Moldova-Institut Leipzig, in cooperation with the Association for Independent Press (API) and the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, is holding an international seminar entitled “The mass media and journalistic ethics in times of crisis”. During three days, the journalists will learn how to fight propaganda and manipulation, IPN reports.
API executive director Petru Macovei, in the launch of the seminar on September 7, said that after the Communists were removed from power in 2009, the Moldovan mass media saw a favorable period of work, but the situation worsened in 2013-2014. Now the situation of the mass media in Moldova is the worse since 2009 owing to the cases of propaganda, manipulation and concentration.
Petru Macovei noted that a new wave of misinformation and manipulation is expected to be witnessed in the media in connection with the October 30 presidential elections. The correct journalists, who obey the Deontological Code, should exert pressure on the representatives of the media who do not respect the journalistic principles.
Liberal MP Lilian Carp, who is one of the authors of a bill to amend the Broadcasting Code, said that Moldova witnesses a crisis in the mass media sector. The initiatives to amend the Broadcasting Code proposed by the MPs contain more questions than answers. It is hard to implement the changes because the propaganda should be first stopped, but the freedom of expression should not be affected.
Moldova-Institut Leipzig vice president Vasile Dumbrava said the Institute has staged activities to help journalists during many years. Over ten years, it organized experience exchanges for journalists to learn how to cope with crisis situations, propaganda and manipulation.
The project aims to promote professional exchanges between journalists and media experts from Ukraine, Moldova and Russia and to initiate a sustainable trans-regional dialogue on the particularities of the media discourse and the usurpation of the freedom and independence of the mass media in the post-Soviet area.
