Publika TV channel informed us that on May 26, 2018 Vlad Plahotniuc, the president of the Democratic Party, took part as an invitee of honor in an event organized in London by the Royal United Services Institute of the UK. The TV viewers could find out from the first source, the protagonist of the event, how the British hosts were objectively familiarized with the: “political and geopolitical situation in which we govern in the Republic of Moldova; themes of national and regional interest; implementation of reforms; and surely the parliamentary elections of this autumn". In the same connection, the executive coordinator of the government in the Republic of Moldova Vlad Plahotniuc said that “the strategy of the Democratic Party is aimed at consolidating the relations with the West, continuing on the path of Moldova’s reformation and modernization".
We should note the diplomatic delicateness of Mister Vlad Plahotniuc, who avoided speaking about the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, mentioning only the reformation and modernization of our country. It is clear that telling the experts of a state that in about ten months intends to leave the European Union about the goal of European integration of the own country is somehow inappropriate. However, want it or not, but the modernization of the Republic of Moldova can take place only in accordance with the Association Agreement with the European Union as there are no areas of the public, social, economic and political life that would not be covered by the Association Agreement for being brought to the standards of the European community. This thing cannot be hidden. If you try to hide it, propagandistic interests appear at the forefront.
Hence, one of the most successful definitions of propaganda was formulated by historian Calin Hentea: “Propaganda resides in planned persuasive communication actions supported by a sponsor, having as a final goal the influencing and even modification of the attitudes and behaviors of a selected target audience for satisfying particular political interests of the sponsor, using false information and arguments, partially true, distorted and exclusive, alongside true ones accompanied by different forms of constraint and censorship”. So, the presentation only of aspects that bring image advantages and hiding of those that damage the image or uttering of half-truths perfectly match a propagandistic framework. In this regard, it is important to see what Vlad Plahotniuc didn’t tell the British hosts, while Publika TV, respectively, didn’t tell the Moldovan citizens about the progress made in the country reformation process.
He didn’t tell them what anyway cannot be hidden and can be deduced from such official documents as the EU report on the implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement of March 2018, the State Department’s human rights report, the Freedom House report “Nations in Transition” concerning the democratic developments in Moldova, the report by People’s Ombudsperson on the observance of the human rights and freedoms in the Republic of Moldova, etc. But these documents depict things very clearly, both those about the good aspects and those about the negative aspects. Evidently, the good things are assiduously presented on Publika TV and on the other channels affiliated to the ruling Democratic Party, while the unpleasant ones that were very well documented are overlooked. But these are serious and include the political cruising that was most probably determined by pressure and corruption and that changed the configuration of the parliamentary majority; persistence of torture in penitentiary and psycho-neurological institutions; arbitrary arrests and detention of political opponents; selective justice based on political reasons; lack of progress in investigating the banking fraud and in holding those to blame accountable; maintaining of monopolist quasi-control over the media, etc.
This kind of worrisome concerns in the Republic of Moldova, which are well-known in the West, but are hushed-up by the press affiliated to the government, cannot contribute to the country’s modernization, keeping it on the path of European integration, while the mentioning of the fight against foreign propaganda at forums in the absence of real efforts to fight domestic propaganda can definitively compromise the strategic goal of our country, the European integration, keeping it in a gray area.
IPN experts
Today, IPN News Agency initiates a new series of articles designed to help the citizens better understand the main political messages disseminated in the public sphere by relevant Moldovan political players. The series is entitled “Countering Domestic and Foreign Propaganda through Correct Information and Debunking” and represents the logical follow-up to two projects implemented by IPN during many years. The first project is the series of debates “Development of political culture through public debates” that was carried out with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany. As part of the second project, the Agency produced and continues to produce news articles based on the main evening talk shows on all the national TV channels by publishing these in the early morning of the next day. The given news items present the political statements in the way in which they were formulated, based on the principle of correctness. The series launched today will help us clarify the undertones of the official assertions and real interests of the decision makers that bear responsibility before Moldovan society for statements and actions. In general, the media products of IPN ensure the unbiased replication of statements and the delimitation of information from opinion. The first article of the series can be seen here.
