Press freedom 2007: Down in Moldova and Ukraine, up in Transdniester

Newspapers for sale in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie: Now a brigher spot for press freedom than its two neighbors

KIEV (Tiraspol Times) - While still claiming to want democracy and human rights, press freedom is rapidly declining in Ukraine, says a new study by French NGO Reporters without Borders.

And in Moldova, the situation is also going from bad to worse: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the U.S. Embassy have both released harsh statements criticizing the forced closure of TV and radio stations.

But one potentially bright area remains: Only in Pridnestrovie, or Transdniester as it is also known, is the situation actually improving. What was previously seen as a black spot with a reputation for a somewhat repressive media climate is becoming more and more free every day. That was the conclusion of a recent seminar held by the British government and by Moldova's Foreign Policy Association.

In this article, we review 2007 press freedom in Ukraine, Moldova and Pridnestrovie (Transdniester / Transnistria). First stop: Kiev, the capital of Viktor Yushchenko's Ukraine...

Ukraine: Orange revolution is "dictatorship in disguise"

A recent study conducted by an international NGO indicates that press freedom in Ukraine has gotten worse over the last year, calling into question the democracy credentials of President Viktor Yushchenko and his failed Orange Revolution.

The Paris-based Reporters without Borders, which conducts an annual international study on press freedom, revealed that press freedom has gotten worse, not better, under Orange Yushchenko.

The results of the study point to a dramatically worsening situation as Yushchenko's Western allies look the other way.

Elsa Vidal from Reporters without Borders spoke of a reduction in press freedom in Ukraine, sparked in part by physical attacks against journalists and the court system’s inability to complete the murder trial of decapitated reporter Georgiy Gongadze.

Victoria Sjumar, director of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukraine-based NGO that monitors censorship in the country, also noted a decline in Ukraine’s press freedom due to violence against journalists.

" - Press freedom has gotten worse,” she said, citing a rise in journalist beatings and attacks throughout last year, adding that "There has also been a rise in censorship, political and economic pressure and lawsuits against journalists."

" - This so-called Orange Revolution is really just a dictorship in disguise," confirmed a wellplaced Kiev journalist who asked us not to print his name out of fear of government retaliation. "Just like in Georgia, the president is fooling the West with all his hollow democracy talk. It is just talk. In reality, they are as repressive as before, and it is becoming worse every day. Now, there is a lot which simply doesn't get printed anymore, because of fear of Ukraine's police and secret service."

Moldova: From bad to worse

Moldova, which never had an Orange Revolution, is instead governed by Europe's last Communist president. Although Vladimir Voronin pays lip service to Brussels and Washington, the actions of this former Soviet general and his regime are heavyhanded in a way that has the West increasingly worried.

Moldova's government closed two popular public broadcasters in the capital Chisinau, the Antena C radio station and the Euro TV channel, in what many see as a blatant attempt to silence critical voices ahead of the May local elections.

Both the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the U.S. Embassy have released statements criticizing the handling of the closures of the two stations, as well as a second radio broadcaster, 103.5 FM, in the city of Balti.

Among the concerns was fear of the deterioration of the free press in Moldova ahead of local elections in May.

Louis O'Neill, the American head of the OSCE mission to Moldova, said last month that the situation was "disappointing" and spoke of "missteps in the way the new legislation is being implemented."
Likewise, in an interview with RFE/RL's Romania-Moldova Service and the BBC conducted in Chisinau on February 16, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy said the closures represent a serious challenge to media freedom.

" - The development of free independent and pluralistic broadcasting media is vital for the establishment of a functioning democracy in Moldova," Graffy said. "And therefore, examples such as Antena C and 103.5 FM give us grave concern."

" - We believe that this presents a serious challenge to freedom of the press in Moldova and to the diversity of opinion and ideas available to the Moldovan public," continued Graffy. "The [U.S.] Embassy, together with members of the international community, really deplore this arbitrary manner in which the radio was reorganized and its staff fired."

In a commentary, the news agency Info-Prim Neo called the reorganization "the most far-reaching attack on the press and journalists who are inconvenient to the ruling party since 2004" - the year another critical station was liquidated by the Moldovan parliament in a move critics said was an attempt to eliminate government critics.

The commentary accuses the government of trying to manipulate the outcome of the May 2007 local elections by eliminating some of the few media outlets that were critical of its policies. To make matters even worse, 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 ... despite the fact that the opposite happens and the Moldovan press is freely available in Pridnestrovie.

Bright spots in Tiraspol

While far from perfect, the media situation in Pridnestrovie - also called Transdniester, or Transnistria - is fast improving. In fact, say journalists who work there, it is probably one of the few bright spots in an otherwise blighted region.

" - Personally, I have worked exclusively on PMR issues for almost a year now and have experienced no censorship of any kind," says Jason Cooper, a reporter and assistant staff editor for The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review. "We are free to write whatever we want, and sometimes we do put some bite into the articles. Just to see if they are asleep at the switch. And personally, I have to be honest - I don't think there even is a switch anymore. They left it a long time ago. The contents of the local press proves it: Today, the PMR press can freely write what it wants, and it often does. It is refreshing, especially in comparison with Moldova and Ukraine."

" - There are two very practical ways to gauge press freedom," says Cooper. "The first is to be a reader: Look at the content in all the Transdniestria papers and see how free/lively/critical it is. The proof is in the pudding."

" - The second way is to ask yourself: Have any newspapers been banned or closed? Are there any journalists in jail? Persecuted? Harrassed? Exiled? The short and simple answer is no, no, no and no. I don't mean to sound like an apologist," explains the journalist, "but again, the proof is in the pudding. You can't really argue with reality. And despite Moldovan claims to contrary, Transdnestr is a place where press freedom is on the up."

A seminar organized by the British Embassy and Moldova's Foreign Policy Association 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 engage in a number of efforts to silence the opposition. These efforts are not detailed by the OSCE and local journalists interviewed by Tiraspol Times are unaware of what the OSCE might be referring to. One even went as far as to suggest that the OSCE has a credibility problem.

In Pridnestrovie, however, an indirect gag on the press was arguably present through a requirement in the local press law that journalists were responsible for fact checking their stories. Ostensibly, the rule was put in place to promote truth in media. In practice, it worked to put a damper on journalistic freedom, with reporters using caution on reporting rumors and other claims that couldn't immediately be fact-checked.

In early February, PMR's parliament took steps to remove the fact-check rule. Although journalists are of course still urged to get their facts straight, they can no longer be hold legally responsible or fined for articles that don't check out. "This is a relief to those of us who work with tight deadlines," says journalist Roman Konoplev, editor in chief of news agency PMR News and the internet portal www.tiras.ru, based in Tiraspol, Pridnestrovie's capital.

American State Department officials seem to agree that Pridnestrovie, alone in the region, is moving in the right direction when it comes to media freedom. During her February 2007 visit to the region, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Graffy held a series of roundtables and meetings with members of the Moldovan media. According to an official press release issued by the U.S. Embassy, "the tour also included a lively discussion with Transnistrian journalists in Tiraspol", Pridnestrovie's capital.

In the Moldovan/Romanian version of the press release, the local translator took liberty with the original text and omitted the word "lively."
Apparently, censorship is rampant among Moldovan-speakers in Chisinau. Even among the locals hired by the U.S. Embassy to translate. (With information from Kyiv Post, RFE/RL)

See also:
» Moldova newspaper ban and closing violates free expression, says ECHR
» Human rights activist jailed in Moldova; radio station silenced
» British Embassy conference calls PMR press "independent" and "relatively free"
» Freedom of speech: Journalists compete over openness and free press

Download:
» U.S. Embassy official press release, 20 February 2007 (Word DOC)