The media nongovernmental organizations are indignant at the attitude shown by the Liberal Party head Mihai Ghimpu in the program “In profunzime” on Pro TV Chisinau cannel on January 28. They demand that he should apologize publicly for the attacks on the mass media and stop making accusations against the journalists, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We consider that such attacks made by politicians, especially representatives of the ruling alliance, are inadmissible. The fact that Mihai Ghimpu labels the journalists who carried out professional journalistic investigations and objectively covered the tragic incident in the Domneasca Forest and the reactions that followed as ‘bought’ is revolting,” reads a statement signed by a number of NGOs. The signatories remind the Liberal leader the essential role of the press as a watchdog of democracy that follows the public interest and governance with critical eyes, and the commitments made by the Alliance for European Integration concerning the freedom of the press and ensuring of conditions needed to develop the mass media. According to the NGOs, such attacks represent serious deviations from the democratic norms as they can intimidate the press. The situation is rather serious because similar statements were made by other representatives of the power and the opposition earlier. This shows that the politicians want to control the journalists and influence the editorial content of the media outlets. In a program on Pro TV, Mihai Ghimpu said the Moldovan journalists started a denigrating campaign against him and made him a scapegoat for all the failures of the ruling alliance. The question that irritated the politician was: Why didn’t he intervene promptly in the Falesti incident as an MP, party leader and former head of state?