Press must be responsible for it output, public debates

Each media institution should be responsible for the product it brings forth to the public. Some specialists and experts think the quality of the media product may be currently dropping because many outlets focus on the quantity and on superficial information. Things could be changed for the better by increasing the responsibility of media companies. These are the opinions shared by the participants in the public debates “Online and written press in terms of political culture: responsibility for the tamed 2”, the 12th event in the series “Developing political culture in public debates”, organized by Info-Prim Neo. Chief editor of news portal Unimedia, Dumitru Ciorici, says that lately more and more newspapers give up the printed versions and move into the online environment, whose quality is improving and the online press is gaining ground. Ciorici stressed that editors regardless of the type of the institutions should take care that journalists don’t interpret information and keep a balance between news of public interest and sensations. “Unfortunately, a part of the media representatives place themselves on the extremes and as a result the online press is blamed”, he said. According to Georgeta Stepanov, dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at USM and member of the Press Council, online journalism is a new field, efficient, yet dangerous, because it isn’t regulated and offers a shelter to professional cowardice. It’s easy to make anonymous things online and this environment cannot be kept under control, unlike the printed press. The dean added that online journalism was influential especially among youth, but from a quantitative perspective. She deems the printed press more influential from a qualitative point of view and thinks it is read by more educated people, while the online press is more superficial. Georgeta Stepanov is of the opinion that media institutions should be aware of their responsibility considering that their products have such an impact upon the public. Viorel Mihail, editor-in-chief of Saptamana weekly, says that the press currently faces wrongheaded times, because too often vital information the whole country should know is overlooked in favor of shocking news. Viorel Mihai is confident that printed press won’t disappear, as serious and thorough analyses can be found only in newspapers. He thinks that professionalism means the priority of news that is important for the whole country. “It’s really about professionalism. A professional journalist knows how to present a serious and important news story in an interesting way, not only the shocking ones”, he said. Dmitri Ciubasenco, director of Panorama newspaper, says that the youth prefer to read shorter information and avoid longer texts. However, the newspapers publish interviews, analyses, larger articles and there is a current demand for this kind of press. Ciubasenco has remarked that many news portals have appeared lately, doing nothing but stealing quality materials from those who produce them. He added that even in the new media era, there are many good newspapers in Europe. Vasile Bumacov, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, said that the great importance of the mass media was the reason for its great responsibility. According to him, it is very important for mass media to involve and to promote the interests of society and of the state, especially in strategic fields. In his opinion, sometimes journalists pay little attention to these areas. Too often, there is a lack of profound analyses in the press and things are presented without objectivity, which happens because experts or officials from the field aren’t consulted. Project expert Igor Botan, director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, has noted that, despite its manipulative trait, the press remains the second most trusted institution according to opinion polls. He thinks that in Moldova there should more diverse media sources, because society is fragmented as well. According to the expert, the greatest problem of modernity is the massive information flow and the public’s capacity to receive and assimilate this information. Botan thinks that political culture is about the masses and it can be raised bit by bit, but that depends on the managers and journalists who know how to anticipate the readers’ preferences. The public debate “Responsibility for the tamed 2” is the 12th event in the series “Developing political culture in public debates”, organized by Info-Prim Neo with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.