Freedom of speech: Journalists compete over openness and free press

Newspapers such Tiraspol-based "Da!" (shown) take part in an opposition sponsored competition for maximum freedom of press

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - A competition officially started today for the best media coverage of PMR's 2006 presidential election, to be held on 10 December.

Aimed at testing the bounds of free press in the country, the competition focuses on reporting with openness and transparency on the election. As stated by the organizers, the reporting must be seek "further development of democracy, glasnost and openness of elections." It should also teach the citizens of Pridnestrovie about democracy, their rights to vote and the voting process in general, urging voters to use this right and exercise their constitutional free choice at the time of voting.

The competition is organized by PMR's largest opposition party, Renewal ('Obnovleniye') which won the 2005 parliamentary election over the pro-presidential Respublika party.

Anyone in the media who covers Pridnestrovie can participate. That includes journalists and editors of TV stations, radio, newspapers, large or small, as well as news agencies. The competition includes both print media and electronic media of any location: Pridnestrovie, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, etc.

One participating journalist realizes that the competition will push some of the limits of free press, but he takes that as a challenge:
" - On one hand, we might piss someone off. Big deal. On the other hand, we stand to collect on the prize money. That's an ever bigger deal. I'll take the money," says Tiraspol-based journalist Roman Konoplev.

There are four categories: TV, radio, news agencies and print media. The work must focus on free and open election campaign coverage in PMR, effectiveness, objectivity, and best analytical reporting. Winning journalists will get a first prize of $2,000 in cash, tax-free, with second and third prizes of $1,000 and $750 USD, respectively.

Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester in English, declared independence in 1990. Its independence has not been recognized and as a result, the young country lacks international integration. Chisinau accuses the country of also lacking a free press, something which locals - with access to a lively variety of newspapers, TV and radio - dispute. In Pridnestrovie itself, the freedom of the press is obvious to anyone who visits a newsstand, listen to Talk Radio or watch opinion programs on the local TV stations.

Western seminar finds improvements in press freedom

A seminar organized by the British Embassy in September 2006 concluded that a relatively free press exists which is independent from authority. Around fifty foreign policy analysts and journalists examined the current situation of freedom of speech and free expression in Pridnestrovie. They took particular issue with a Moldovan-created stereotype that the press in Pridnestrovie is state controlled and managed by heavy-handed, Stalinist methods, with so-called "voices of freedom" being suppressed.

As concluded by the analysts, the opposite is true: It turned out, said the summary of the seminar, that the press is in fact relatively free from state security control and that it voices opinions which are independent of the government led by current president Igor Smirnov. The report quoted "the presence of certain courage, professionalism and adherence to [journalistic] principles" and concluded that the press does not blindly transmit the government's viewpoint.

According to Internet-based sources, this conflicts with an earlier report by OSCE which claims that the media climate in both Moldova and Pridnestrovie is restrictive and that authorities of both banks of Dniester engage in efforts to silence their respective opposition. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Moldova applies censorship to both local and foreign media. And despite an agreement to the contrary, the country won't let Pridnestrovie's newspapers and magazines be sold in Moldova ... even though the opposite happens and the Moldovan press is freely available in Pridnestrovie.

Now, as the competition heats up both in the presidential race and among the journalists over who can write the best and most comprehensive election coverage, newspaper readers in the country will have the final say in the matter. They will be the final judges on just how far Pridnestrovie has come in terms of freedom of speech in recent years.

See also:
» Pridnestrovie's newspapers banned in Moldova