Publika TV director: I will never allow somebody to scoff at me

“I will never allow somebody to scoff at me and will not renounce by freedom of expression. I think that what I and my 360 colleagues do is necessary,” the general director of the TV channel Publika Dumitru Tira said in the debates themed “Electronic press and political culture: responsibility for the tamed ones”, that were held by Info-Prim Neo. Dumitru Tira stated that a part of the blame for the wrong information disseminated by the mass media is borne by the authorities and the politicians. “The ministers shouldn’t say that they do not want to comment. They are public persons and should do it. It’s not normal to seek for information about the costs of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Moldova for three months and not to obtain it. The main objective of the mass media is to inform,” said Dumitru Tira. Some of the participants in the debates said the journalists should be more responsible and give precedence to the public interest and broadcast the necessary information, not the own rating as the sterile scandalous and sensational news does not contribute to the formation of political culture of society, but rather to its deformation. “There are always people behind the cameras. There should be a balance. The media has three major objectives: to inform, to educate and to analyze. Publika TV has investigation programs. It’s not true that there are no results. By a drop of information is collected daily and these drops make the patience glass full. I can tell you that politicians call me and tell me what and how to write. I listen to them, but tell them that I do not make the news,” said Dumitru Tira. He also said that Publika is a new phenomenon on the media market of Moldova. “It’s the only news television and it’s different from other channels. Romania has five television channels and they are all different. There are no general models. In Moldova there are not many people with a culture of communication. There is a total disaster in the state institutions. The culture of consumption of information is also missing,” stated Tira. He asked what the journalism faculties do as the administration of Publika TV receives by 100 CVs daily, but employed only two persons over half a year. The public debates “Electronic press and political culture: responsibility for the tamed ones” were the 11th edition of the series “Development of Political Culture through Public Debates” that are organized by Info-Prim Neo with support from the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.