Communication between journalists and judges is deficient and judges who refuse to answer questions posed by journalists later complain about journalists and journalistic investigations. This finding was made by the members of the Press Council (CP), presented at a meeting on October 29, after the examination of a referral of the Superior Council of Magistracy, which asked the CP to verify judge Anatolie Minciună's complaint against the TV station TV8.
The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), at the request of judge Anatolie Minciună, asked the Press Council to verify TV8's compliance with the journalistic deontological norms, in the "Cutia Neagră" edition on the topic of judges involved in the embezzlement of the billion. In its referral, the CSM said that during the show it was claimed that Anatolie Minciună, a judge at the Chișinău Court of Appeal, was either involved in the theft of the billion or prevented the subsequent restitution of the embezzled money. The magistrate said that this information does not correspond to reality and smears him and the entire judicial system. Moreover, the judge said that he "did not receive any requests from TV8 to be interviewed in regard to the journalistic investigation".
TV8 informed the Press Council that in can clearly be seen in the TV show that the journalist physically went to the Chișinău Court of Appeal, contacted the clerk and the press service in order to get Anatolie Minciună's side of the story. The members of the Press Council examined the video sequence in which it visible how the journalist followed the instructions provided by the press service and the clerk, while also attempting to contact the judge via telephone.
According to CP chairwoman, Viorica Zaharia, the journalists said that the judge, Anatolie Minciună, previously managed a case related to the theft of the billion, which corresponds to the truth and does not represent a direct accusation to the magistrate. Viorica Zaharia said that the journalists were compliant with journalistic deontological norms, which is visible in the tapes. "The judge knew that an investigation was carried out. If he really wanted to share his opinion and to prevent misinterpretations, he would have responded to the journalists' repeated requests", said Viorica Zaharia.
The secretary of the Press Council, Petru Macovei, said that this complaint shows that there are communication issues between journalists and judges or the courts' press services. "Communication is poor. In the tapes, you can clearly see that the journalists transmitted the request, looked for the judge, were redirected several times from one headquarters to another, without getting a reaction from the judge. Given the fact that judges do not respond, nor does the press service facilitate the communicating with magistrates, it is difficult to understand why judges complain post-factum", said Petru Macovei.
The Press Council concluded that they did not find deviations from the journalistic deontological norms in the TV8 show "Cutia Neagră". Additionally, the Press Council issued a recommendation to the magistrate, if he considers that the information personally concerning him do not correspond to the truth, to request the right of reply in a new edition of the "Cutia Neagră" TV show, and it issued the recommendation to the TV8 station to offer the right of reply, if it is requested.
