The situation of the mass media in the Republic of Moldova was serious in 2020 too, with the state of the press remaining the same for the fifth consecutive year. The political instability and the economic and health crisis directly affected the activity of the media, shows the Media Situation Index in Moldova in 2020 that was released by the Independent Journalism Center on February 15, IPN reports.
According to the study, the state of the national press last year hit an anti-record, with the 14 evaluators offering it the lowest score so far. The report shows that the media institutions and the journalists didn’t benefit from full security. The journalists in 2020 also faced threats launched by politicians or public functionaries and the limitation of access to information during the pandemic crisis, while the inefficient application of the law encouraged this phenomenon.
The study was conducted for the fifth consecutive year and makes a diagnosis of the press in general, specifying the problems and key developments in the media in Moldova. As regards the legal framework for regulating the activity of the media, the situation is serious, being generated by the lack of concerns for improving the legislation at governmental level and also by the inappropriate implementation of the legal norms.
The score given to the political context reveals a very serious situation. Important media outlets were massively used as instruments of political influence during the year, reaching an apogee in the election campaign prior to the presidential elections. A part of the politically affiliated press waged information wars against the opposition, civil society and the independent media.
The score provided to the economic sphere shows the precarious economic conditions in which the media worked. The state of public health emergency deepened the economic crisis, making the underdeveloped advertising market to contract further.
The media experts recommend restoring the parliamentary working group for improving the legislation on the media, diminishing the influence of the political factor on the activity of the mass media by extending the sector of independent press, publicly reporting any abuse of politicians in relation to the mass media, implementing public legal-economic policies that would ensure the media outlets work in equitable and transparent competition conditions that can prevent bankruptcy and disappearance.
