|
|
At its February 24 plenary session, Parliament approved a draft resolution on declaring a state of emergency in Moldova for 60 days in response to the security crisis. The draft was supported by 88 MPs, including deputies from the opposition. The document also provides that the Committee for Exceptional Situations will assume the following responsibilities: coordinate media activity and the fight against disinformation; inform the population about the causes and extent of the exceptional situation, including measures taken to prevent dangers and consequences of the situation and protect the population; familiarize citizens with the rules of conduct during the state of emergency; introduce special rules for the use of telecommunications; and combat disinformation, fake news, and hate speech. |
|
At a February 22 briefing on the Ukraine crisis, President Maia Sandu asked state institutions to monitor fake news sources and urged editors “to be on the side of Moldovan citizens.” Sandu reiterated her support for the sovereignty and integrity of the neighboring country. “I call on state institutions to closely monitor sources of fake news, hate speech and propaganda and to take measures in accordance with legal provisions to prevent such phenomena,” she said. The president called on media outlets not to involve citizens in war propaganda, not to sow hatred and to carefully check the sources of the news they broadcast. “Be responsible,” Sandu urged media representatives. |
|
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announced the decision of Moldova’s Commission for Exceptional Situations to declare a state of emergency throughout the country in the context of the security crisis in Ukraine. In her statement, Natalia Gavrilița urged citizens to consume information from official sources and appealed to journalists to deliver reliable information. “You, dear journalists, have a responsibility to the public to provide them with truthful information. Let us show unity together at this time,” said the Prime Minister. Gavrilița said that the authorities have also created a channel on Telegram, “First Source,” where “we [authorities] will quickly inform [the public] about the most important decisions of the Moldovan authorities and we will refute falsehoods and manipulations that have appeared in the media, especially now, following the serious deterioration of the security situation in Ukraine”. |
|
On February 25, in the context of the Russian Federation’s war in Ukraine and the establishment of a state of emergency in the Republic of Moldova, non-governmental media organizations appealed to the authorities to ensure effective protection of the state’s information space by preventing and sanctioning disinformation campaigns carried out by external forces. “The current situation and security crisis in the region dictate the need to take urgent measures to protect the citizens of our country from the harmful influence of pro-Kremlin propaganda and disinformation,” reads a joint statement signed by several non-governmental media organizations, including the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC). The signatories of the appeal warn that media productions originating in the Russian Federation, which are distributed by pro-Kremlin Moldovan TV stations and print publications, distort reality, manipulate and misinform, and are capable of inducing panic, tension, or social conflict. Media NGOs have called on, inter alia, the Parliament, the Audiovisual Council, and other authorities in the field of state information security to establish and implement effective monitoring and control mechanisms that would protect society from attempts – emanating from the Russian Federation – to misinform and/or manipulate information. At the same time, they called on the authorities to counteract through effective sanctions the toxic practices of some media service providers, which transmit disinformation and propagandistic messages, incite inter-ethnic hatred, and promote war. Following the model of the Baltic states, the NGOs have proposed that authorities possibly ban these media channels from broadcasting in Moldova. |
|
| The Information and Security Service (ISS) has blocked several websites in Moldova in the context of the security crisis in Ukraine. On February 25, the website Vkurse.md was blocked by order of the Director of ISS, Alexandr Esaulenco, on the grounds that it distributed information of foreign origin “justifying military aggression against the legally elected power in Ukraine.” On February 26, two other websites – www.sputnik.md and www.gagauznews.md – were blocked, because, according to the ISS, they were allegedly “promoting information inciting hatred and war under the state of emergency.” Also on February 26, the website Ehomd.info was blocked, as it was identified as an information source “distributing false news, information inciting hatred, war, or violence.” The ISS claims that, in the context of the tense regional security situation, there is an exponential increase in the volume of fake news disseminated on all information platforms. The institution has repeatedly called on all administrators of online content sources to immediately remove false articles/information on the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, as well as messages allegedly inciting hatred, mass unrest, or war, including those published on February 23 and 24. |
|
The Romanian-language editorial staff of Radio Sputnik Moldova has expressed its disagreement with the editorial policy of the newsroom, which is imposed on them at this time, by resigning all at once. Journalist Andrei Porubin made this announcement on his personal Facebook page. He also attached the editorial staff’s decision, accompanied by signatures. In addition to Porubin, the list of signatories includes his colleagues Tatiana Cebotari, Valeria Fortuna, Gutiera Prodan, Eduard Maciac, Silvia Zavadovschi, Maria Diminet and Roman Botnari. “In the context of the latest, extremely serious regional events, we have expressed our disagreement with the editorial policy of the newsroom which is imposed on us at this time and which contravenes the ethical rules of journalists as well as common sense,” the document says. The journalists say they do not want to be “involved in misinformation and manipulation.” “We have tried to maintain a social and political balance in the radio newsroom, but things have deteriorated (…) We campaign for peace and vehemently condemn any military aggression, which is tantamount to death,” the text published by the former Sputnik.md team adds. |
|
| On February 24, The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of journalists and editors, expressed its “strong support and solidarity” with the organization’s members and fellow journalists in Ukraine following Russia’s attack on the country. In a public appeal, the international organization calls for respect for the safety of journalists and for their right to cover events independently and without fear of reprisals to be protected. “The immediate physical safety of Ukrainian journalists, as well as all international journalists reporting from inside the country, is of the utmost concern,” the IPI appeal states. The organization says it is appalled by “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and calls for the immediate guarantee of the safety and right to report of all journalists working in the country. “Those working in the current conflict zones and frontline military correspondents are our immediate concern as they face serious threats to their safety,” the institution’s statement says. |
|
| Non-governmental media organizations have expressed their solidarity with the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM) in relation to a court decision to annul the prosecutor’s order refusing to initiate criminal proceedings against the CIJM and its reporters. According to the CIJM, following the publication of a journalistic investigation into the assets of former couple Igor Popa (prosecutor) and Ala Popa (lawyer), the latter filed a criminal complaint against the journalists for allegedly violating the inviolability of personal life (Article 177 of the Criminal Code). After the journalists had been investigated for almost a year in a criminal trial, the prosecutor in the case issued an order refusing to prosecute the journalists on the grounds that “the act does not meet the elements of a criminal offence.” On January 27, 2022, the Judge Victor Ratoi of the Chisinau Ciocana District Court annulled the prosecutor’s order refusing to initiate criminal proceedings against CIJM, as well as the order rejecting the complaint of lawyer Ala Popa, who did not agree with the prosecutors’ decisions. Seven non-governmental media organizations, including the IJC, criticized the justice system’s practice of bringing criminal cases against journalists, who have carried out their mission of informing citizens on issues of public interest, as an attack on the media’s freedom of expression and on freedom of the press. In a joint statement, they called on those who consider their rights to be infringed by media activity to stop intimidating journalists and to respect the special safeguards afforded by law to the media when dealing with criminal or misdemeanor cases involving journalists. |
|
Five representatives from the journalism community and four nominated by media consumers have been selected as new members of the Moldovan Press Council (PC) for the next two years. The journalists selected for membership in the PC (2022-2024) include the following: Olga Ceaglei, nominated by the CU SENS media project; Viorica Zaharia, nominated by the Independent Press Association (API); Veaceslav Perunov, nominated by the editorial staff of SP newspaper and Esp.md portal; Olga Stavila, nominated the CIJM; and Piotr Garciu, nominated by the editorial staff of Laf.md/Association “Media Birlii – Media Union.” The following representatives were elected on behalf of media consumers: Natalia Porubin, nominated by a group of ten people; Natalia Griu, nominated by the Association of Librarians of Moldova; Natalia Visanu, nominated by the Association for the Empowerment of Children and Families “AVE COPIII”; and Andrei Bivol, nominated by the Development Initiatives Laboratory “LID Moldova.” |
|
The seven strategic objectives contained in the document mainly provide for strengthening the administrative and institutional capacities of the Broadcasting Council (BC). These strategic objectives relate to the following spheres: carrying out regulatory activities; monitoring compliance with the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code; ensuring inter-institutional communication; ensuring efficient management within the AC; promoting efficient asset management; ensuring control of the payment of fees set by the AC; and overseeing licensing and authorization activities. The objective of strengthening the capacities of the BC also includes an external peer-to-peer review of the BC management by the European Commission. BC Chairwoman Liliana Vitu said that the review involves an audit of the institution’s management and all decision-making processes. A draft law that would have allowed foreign companies to lead performance audits of the BC was registered in Parliament in June 2020, but rejected by the BC, which was headed by Drgos Vicol at that time. |
|
At its February 16 meeting, the BC decided to launch a public consultation on the Rules of Professional Conduct to ensure fair information. In a press release, the BC explained that the document was drawn up “arising from the need to ensure that the public is correctly informed in accordance with the principles of audiovisual communication”. The current version of the document contains ten pages and explanations on the provisions of Article 13 of the Audiovisual Media Services Code on ensuring correct information. Interested persons can submit their proposals related to the document to office@cca.md by March 3, the BC said. |
|
At the February 17 Parliamentary plenary session, MPs voted on a draft law in its first reading, which proposes setting a new deadline – May 1, 2022 – for switching off the analogue signal and halving the tariff for digital signal. Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIRD) Andrei Spinu, who is responsible for digitalization, presented the legislative initiative at the plenary session. Initially, the date of January 1, 2022, was intended to be the deadline, but since the previous session of Parliament failed to pass the bill, MPs proposed the May 1 deadline. According to Spinu, the document will allow more TV stations to broadcast in Multiplex A due to the decrease in fees for digital broadcasting services. At the moment, this fee is €6,500 per month. Under the draft, it will be reduced to €3,000, practically half as much. Spinu said that the definitive transition to digital signal was supposed to be completed in 2015, but “it has been postponed also because of certain interests to monopolize the country’s media space.” |
|
The BC decided on February 25 to give priority to monitoring news and broadcasts dealing with events in Ukraine, including TV stations broadcasting entirely foreign content. The board members also explained why they could not ban the retransmission of foreign content on TV channels without following certain procedures, which several internet users and civil society representatives had publicly requested. According to BC member Eugeniu Ribca, the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code banning the broadcasting of military content from countries that have not ratified the Convention on Transfrontier Television have been annulled. “Both the Concept and the Information Security Strategy of the Republic of Moldova are documents of a public policy nature” he said. In his opinion, limits are imposed by law or under the Law on the Regime of Emergency, Curfew and War, but powers should be given by the Commission for Exceptional Situations. “We note that, at the moment, the BC has no leverage to enact the expected measures,” added BC Chair Liliana Vitu. At the same time, the BC has decided to change the deadlines for initiating ex officio monitoring. During the state of emergency, the BC chairperson will be able to order ex officio monitoring of audiovisual programs or audiovisual media services even if the subjects are not heard. In the context of the events in Ukraine, several media organizations have called on the authorities “to ensure real protection of the state’s information space by preventing and appropriately sanctioning attempts at external disinformation.” |
|
The BC will monitor the public TV channel Moldova 1 and the private channels Jurnal TV, Prime TV, Primul in Moldova and NTV Moldova in order to ensure the delivery of correct information and protect the information space in relation to the military conflict in Ukraine and the security crisis in Eastern Europe. Thus, the Board decided to monitor local and retransmitted programs broadcast in primetime between 19.00 and 22.00 in the period from February 11 to February 15. In another meeting on February 23, the BC decided to extend the thematic monitoring by including two additional days in the context of the escalating situation in the region.” By a majority vote it was decided to monitor all content broadcast by the five channels from 20:00 on February 21 until 20:00 on the following day. Earlier, the BC Chairwoman Liliana Vitu addressed an appeal to media service providers in the context of the security crisis. Vitu reminded the audience of the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code on the prohibition of broadcasts “likely to propagate, incite, promote or justify (…) other forms of hatred based on intolerance.” |
|
| Noroc TV’s broadcasting license expired on October 17, 2021, yet a BC review found that the broadcaster continued to illegally broadcast its program services. The BC claims to have sent two letters to the channel’s management informing it about the expiry of the license term. During a February 9 meeting, BC member Eugeniu Ribca proposed to fine the TV station 19,000 lei (900 euros), as the TV station had been operating illegally for almost four months and against the authority’s warnings. His colleague, Aneta Gonta, proposed reducing the fine to 15,000 lei because of the lack of knowledge of the reasons for the lack of a reaction from the TV station. The majority of the BC’s members supported her proposal. At the same meeting, the BC members decided to suspend the examination of the application for the issuance of a new broadcasting license to Noroc Media for Noroc TV. |
|
| The BC will monitor Moldova 1 TV channel’s compliance with the legislation on balanced presentation of political actors in the news. The decision was taken at the proposal of BC member Ruslan Mihailovschi, after Socialist Party MP Vlad Batrincea wrote on his Facebook page that for two months Moldova 1 “has only invited representatives of the government and partisan experts of PAS, without the voice of the opposition or experts critical of the government being heard on air.” The BC member called for “a quantitative investigation of the representation of representatives of the parliamentary majority, the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition, the Presidency, and the Government from December 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022.” Mihalevschi also specified the programs he is asking to be monitored – Mesagerul (Messenger), Moldova in Direct (Moldova Live), Editie Speciala (Special Edition), and Buna Seara (Good Evening). All the members of the BC voted to approve this proposal. |
|
| The current situation in Ukraine has come with new challenges for the media. In a new edition of the Media Azi Show, Catalin Gombos, editor-in-chief of the Romanian news portal Veridica.ro, which follows and reports on events in Ukraine, offers several tips for reporters covering the crisis. Gombos was a war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
|
| The journalists’ crisis cell, launched by the IJC in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, has proved its effectiveness for almost two years as a platform for solidarity for newsrooms in Moldova, writes the IJC’s portal, cji.md. The portal recalls that in 2020, through joint efforts, the Crisis Cell managed to convince representatives of the Ministry of Health to organize online conferences where journalists could ask questions after a long period of unilateral communication by the authorities. Subsequently, in 2021, through the same platform, representatives of media outlets got officials from the same ministry to ensure their (journalists’) immunization in the second stage of vaccination. Several journalists claim on the IJC platform that such efforts should continue in 2022. Mariana Rata, co-founder of TV8, believes that, in the absence of a union or a union of journalists, the Crisis Cell created by IJC was a quick solution to identify and solve common problems of journalists in Moldova. Journalist Liuba Shevciuc, co-founder of CU SENS, also believes that the Crisis Cell was a necessary platform for solidarity for the media community. And journalist Nicolae Paholnitchi of NewsMaker says: “Journalistic solidarity is very important for our profession. A year ago, thanks to this, it was possible to include journalists in the priority group for vaccination against COVID-19”. The IJC aims to continue to react through the Journalists’ Crisis Cell to identify and solve problems of common interest. |
|
In Moldova, only three out of ten people aged 60-79 have access to digital technologies, in comparison to eight out of ten people in younger age groups, according to the Active Aging Index conducted by the UN Population Fund in Moldova. Meanwhile, in Denmark, 94% of those aged 65-74 went online in the first half of 2020, according to data from Eurostat. In an age of misinformation and falsehoods, how exposed or protected from these dangers are those over 60? And how can we help our parents or grandparents avoid falling into the traps of online and offline misinformation? This is the question the guests of the IJC’s Podcast cuMINTE try to answer in the podcast’s February edition. Psychologist Dorina Vasilache argues that people in this age group are more vulnerable to falsehoods, manipulation, and misinformation, because they have access to limited information and media sources and are not used to getting information from multiple sources. Moreover, older people have not had the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills and believe all the information on TV, radio, or in newspapers. One conclusion the show’s guest comes to is that to help older people avoid falling into the trap of misinformation, we need to teach young people to get involved in digital education for their parents and grandparents. Some literacy projects or campaigns for the older population would also be very useful. For example, guidance could be drawn from the Ministry of Education and Research’s program aimed at increasing the digital literacy of teachers in the field of general education. The cuMINTE podcast is produced by the Independent Journalism Center with the support of the Black Sea Trust, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. |
|
| Newly minted reporters need the most training in the field because they are not sufficiently prepared, according to a recently released study of media needs by the IJC. According to the IJC survey, most respondents reported that 63 percent of their staff had attended only one training or professional development course in the past 12 months, and about a third said they had not attended any training in the past year. Most often, training was attended by executive directors (67 percent), reporters (52 percent), editors-in-chief (44 percent) and accountants (40 percent). Around 30 percent reported that editors, cameramen and social media managers attended training. It was also noted that half of all media institutions faces the problems of insufficient financial resources for training staff outside the institution and insufficient time for this professional development. The study included an online survey involving 76 media institutions, 30 in-depth interviews, desk research and content analysis of the main TV news bulletins. Management was invited to take parts respondents for the online survey and sit down for in-depth interviews. Data was collected between November 8 and December 6, 2021. Magenta Consulting conducted this survey for the IJC. |
|
| IJC media partners in the project “Understanding Audience through Digital Media,” the newsrooms Agora and Ziua de azi, have improved their knowledge of online audience development. Representatives of the two media outlets attended an online training on February 21 and 22, where they learned how to properly manage their YouTube channels to attract audiences and maintain reader interest. This online training also introduced them to media monetization models that have proven to be effective. On the first day of the training, Ukrainian expert Kirill Evseev, a certified YouTube specialist, discussed the platform’s offerings for the media, what Youtube channels should look like, which videos should be published, and how the site’s algorithms work. On the second day of the training, media expert Daryna Shevchenko, a partner in the Jnomics consulting company and CEO of The Kyiv Independent in Ukraine, discussed different media business models, the most viable sources of revenue, and what makes a media institution sustainable. At the end of the training, Sergey Pervozvanskii, the business director of the online publication Molodoi Bukovina in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, described the success story of this media institution in terms of monetization and increasing its financial sustainability. The project “Understanding Audience through Digital Assistance” is implemented by the IJC with the support of Internews and funded by Sweden. The project aims to contribute to improving the quality of media content and the financial sustainability of media institutions through a better understanding of audience needs. |
|
IJC and Internews Updates |
|
| The media situation in Moldova remained serious in 2021, according to the 2021 Index on the State of the Media in Moldova (ISPM) in 2021, which was released by the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) on February 21. The ISPM methodology includes seven indicators relevant to the media realities in the Republic of Moldova: the legal regulatory framework; the political context; the economic environment; the professional environment; the quality of journalism; information security from a media perspective; and the security of journalists. This methodology allows for a review of the media as a whole, but also of each aspect separately, as well as the determination of the areas where interventions are needed to enable the press to fulfil its commitments. The year-by-year production of the Index shows the evolution or, as it may be, the regression of the situation over time. The document was produced for the sixth consecutive year and provides a diagnosis of the media, specifying the problems as well as key developments in Moldova’s media sector. According to the study, fourteen evaluators issued a modest score for the state of the local press. The author of the document, media expert Ion Bunduchi, proposes a set of recommendations that could improve the situation. This report is part of the USAID and UK-funded Media in Support of Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) project, implemented by Internews in Moldova, which aims to promote the development of independent and professional media and create a media sector more resilient to political and economic pressures. |
|
| According to the IJC’s 2021 Index on the State of the Media in Moldova (ISPM), the amendments to the Audiovisual Media Services Code made in autumn 2021 are not in line with best practices, and some legislative adjustments “failed to generate the expected effects.” The indicator on the legal framework regulating media activity, according to the expert assessment, scored 25.33 points, which indicates “a serious situation.” This is the lowest score given to the legal framework for media regulation since 2016, the year the IJC first conducting the ISPM. The assessors consider that national legislation is insufficient to meet the needs of media regulation, as political advertising remains uncovered by legislation. In their view, the latest changes to the audiovisual legislation are not in line with best practices and the changes, voted on in September and October 2021, “allow any parliamentary majority to dismiss the members of the Broadcasting Council, thus determining the political subordination of the body.” Other problems raised by experts in this edition concern “arbitrary interpretation and the uneven and inconsistent application of media legislation”, as well as the most problematic issue – access to information of public interest. |
|
| Information security is lagging far behind in Moldova, and gaps in this area have not been remedied even in 2021, according to the 2021 State of the Media Index (ISPM) in the Republic of Moldova. The 2021 ISPM awards only 19.5 points to the Information Security Indicator in the media sector. According to the study, the authorities have continued to hesitate in combating the phenomenon of disinformation from within and from abroad, which is hostile to state interests. In the presidential election year of 2021, society became highly polarized along geopolitical lines, generating media division along the same lines. The national media space also remained subject to major security risks due to the removal of bans under the so-called anti-propaganda law, the researchers also note. These risks have become even more pronounced as a multitude of media service providers are regularly retransmitting foreign audiovisual programs (especially from the Russian Federation) with blatantly manipulative content. Foreign media institutions with branches in Moldova, such as Komsomolskaia Pravda, Argumenti i Fakti, and Sputnik Moldova promote interests far removed from the national interests of the state, the study states. Falsehoods and misinformation were the order of the day in 2021, the evaluators conclude. |
|
| News from Moldova, launched on February 3 by the Moldova.org team, is the first news aggregator in the Republic of Moldova that will give priority to sites that respect professional ethics and deontology. The resource was developed during the last edition of the Media Hackathon “The Fifth Power,” which was implemented by the IJC. It will operate on the basis of the score provided by Media RADAR, a media portal monitoring and evaluation platform. Users of News from Moldova will first see all articles published by newsrooms that comply with the Journalist’s Code of Ethics and are selected according to the score obtained from regular monitoring by Media Radar. The Moldova.org team carried out this project as the winner of the 7th edition of the Media Hackathon “Fifth Power,” organized by the IJC in the framework of the USAID and UK funded project “Media in Support of Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M),” implemented by Internews in Moldova. |
|
| The four winning teams of the 7th edition of the media hackathon “Fifth Power,” organized by the IJC in June 2021 – CU SENS, Moldova.org, TV8 and NewsMaker – have finalized their projects and made them available to the general public. CU SENS developed the Virtual Parliament, an interactive platform for monitoring the work of the 101 members of the Moldovan Parliament elected in the July 2021 elections. By clicking on the MP’s seat, the reader is presented with a pop-up box with brief information about the MP. Each MP has a profile with a photo, a short biography, and a CV. The Moldova.org newsroom has created the News from Moldova aggregator, which aims to help media consumers pay attention to the information content of the media platforms they access. TV8 has created a platform Harta cheltuirii banilor publici (Map of spending public money) through which citizens can review public tenders issued in Moldova. The public money spending map shows information about the amount of money used in each district in the first 11 months of 2021 in public procurement. The NewsMaker team has developed the NM-Waiter bot that gives readers the opportunity to find out about the latest events and the most important news on the three most popular platforms: Telegram, Viber, Facebook Messenger. The four projects were developed as part of the seventh edition of the Media Hackathon “Fifth Power” organized by the IJC in the framework of the USAID and UK funded project “Media in Support of Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M)”, implemented by Internews in Moldova. |
|
| The grant competition aims to ensure the sustainability of the projects launched and developed during the seven editions of the “Fifth Power” Media Hackathon, organized by the IJC between 2015 and 2021. All 25 winning media teams/institutions of the Media Hackathon that have developed sustainable projects and need support to improve their projects and ensure their continuity are eligible for the competition. The application must include an overview of the applicant, including a brief description of the winning project in one of the previous editions of the “Fifth Power” Media Hackathon, the relevance of the project and the motivation for the need for further financial support. The CVs of the team members who will be involved in the implementation of the project should also be attached to the application. The deadline for submission of applications is April 15, 2022. The results of the selection of the winners will be announced by April 25, 2022. The jury will select 4 winning teams that will receive grants of $5,000 each. The winning projects will be implemented over six months from June 1 to November 30, 2022. The grant competition is organized by the IJC as part of the USAID-funded Media in Support of Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) project funded by USAID, UK and implemented by Internews in Moldova. |
|
| |
|
