasting Coordination Council to examine this case.
In the same meeting, the Press Council examined a complaint submitted by the portal Glasul.md against the portal Timpul and determined that the deontological provisions concerning the honest, balanced provision of information based on the opinions of all the relevant sides were violated.
Similar violations were identified following the examination of businessman Andrei Magalu’s complaint against Publika TV, Prime TV, Canal 3 and the radio station Publika FM, which borrowed information from the website Jurnalul.md (which is considered a clone where untrue and distorted reports are often published). Andrei Magalu complained that he was accused of contraband and tax evasion without being asked to state his opinion and without verifying the reports. The Press Council recommended Andrei Magalu to ask for the right to reply and called on the mentioned broadcasters to offer him this right.
The Press Council also examined an article about persons with mental disabilities that was published by the portal KP.md in offensive and discriminatory terms. It established that the article runs counter to the general principles of journalistic ethics and deontology and the deontological provisions on tolerance and non-discrimination.
