Another clone of Ziarul de Garda newspaper

The editorial staff of the Chisinau-based investigation newspaper “Ziarul de Garda” warns that a fake online version of the publication has appeared in Romania, Info-Prim Neo reports. ZdG informs that the author of the so-called online newspaper at www.ziaruldegarda.ro was Mircea Merticariu, a former intern at “Ziarul de Garda”. In 2007, he pretended to be a reporter of the Romanian newspaper “Monitorul de Bacau” and obtained an internship at ZdG, within a Moldovan-Romanian cooperation project implemented by the Association of Independent Press and funded by the Romanian Government. “Recently, a clone of “Ziarul de Garda” has appeared on the internet, an investigation newspaper, produced by our former intern Mircea Merticariu. He has never told us he will use the exact name of the newspaper that accepted him and offered him all the possible training”, the ZdG statement reads. The ZdG staff also writes that on Monday, May 16, the fake newspaper published an article written by Victor Nichitus, a former employee at NIT, N4, “Serebreanii Dojdi” and other Moldovan media outlet. Alongside Merticariu, he is the only author of the publication that stole ZdG’s name. “The article was distributed on the Internet under the brand “Ziarul de Garda”, being improperly quoted by other media institutions, leading to confusion and manipulation”. The newspaper’s staff call on all the mass media to inform the public opinion about the institution’s name theft, which violates all journalistic and ethical principles and which is supposedly used for political manipulation. Previously, in late April, the ZdG editorial board announced that fake newspapers using “Ziarul de Garda” logo, font and headings, had been distributed in Chisinau and other districts. They contained slanderous articles targeting Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca.