Censorship in Moldova: Pridnestrovie's media banned
Human Rights | Moldova
Pridnestrovie and Moldova signed a "Declaration about the unobstructed circulation of mass media and delivery of the periodicals and telegrams in the territory of Moldova and the Pridnestrovian republic" on 16 May 2001. There are no reported violations of this agreement by Pridnestrovie. However, there are reports of such actions by Moldova whose authorities deny its Russian-speaking residents access to Pridnestrovian mass media.
" — As a publisher and newspaper proprietor I was delighted to see this country affords press freedom to its journalists."
However, Grant was shocked by the onesidedness of the Moldovan censorship:
" — You can buy both Pridnestrovian AND Moldovan national newspapers in Pridnestrovie. However you can not buy Pridnestrovian newspapers in Moldova. So in simple terms people in Pridnestrovie have freedom to read both sides of the conflicting issues, but Moldovans are kept in the dark. Journalists in Pridnestrovie are very quick to point this out and are so proud to report press freedom despite Moldovan claims."
Grant is going back to Pridnestrovie later this year and will report on the freedom of press on both sides of the Dniester. He can be contacted at leaderdes@eircom.net
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.
In Pridnestrovie, Romanian and Moldavian mass-media is freely sold and read. But look for any Pridnestrovian newspapers in Moldova and you will look in vain: The government of Moldova imposes censorship and has banned the import of any newspapers or magazines which promote the Pridnestrovian point of view.
Starting 5 February 2005, the authorities of Moldova banned the importation and distribution of Pridnestrovian newspapers both for subscribers and for retail. Moldovan customs police stopped mail trucks and prevented them from reaching Chisinau with their daily deliveries of newspapers and periodicals. Vladimir Belyayev, Pridnestrovie's spokesman, called the censorship a serious "human rights violation" but emphasized that Pridnestrovie would not retaliate with reciprocical measures.
At newsstands in Pridnestrovie a large selection of Moldavian newspapers can be purchased freely. The opposite is not true in Moldova.
Moldova has difficulties keeping its word
This is just one more example of Moldovan inability to honor its written agreements to abstain from agression against Pridnestrovie. In a long string of similar cases, a clear modus operandi emerges: Moldova will sign a formal agreement only to then unilaterally ignore it and grossly violate its contents. Here's a list of some of the more notable agreements which Moldova later breached:
- 5 July 5 1995 Agreement "On Keeping Peace and Guarantees of Security Between the Republic of Moldova and Pridnestrovie"
- 11 March 1996 Protocol of Agreed Questions
- 8 May 1997 Memorandum "On Principles of Normalisation of Relations Between the Republic of Moldova and Pridnestrovie", co-signed with OSCE in the person of Niels Helveg Petersen
- 9 April 2001 and 16 May 2001 documents signed by President V. Voronin as head of state of the Republic of Moldova.
“ - When their foreign policy changes five or six times, we cannot say we live next to serious neighbors,” says Rouslan Slobodeniuc, the Pridnestrovian First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Censorship hits local Moldovan media, too
Be afraid, in fact be very afraid if you are a journalist in Moldova who decides to exercise your free speech to say a few kind words about Pridnestrovie. If you do, you can lose your job and the newspaper you work for will get shut down.
2006 censorship in Moldova: Here, local newspaper photographer Alex Viskalov covers a protest by pensioners in Chisinau, May 7 2006. As he leaves, Moldovan police arrest him and destroy his photos.
This happened in November of 2001 to "Kommersant Moldovy", a weekly business newspaper with an objective unbiased stand on Pridnestrovie-Moldova relations. Apparently one its articles was too kind to Pridnestrovie's point of view and the Communist led government in Moldova decided to silence it once and for all. As reported by the international Committee to Protect Journalists, it was forcefully shut down by order of a Moldovan judge for the crime of "opposing Moldovan territorial integrity.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has actively been monitoring the gross human rights violations in Moldova and the state's heavy hand in censoring freedom of speech. If foreign reporters work in Moldova they can be arrested: In its report "Attacks on the Press" dealing with Moldova, the Committee also carries details of the arrest of a television crew from Pridnestrovie's news agency, Olvia Press, who had their videotapes and all their work confiscated so it couldn't air.
International reporters concerned about Moldovan victims
As other foreign observers, the Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about the escalation of censorship and state violence in Moldova. The government used the Broadcasting Coordinating Council—a media regulatory agency staffed by government loyalists to silence media outlets that criticized government policies.
According to Moldova section of the groups' annual report "Attacks on the Press", the situation is going from bad to worse:
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Thirteen years after declaring independence from the Soviet Union, Moldova is plagued by a corrupt communist government, a stagnant economy, and an ongoing civil conflict with the breakaway Trans-Dniester Region. Corruption is widespread in a society where criminal groups have fused with the government and business. Independent and opposition media struggle to survive amid a general state of lawlessness and poverty that has forced many to align themselves with political parties to survive. The government continues to use politicized agencies to control the press.
President Vladimir Voronin's communist government sparked protests in 2004 with its politically motivated management of state broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova, the country's only nationwide TV broadcaster. Under pressure from the Council of Europe, a human rights monitoring organization based in Strasbourg, France, Parliament approved a measure in 2002 to transform the state broadcaster into an autonomous public institution. However, when the law was implemented in 2004, critics say, it did not make the broadcaster more independent. CPJ sources say Teleradio-Moldova fired all its employees then turned around and rehired the old staff—minus any reporters, producers, and cameramen deemed opponents of the Voronin government.
There is no such situation in Pridnestrovie where private sector media exercises its constitutionally-protected right to freedom of speech. For the past eight years there has not been a single reported instance of government censorship in Pridnestrovie. [ More ]
Newspaper owner from the European Union speaks out
Des Grant, a newspaper owner from Ireland, has been to Pridnestrovie five times since 2003 and confirms that press freedom in Pridnestrovie is real:" — As a publisher and newspaper proprietor I was delighted to see this country affords press freedom to its journalists."
However, Grant was shocked by the onesidedness of the Moldovan censorship:
" — You can buy both Pridnestrovian AND Moldovan national newspapers in Pridnestrovie. However you can not buy Pridnestrovian newspapers in Moldova. So in simple terms people in Pridnestrovie have freedom to read both sides of the conflicting issues, but Moldovans are kept in the dark. Journalists in Pridnestrovie are very quick to point this out and are so proud to report press freedom despite Moldovan claims."
Grant is going back to Pridnestrovie later this year and will report on the freedom of press on both sides of the Dniester. He can be contacted at leaderdes@eircom.net
Like him, other news media in the West are beginning to take notice. When they actually visit Pridnestrovie and see for themselves what the truth is (rather than just recycling Moldova's black propaganda), they discover that press freedom is alive and well in Pridnestrovie. But that the story is different in Moldova ... and that the people of Pridnestrovie has no wish to be subjected to the harsh hand of Moldovan censorship.
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