The in-person symposium “Fighting Digital Disinformation” for Ukrainian, Moldovan and Georgian journalists, organized by the International Media Academy and Internews Ukraine in partnership with the Independent Journalism Center of Moldova, took place in Krakow, Poland, from October 21 to 23. The event was also attended by 12 journalists and media researchers from Moldova.

The symposium focused on sharing experience in combating Kremlin disinformation and propaganda in Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia.

Anastasia Nani, Independent Journalism Center Deputy Director, presented the situation in Moldova, explaining that online platforms, especially social networks, are one of the main sources of disinformation. “Social networks, for example, are increasingly influential. They are both platforms for debate and tools for amplifying falsehoods. But we are convinced that media literacy and strengthening independent media are the solutions we should be exploiting,” she said.

Representatives from Georgia and Ukraine spoke about the situation in their countries, citing their efforts to counter Kremlin propaganda and disinformation. Olga Yurkova, co-founder of the Stopfake.org project, a platform working to combat Russian disinformation, gave concrete examples of fake news stories relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how her team has been countering them.

Participants also discussed Russian war propaganda strategies after February 24, the EU’s response to “Putin’s trolls”, how information warfare is manifesting itself, the European perspective on Russian disinformation.

Journalists, media experts, and civil society representatives from eight countries participated in an international conference in Chisinau dedicated to the exchange of experience in the media field. Participants talked about the problems they face and perspective solutions. A wide range of topics were debated, including economic issues, disinformation, propaganda, and how the media responds to these challenges under the stressful conditions dictated by the war in Ukraine.

FOJO Media Institute’s head of the regional section for Europe, Veronica Menjun, drew attention to the fact that the war makes journalists work under extreme conditions. Threats and arrests have become more frequent, and in extreme cases, have come in the form of kidnappings of journalists in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“The arsenal of repressive methods against journalists is very large. Propaganda has become the main source of fuel for the war, and its voice is much louder than that of independent journalism. Many Belarusian colleagues preferred to speak at this conference anonymously,” said Menjun.

“Today, nothing is more important than truth and freedom,” Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborzcha, reminded journalists. Connecting to the conference on Skype, he also urged them to defend their independence from the influences of both the political system and the dictatorship of business.

Journalist Vasile Botnaru alluded to the fairness and professionalism of ’journalists, qualities that should help them report without taking sides.

The event was organized by the FOJO Media Institute in Sweden, its partner in Moldova, the Independent Press Association (API), as well as partners in Ukraine, Latvia, Georgia, Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Armenia.

The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has sent a humanitarian shock around the world, with the Republic of Moldova being one of the most affected countries, according to a report by the Baltic Center for Media Excellence (BCME) released in early October.

The research, based on 14 interviews with eight media managers and journalists, four media experts, a political analyst, and an economist, shows the direct impact the war in Ukraine has had on the Moldovan media sector.

According to the source, there have been two distinct media types and approaches to reporting on the war. The first category are media outlets which, as soon as Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine began, comprehensively covered events non-stop, based on official information, and broadcasted video footage from the battlefield. These are primarily independent news sources. The second category are media outlets which, in the first phase of the war (February-March 2022), almost completely avoided covering events related to Ukraine as if nothing had happened, and then between April and June, began reporting on the issue by presenting Russia in a positive light. These are pro-Russian media outlets, which directly or indirectly broadcast Moscow’s narratives.

However, the rise of fake news and misinformation remains a significant risk, say experts interviewed: “Even though the authorities in Chisinau have taken some measures in this regard – they have adopted laws to combat disinformation, blocked some online platforms that disseminate fake news and disinformation – these actions have been reactive rather than strategic or proactive, and often bypassing laws and rules on access to information and democratic principles. As always, independent media outlets and civil society media have been the most interested in combating disinformation and propaganda.”

Among the recommendations offered by the researchers are donor support for the media, expertise and training for journalists in war reporting and crisis journalism, working within the constraints of war reporting, and understanding military censorship and the characteristics of information warfare. Also, with the rise of social media and what journalists have dubbed “Telegram journalism,” it is important to provide support in online fact-checking techniques to recognize and counter misinformation, propaganda, and false content.

At its October 28 meeting, the Broadcasting Council examined the results of its monitoring of the audiovisual media services TVR Moldova and RU-TV Moldova, which it sanctioned for its violations of the law, detected during the checks carried out.

TVR Moldova was monitored following a petition by Director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center Ecaterina Gancota. The petitioner alleges that in the story “Patients in hospitals risk going hungry”, broadcast on September 29, the channel reported information incorrectly and that this would have damaged the image of the institution she directs.

According to the report, presented by the deputy head of the Media Services Control Directorate, Victoria Stetcaia, monitoring showed that the producers of the report did not ensure accuracy and correctness, which are contained in Article 13 of the Audiovisual Media Services Code (AMSC). The same article stipulates that the information must come from reliable sources, with sufficient factual documentation, a credible and impartial approach to events, and with a balanced reflection of different opinions, conditions which the authors of the report also failed to meet, according to the broadcasting authority.

TVR Moldova was sanctioned with a public warning.

At the same meeting, RU-TV Moldova was fined 15,000 lei (750 EUR) for broadcasting without a broadcasting license. The deviations from the legislation were detected following Ruslan Mihalevschi’s self-complaint. In this case, the control of the BC found that on May 14, the validity of the broadcasting license issued to the RU-TV Moldova TV station had expired. However, from May 14 to October 10, RU-TV Moldova continued broadcasting and was retransmitted via the cable networks of media service distributors.

For this violation, Euroshow Grup was fined 15,000 lei (750 EUR).

The BC sanctioned NTV Moldova at its meeting on October 28, following a complaint by the Watchdog.md community. The complainant alleged that the broadcaster had violated the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code on correct information in a news item it broadcast on September 15 as part of the main news bulletin of the day at 19:00.

At the beginning of the news, the presenter said: “Vote of no confidence in the government led by Natalia Gavrilita. A motion of no confidence has been tabled in Parliament by BCS deputies. The authors of the motion state that the country is currently facing major short- and medium-term risks on top of which long-term threats for which no solutions have been found.” According to the monitors, the statement “vote of no confidence” is ambiguous and inaccurate, given that the vote of no confidence was given only by the Communist and Socialist Bloc. In this context, the station reported statements by Socialist MP Vasile Bolea, made in the plenary of the Parliament, according to which “the Republic of Moldova is currently led by a government that no longer has legitimacy because it lacks the support of the sovereign in this state, the support of the people”.

“NTV Moldova presented the news unilaterally, without asking for the reaction of the Moldovan government. This violated the principle of impartiality and balance, as well as the principle of favoring the free formation of opinion,” explained Alexandru Antocean, head of the BC’s Media Services Control Department, who presented the monitoring report.

The majority of the BC members agreed with the monitoring results.

With four votes in favor and two against, the BC members fined NTV Moldova 6,000 lei (300 EUR). In June, the station had been sanctioned with a public warning for violation of the same article.

The BC has fined MBC TV for unjustified interruption of broadcasting after it failed to broadcast from 12 September to 19 October. The case was referred by BC member Orest Dabija.

According to the audiovisual authority, on June 28, the company SG MEDIA M1, the founder of the MBC television audiovisual media service, requested the Broadcasting Council (BC) to suspend its broadcasting license for two months. The BC granted the request and decided to suspend the channel from 8 July to 8 September.

On 5 September, the media service provider informed the BC about the resumption of broadcasting from 8 September 2022.

However, the BC inspection revealed that MBC did not broadcast from September 12 to October 19. Thus, for the unjustified interruption of activity for more than ten days, the BC sanctioned the broadcaster with a fine of 25,000 lei (1,250 EUR) and gave it a deadline of 30 days to remove the deficiencies.

On October 21, the BC fined the channels RTR Moldova, Cinema 1, and PEH TV for violations of the provisions of the general concept of the program service. . The monitoring was carried out following a self-complaint by BC member Ruslan Mihalevschi and took place from September 12 to 18.

The BC  control department noted  that the three stations had violated the provisions of the general concept on the basis of which they had obtained their broadcasting license.  Some of the data in records submitted to the BC by the three broadcasters during the monitored period did not correspond with real statistics .

RTR Moldova, for example, claimed that it broadcast 19% of its own content between September 12 and 18, but the monitoring results showed 0%. In terms of retransmitted programs, RTR Moldova indicated 33.5% of its programs were retransmitted, but during monitoring, a volume of 63% was recorded.

Cinema 1 and PEH TV, during the period in question, produced 0% of their own content; retransmitted/pre-recorded/purchased programs accounted for more than 60% of programs broadcast. Cinema 1 reported 42% retransmitted programs (mainly series produced in the Russian Federation), but broadcast, according to the BC report, 66.07%. PEH TV said it broadcast 56% self-produced content, while monitoring showed zero percent. In the category of retransmitted programs, which includes programs and series from the Russian Federation, the channel showed 11% but broadcast 81.35% according to the BC.

By a unanimous vote, the members of the BC present at the meeting decided to impose a minimum fine of 5,000 lei (250 EUR) on the three channels.

At its meeting on 7 October, the BC fined and issued public warnings to several audiovisual radio media services related to compliance with the volume of local and Romanian language content. The monitoring was carried out following a complaint by BC Vice-President Ana Gonta, and other stations were previously subject to the same monitoring.

This time, the BC report showed that Radio Alla, founded by Radio Top, did not provide either the six hours of local audiovisual programs per day, as required by the Audiovisual Media Services Code, or the 80% of content in Romanian.

The radio station Vocea Sperantei, founded by Radio-RBS, violated the provisions obliging local private media service providers to broadcast local audiovisual programs for at least eight hours a day.

Russkoe Liubimoe and Radio ONE, managed by NG Production, did not broadcast 80% of their content in Romanian. The same breaches of the law were found at Megapolis FM, founded by DGS PROF.

The board members, therefore, voted to issue a public warning to the five radio stations.

Three other stations (Aquarelle-FM, Radio Dar, and Focul din Vatra) were fined 5,000 lei each (250 EUR) for failing to submit program service records for the monitored period.

At its October 7 meeting, the Broadcasting Council (BC) examined the results of the activity of Bravo TV, BTV, and Gold TV in the context of compliance with the provisions of the broadcasting license. The review was carried out following a self-report by President of the BC Liliana Vitu on the resumption of broadcasting of these audiovisual media services, according to a Council press release.

The BC asked media service distributors to inform about the distribution of Bravo TV, BTV, and Gold TV audiovisual media services from September 1 to 15. In their replies, the three broadcasters informed that the respective TV channels were not retransmitted during the indicated period.

Thus, the CA members fined the companies TV Balti, Bravo TV, and Aer-Comunicații Grup 25,000 lei ( 1250 EUR) “for the unjustified interruption of activity for a period of more than ten days” and gave them 30 days to remove the deficiencies, the statement said.

The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) has summed up the 2018-2022 project “Understanding Audience through Digital Assistance”, through which several media outlets have learned how to increase their audience and boost their revenues. The totalization activity took place online on October 21, 2022, and the event was attended by media partners of the 2022 project (Agora and Ziua de Azi), as well as some of the media partners from previous years – Locals (2020), BAS TV and Vmeste (2021).

At the beginning of the event, Mariana Tabuncic, IJC Program Manager, gave an overview of the activities carried out during the 5 years of the project’s implementation. During this period, 14 media institutions benefited from financial support, trainings, and consultations in the field of audience growth and revenue enhancement.

Internews representative Maia Mikashavidze noted that the project allowed the IJC to work with quality partners who understood the importance of knowing your audience and that “all partners received individual, needs-based consultancy”.

Corina Cepoi, Internews’ director in Moldova, highlighted the digital component of the audience project, through which partners received IT support. “We are also happy that the success stories of our partners are presented as success stories for media institutions in other countries. Although the project is at an end, we believe that the results will be long in coming”, said Corina Cepoi.

Oxana Paierele, Program Officer at the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau, said at the end of the meeting that “these investments are investments in the future”.

In the period 2018-2022, 16 grants of 5,000 EUR each and two grants of 10,000 EUR each for the implementation of initiatives on increasing audience and revenue were offered under the project.

The project “Audience Understanding and Digital Support” is implemented by the IJC with the support of Internews and financed by Sweden. The project aims to contribute to improving the quality of media content and media institutions’ financial sustainability through a better understanding of the needs of the audience.