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Corruption Media Coverage Not Sufficient In Some Public Interest Areas
The opening session of the Press Club. From left to right: Petru Macovei, Cornelia Cozonac, Ion Bunduchi, Corneliu Omelian. Photo: API.
Top Moldovan media pay insufficient attention to corruption coverage in some areas of public interest. Editors have serious shortcomings when planning stories on corruption; there is concern about the large number of stories taken over versus one’s own material; and the quality of published material is average and below average. These are some of the findings of the first monitoring report, presented by the Association of Independent Press (API) at a Press Club held on 30 August 2023 in partnership with the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJM).
Between June and July 2023, API monitored 12 national and regional media outlets on their coverage of corruption in education, health, social assistance and the agri-food sector, as well as other areas of public interest. Using complex methodology, based on several quantitative and qualitative criteria and indicators, four TV stations (Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, GRT TV/Comrat, Elita TV/Rezina), five news portals (Protv.md, Publika.md, TV8.md, Nokta.md/Comrat, Esp.md/Bălți), one radio station (Radio Moldova) and two regional newspapers (Unghiul/Ungheni and Observatorul de Nord/Soroca) were assessed. Full content was monitored in print and online media, on TV (17.00–23.00) and radio (17.00–20.00), the main newscast of the day and, where appropriate, planned or sporadic thematic programs.
The author of the report Ion Bunduchi noted that only 10 percent of the 525 media reports on corruption published by the 12 media outlets in June and July this year were in the fields of education, health, social assistance or the agri-food sector (58 topics). “If we do a simple calculation, we see that the platforms monitored, in total, produced less than one article per day on these topics. This shows that the visibility of the issue is very low and the public is not sufficiently informed to make a judgement on the seriousness of this phenomenon," the API expert said. Ion Bunduchi added that a qualitative evaluation of the topics (out of a maximum of 40 possible points) found that Jurnal TV (26 points), Radio Moldova – (25), TV8.md (24.82), TV Moldova 1 (23.50), Publika.md (23.00), ProTV (22.78), Esp.md (21.17), Nokta.md (20.00) covered corruption items in the four areas quite well. Media coverage of corruption in these areas is acceptable in Unghiul (15.75) and Observatorul de Nord (15.00), while on Elita TV and TV GRT, corruption topics on education, health, social assistance or in the agri-food sector are practically absent in prime time. The report includes other relevant indicators and data as well as recommendations for each newsroom monitored.
At the Press Club opening, Corneliu Omelian, Anti-Corruption and CSO Engagement Advisor at the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), spoke about the objectives and projects to strengthen the rule of law and anti-corruption mechanisms that the agency is implementing with donor support. Petru Macovei, Executive Director of API, and Cornelia Cozonac, President of the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJM), spoke about the important role of the media in covering corruption and shaping public perception of this phenomenon, as well as activities to strengthen investigative journalism.
Representatives of the media outlets monitored were invited for discussions after the presentation of the report. “The specific recommendations given to each media outlet monitored will help us understand what needs to be improved and where we need to work more. We will discuss these suggestions in the newsroom so that we can offer our listeners diverse and good quality media products in the future," said Cornel Ciobanu, Deputy Director General of Teleradio Broadcaster/Radio Moldova. “I think that the monitoring period did not favour us, and I am convinced that we will have better results in the next reports. Even though we have few journalists in the newsroom, we will try to tackle corruption in the four areas more frequently and qualitatively. We will also take the opportunity to collaborate with specialized media outlets such as Ziarul de Gardă, Anticorupție.md and others," said Victor Cobăsneanu, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Observatorul de Nord of Soroca.
Between August and November 2023, API will produce and publicly present two more monitoring reports.
Monitoring Report No. 1 and Methodology
The video of the Press Club where the monitoring report was presented can be accessed HERE.
For further details, please contact us by email: ion.mazur@api.md or by telephone: 022/220995 (contact – Ion Mazur).
The project "Strengthening the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Mechanisms in the Republic of Moldova" is co-financed by the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Government of the United Kingdom, and implemented by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ).
The project partners in Chișinău are the Association of Independent Press (API) and the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJM) which are implementing the project "Consolidating A Network of Investigative Journalists in the Republic of Moldova and Increasing Their Capacity to Investigate Corruption Cases"
