In 2019, political partisanship, manipulation and misinformation in politically affiliated media
were felt like never before. According to ISPM103, influential parties have managed to corrupt
journalists and much of the media, subordinate certain media institutions and use them against
political opponents in various ways - pressure, verbal attacks, threats, aggression, obstruction in the
exercise of the profession; easy access to information of public interest or public events, for
politically affiliated media; attractive financial offers for journalists who have agreed to play the
role of political actors, etc.
At the same time, in a Monitoring Report, carried out in 2019 by the Center for Independent
Journalism on how the media institutions reflected the political crisis in June last year, there is a
biased and unbalanced reflection of events with deviations from ethical standards.104 The mixture of
facts and opinions, the lack of the right to reply, the manipulation through the biased use of video
images and titles, truncation of facts, opinions and statements are just some of the techniques used
by major media institutions to reflect recent political developments, says the media expert Victor
Gotisan.
These and other irregularities and signals regarding the broadcasting of topics of a
manipulative and misinformation nature do not always come under the scrutiny of the Audiovisual
Council (AC), empowered to ascertain whether there are derogations from the legislation and to
apply the necessary sanctions. This institution is still criticized by media experts for its passivity
and lack of attitude in obvious cases of politicization of some radio and television institutions. In
the Resolution of the Media Forum of 4-5 November 2019105, there was criticized the way in which
the Audiovisual Council redistributes frequencies and licenses in audiovisual, which leads to
maintaining the political influence on audiovisual media content, stimulates the concentration of
ownership and dominant positions in forming public opinion.
The influence of the political factor affects media pluralism. Even if there are different types
of media in the Republic of Moldova, this does not mean a diversity of opinions, attitudes and
content regarding the realities in the country. The reason is that the media space continues to be
monopolized, and the media - a manipulation tool for spheres of influence.
103
http://media-azi.md/ro/publicatii/indicele-privind-situa%C8%9Bia-presei-din-republica-moldova-%C3%AEn-anul2019
104
https://moldova.europalibera.org/a/majoritatea-mass-media-monitorizate-au-prezentat-ultima-criz%C4%83%C4%83politic%C4%83-%C3%AEn-func%C5%A3ie-de-preferin%C5%A3ele-politice/30058780.html
105
https://www.ipn.md/ro/rezolutia-forumului-mass-media-din-republica-moldova-20197542_1069400.html#ixzz6F4W224RD
59
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents