Romanian media not admitted to Moldovan president’s press conference

Representatives of Romanian media institutions were not allowed to take part in the news conference held by President Vladimir Voronin on December 19. The journalists of the television channel Prima TV, of Radio Romania and of the news agency Rompres were denied access to the conference for the reason that they were not included in the list of participants. Asked by a Moldovan journalist to explain the reason, the head of the presidential press service Natalia Visanu said that Prima TV asked for authorisation to take part in the conference on December 18, but it turned out that the representative of the channel was not accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. “The foreign journalists can attend the events in Moldova only if they are accredited by the Ministry,” she said. Visanu also said that no foreign journalists were invited to the conference, only the national press. Rompres reporter Flori Tiulea told Info-Prim Neo that she was not allowed to attend the conference on the pretext that her name was not on the list. She said she tried to get authorisation one day before, but did not manage. According to Tiulea, the only real reason is that she represents a Romanian media institution. The cited source also said that in July she filed application to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry to be accredited, but all in vein. Representative of Prima TV Petru Terguta said that he also was denied access owing to the lack of accreditation. He described the officials’ behaviour as impudence and said that he might sue the presidential office. Razvan Emilescu of Radio Romania said that he was accredited by the Ministry, but was not allowed to enter the conference hall. He said that he tried to contact the press service by phone on December 18, but no one answered. The next day he went to the presidential office, but he was told that he needed special accreditation. According to Emilescu, a representative of the press service initially invited the journalists with special authorisation to enter, saying that the ones that were accredited by the Foreign Ministry will enter afterwards. However, when all the journalists entered, they were not allowed to. Razvan Emilescu also considers that the journalists of Romanian media institutions were denied access intentionally. Journalists from a number of foreign press institutions attended the conference.