The journalistic guild must be consolidated in order to solve the problems faced in the mass media sector. The journalists who came together at the Mass Media Forum 2016 said a solidary, but also critical relationship must exist between them, IPN reports.

Editor-in-chief of the magazine “Natura” Alecu Renita said all the problems discussed in last year’s forum remained topical. “We cannot speak about solved problems. We can say that we face three main problems. The first problem is related to politicians’ attitude to the mass media, the second is related to media owners and their relationship with the collective of journalists, while the third is related to our guild,” he stated.

Renita expressed his optimism about the improvement of the relations with the political class, but is pessimistic about the relations inside the journalistic guild. “If we do not fortify the journalistic guild and if we do not have people with character, our relations with the political class will remain the same and we will continue to have the same state of the mass media because this is the main interest of the political class,” he said.

Director of the publication “Cuvantul” Tudor Yashchenko said all the problems in the field derive from the legislation that contain a lot of white spots and, until these spots are not filled, the journalistic guild will not manage to unite and to become solidary and capable of big deeds. “To solve these problems, we must unite, regardless of colors and opinions. Based on the Code of Ethics, the guild must exert pressure on the legislature and executive,” he stated.

Journalist Natalia Morari said a dialogue is needed inside the journalistic guild and an efficient dialogue is needed in the media sector with the central authorities. “We must get down the barricades as, in the absence of a dialogue, we do not manage to solve the problems faced by the mass media,” she stated.

According to Natalia Morari, as long as the journalists are ignored by the authorities, these should start with problems faced inside, especially those related to the deontological code. Furthermore, the journalistic guild experiences problems related to correct journalism because the non-values are often treated as values.