A number of media outlets joined the campaign to support investigative journalism on January 27. These published political news where the names of the quoted officials were presented in cryptic form in a move to sensitize the authorities to the abusive interpretation of the Law on Personal Data Protection.
Executive director of the Association of Independent Press Petru Macovei has told IPN that the articles were accompanied by a notice saying that they were published within the campaign in protest at the erroneous and abusive interpretation of the Law on Personal Data Protection.
“We hope a lot that this campaign will unite the journalistic guild because it is a problem that each journalist will face sooner or later and will have their access to information blocked,” stated Petru Macovei.
According to him, if the situation continues, the consumers will be affected as the information will be incomplete or there will be only news about how well they live in Moldova and there will be no news about cases of corruption, conflicts of interests or other very serious problems of society.
“We surely expect a reaction on the part of the officials. By now, a number of colleagues from the Romanian press made common cause with us and published news within this campaign, showing their sympathy with this effort,” said Petru Macovei.
The campaign will continue the coming weeks. Petru Macovei said that if the authorities are late in reacting, some other measures could be taken.
