Besides the danger posed by the state to the freedom of the media, about which they speak annually and which represents a problem, there are challenges and difficulties that come from the advertising market and business entities and from the way in which the media sector is self-organized, as concrete organizations, workplace with employees or directors, sociologist and civic activist Vitalie Spranceana stated on platzforma.md on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, being quoted by IPN.
The sociologist speaks about a number of cases that occurred in the Moldovan media during the last two years. One of them happened at the start of this year. The editorial office of a pro-European, anti-oligarchic, progressive and democratic newspaper, including the editor-in-chief, harassed a member of the team because this gave a like to a Facebook posting that criticized an article of the paper, even if the newspaper ultimately agreed with the criticism and fully modified the title and content of the news article. Later the person was forced to leave. Meanwhile, the editorial office filed a complaint against the ‘critic’ to the Press Council, but the latter preferred to abandon the discussion, realizing it was an absurd situation.
Vitalie Spranceana said this case is far from being unique in the associated press and in the free one and reveals a structural problem – lack of internal democracy that leads to lack of internal polemics. The editorial offices represent mono-cultures of similar opinions where the diversity of opinion is perceived as diversion, while pluralism as an exotic and useless word.
As to the market, the other friend-enemy of the press after the state, or the corporative ethics as a substitute of journalistic ethics, the sociologist said the Moldovan journalism, both independent and affiliated, shows forced love to companies, corporations and business in general. “The media institutions that clear themselves and others of “political” propaganda (compile rankings, diagrams and other similar things) do not hesitate to present publicity as journalism,” stated the sociologist, noting that the journalists should be protected not only from the stat, but also from the employers.
Vitalie Spranceana said the absence of the journalists’ trade union makes any discussion on the freedom of journalists superficial and fully irrelevant. The press in Moldova should be supported by the state by subsidies, as in other states. The press is extremely important for society because it is not an ordinary business, but is a business with enormous social consequences because the normal tendency of the sector is to concentrate the resources in the hands of several powerful players, hence the need to support the small players.
