The Veridica.md publication - the Chisinau edition of the Romanian publication Veridica.ro – has been launched in the Republic of Moldova. Journalists of the publications said that the launch also comes in the context of the hybrid war that the Russian Federation is waging in the Republic of Moldova. According to them, in such conditions, tools are needed to debunk fake news, especially those coming from Moscow, on the pro-Kremlin line, especially now, in the electoral period.
“We have worked on the market for 5 years. Veridica is the only publication in Romania that does fact-checking every day. We are read in over 100 countries, in Romanian, English and Russian. We focus on a diverse audience. We hope the publication we are launching today will satisfy the public’s desire to better understand the realities we are going through after the pandemic and the war that began two years ago on a large scale,” Veridica publisher Marian Voicu said in a news conference hosted by IPN.
Cătălin Gomboș, editor-in-chief of Veridica.ro, noted that the Romanian publication covers two large dimensions. One of them is related to “fake news debunking”, while the other one to analysis. As fake news appears incessantly, the editorial staff identifies the narratives, analyzes them and combats the falsehoods.
Corneliu Rusnac, editorial coordinator of Veridica.md, denied from the beginning any insinuations that it would be an electoral project, even if it is launched ahead of the election. He said the publication aims to present the information space in the Republic of Moldova, including the Transnistrian region and Gagauzia in retrospect. “We will seek to debunk the false information at the national level, the fake news that comes also through Tiraspol and Comrat. We will also make a press review so that everyone knows what the press writes, not only the one in Chisinau, but also the one in Tiraspol, and the one in Comrat. In other words, we will seek to synthesize all this information so that the reader can access in one place, with just a few clicks, all the information related especially to fake news, disinformation, information warfare and more,” stated Corneliu Rusnac.
Mădălin Necșuțu, editor of Veridica.md, a member of the International Association of Romanian Journalists, believes that the debunking of fake news is extremely necessary in the current context of the hybrid war that Russia is waging in the region. “The Republic of Moldova is one of the least resilient states in the region to Russian propaganda. Russia invests a lot of money in this area of propaganda and manipulation. And we come to contribute to the “media literacy” component that civil society talks about here, in the Republic of Moldova, namely to educate, although I don’t like this term because, when it comes to the press, we have to report facts, not educate the public. But we can also contribute to this component of opening people’s eyes so that they see what is false, what is true, what the tools are,” said Mădălin Necșuțu.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference in similar conditions.
