The Government undertook to fully cover the higher newspaper distribution charges in 2024 through the agency of a transparent mechanism. The authorities also announced that the state-run company Moldova’s Post Office, if necessary, will give the publications a three-month grace period to pay for distribution. The measures were discussed by Government officials in a meeting with managers and heads of editorial offices of periodicals, IPN reports, quoting the executive.

“I inform you about the allocation of the resources needed to cover the higher distribution charge. I instructed the Ministry of Finance to identify a sum of 11 million lei by the end of December,” said Prime Minister Dorin Recean.

It was announced that the procedure for distributing the state support will be based on ethics and deontology criteria thought up by the Association of Independent Press in cooperation with other civil society organizations. The observance of the given criteria will be periodically monitored by media experts, without the Government’s participation.

“The managers and chief editors of the periodical publications informed also about other immediate problems, such as the necessity of extending the active subscription campaign for January, of including the print media in the list of eligible entities defined in the bill on subsidization in the mass media sector and of holding systematic consultations between editorial offices and Government officials,” it is said in a press release.

The contracts for the distribution of newspapers for 2024 received by the periodicals in Moldova from Moldova’s Post Offices at the end of November stipulate a distribution charge that is by 341% higher. A number of newspapers announced that the rise in charges will critically affect the editorial office’s capacity to conduct the subscription campaign and to assume the publication of periodicals over the next years.