The Moldovan press is monopolized and the interference of politics is obvious, according to several media experts. They told a press conference at IPN that the electoral campaign highlighted the lack of independence and impartiality of some mass media institutions.
Nadine Gogu, head of the Center for Independent Journalism, described the press in 2014 as partisan, monopolized and non-pluralist. “We lack an environment in which journalists could work freely. There are internal and external pressures and this became apparent especially in the recent electoral campaign. The authorities are open only in their declarations”, said Gogu.
Petru Macovei, executive director of the Association of Independent Press, thinks that in 2014 the quality of journalistic production dropped and the political interference aggravated, which led to a lower degree of media freedom.
Ion Terguta, director of MIR Moldova, agreed that the Moldovan media market is a monopoly both from the point of view of the advertising market and of the distribution market. According to him, the electoral campaign showed the mass media institutions to be nothing more than manipulation tools.
Alina Radu, director of the investigative newspaper Ziarul de Garda, noted that attacks and threats against journalists continued as in previous years and nobody did anything to investigate or stop them.
Moldova was ranked 2nd in the Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Index, behind Georgia.
