Representatives of the Regional Network of Press Councils of the Eastern Partnership member states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine) and Russia came together for the annual meeting in Chisinau. During two days, on March 2 and 3, they will discuss the situation of the mass media. In the opening of the event, the journalists spoke about the complaints submitted to the Press Councils and Ethics Commissions, IPN reports.
Viorica Zaharia, president of the Press Council of Moldova, said the situation of the media in Moldova hasn’t improved during the past year. Propaganda and manipulation persist. The Broadcasting Coordination Council shows no will to penalize those who do not respect the journalistic norms.
Executive director of the Association of Independent Press Petru Macovei said that earlier the Council received mainly notifications about information concerning children, but now they are primarily informed about cases of harming of dignity and honor. In another development, Petru Macovei said there was no Supreme Court of Justice decision against journalists during the last few years and this is beneficial.
The representative of the Press Council of Belarus Anatol Huliayeu said there are two associations of journalists in his country. These have about 1,200 members who are chiefly employees of independent media outlets. There is also the Journalists Union that started work in the 1950s and brings together about 2,000 journalists who represent state institutions. As there is a danger that the journalistic Ethics Commission can involve in political and group confrontations, it was decided that such conflicts cannot be the subject of complaints submitted to the Commission. In the recent period, the Ethics Commission broadly promoted the journalistic ethics standards. There was issued a journalistic ethics book that is very popular. But the political pressure exerted on the media is still great.
The representative from Ukraine Sergii Guz said the Ukrainian Ethics Commission went through a period of crisis that lasted for three years. The situation changed after structural modifications were made at administrative level. The subjects examined by the Commission refer mainly to the broadcasting of information about the conflict zone, the political crisis and the situation of refuges.
The experts who came together in Chisinau will also discuss the covering by the mass media of the situation of migrants and refugees and will work out recommendations for the journalistic community. They will also debate election coverage practices and the functionality of the Commission against Information Propaganda created a year ago.
