Some of the media outlets resort to manipulation so as to make society subscribe to particular ideas coming from outside the Republic of Moldova. The Kremlin’s propaganda wages a war against the Western countries with the aim of generating division inside pro-Western alliances. A part of these ideas are amplified by local players that are financed by the Russian Federation, the head of WatchDog.MD Community Valeriu Pașa stated in the public debate “Role of the mass media in fighting disinformation”, IPN reports.
Owing to fake news, as some polls show, 50% of the population of the Republic of Moldova does not believe in the danger posed by the novel coronavirus, while 40% does not want to get a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Also, 90% of the population considers particular vaccines are more efficient, while others are less efficient against COVID-19, stated Valeriu Pașa.
According to him, the situation concerning disinformation is more serious among Russian language speakers. “For example, in the Autonomous Territorial Unit Gagauz-Yeri, the population is integrated into the information space of Russia. The programs and news bulletins in Russian that are inserted by some of the national TV channels do not fully solve the problem of disinformation. That’s why a national TV channel that would broadcast only in Russian is needed,” opined Valeriu Pașa.
“In reality, in the Republic of Moldova there are few media outlets that combat fake news and these do not have a great audience regrettably. Many TV channels generally neglect this subject as they benefit from generous financing. Some of the TV channels intentionally neglect the subject of disinformation as these news items increase their audience. If we want to have an impact, the televisions should raise the subject of disinformation in their news bulletins,” stated Valeriu Pașa, noting the people should not yet believe that all the information disseminated by the media is false.
The debate forms part of the project “inforMD – against disinformation in the Republic of Moldova” that aims to strengthen resilience against disinformation in the Republic of Moldova. The project is implemented by the Institute for European Policies of Berlin (IEP) in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and the Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS) with support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
