Is Freedom of Speech in Moldova Officially Over?

The ruling regime has thoroughly mopped up the national media landscape: non-government media have massively refused to cover the presidential elections and referendum in order to avoid huge fines and blocking  

Semen ALBU, RTA: Since the yellow gang took over Moldova, we have been regularly paying attention to the outrage upon the “fourth estate”. Previously, we could say a lot of “good” things about the level of democracy in our country, but there was still some kind of freedom of speech. At the very least, we had a whole network of various media outlets – national, regional, broadcasting on air and on the Internet. Yes, they are biased, often have not entirely honest owners or foreign funding – but, nevertheless, the palette of opinions was wide, and the media did not hesitate to criticize the government. Moreover, even the odious Vlad Plahotniuc put up with this case. But what was not encroached upon during the times of the captured state, almost immediately became under threat since Maia Sanda and her clique got hold of all the arms of governance in the republic. Using the cover of Western curators, who effectively banned any serious criticism of the “pro-European government”, the yellows in the first months of their rule began to systematically take over the Moldovan media scene. For example, they took control of Teleradio-Moldova and the Audiovisual Board, having appointed the future PAS infamous information “Cerberus” Liliana Viţa its head. Well, and then you know – mass ban of TV channels, Internet portals and electronic media, without any court rules and with very timid indignation, and sometimes with deathly silence from local and foreign human rights NGOs. And now we see the logical outcome of this totalitarian media policy. This week, we knew that 73 TV channels and radio stations, more than three dozen of which have national coverage, have filed notices with Liliana Vițu’s media gestapo about their decision not to cover the autumn presidential elections and the referendum on European integration. In practice, this means that they do not have the right to place paid election advertising, or broadcast programs about the elections, “except for news of public interest.” That is, literally in two months, the country will have two major political events of the year, and maybe not only, but most of our media are not interested in their coverage. Have you ever heard of such a phenomenon? Indeed, who would refuse compos mentis the opportunity to film dozens, if not hundreds of hype stories that will definitely attract the general public attention? But in our country, such stories turned out to be the majority. Presidential candidate Alexandr Stoyanoglo was surprised by this arrangement, in his opinion, all this “raises serious questions.” The solution here is, of course, very simple. The fact is that the PAS has regulated the Moldovan media environment so much in three years that there is no trace of freedom of speech here. They are not at all embarrassed to bring down repressions on unwanted media, using for this purpose either the Commission on Emergency Situations or even the Investment Council, which at one time outraged even the non-governmental fraternity loyal to the authorities. But their cries, of course, had no effect on anything – this is our democratic society. The Audiovisual Board has been turned into a censorship body, which personally determines – it is clear in whose favor – whether the “principles of objectivity, balance and impartiality” are observed, the “correctness” of the coverage of certain topics, etc. As Liliana Vițu says, “it restores order.” It restores order to such an extent that any criticism of the policies of the president and the ruling party is now considered disinformation. And for this, everyone can also be accused of treason, according to the legislative amendments of this year… Opposition media outlets ended up between a rock and a hard place. Some of them were closed down, some were ostracized – our officials even allow not to answer questions from journalists who, in their opinion, “work for criminals.” And the authorities especially liked the practice of imposing sanctions on those who are guilty through the Audiovisual Board. Moreover, loyal media either get off with symbolic fines, or in most cases do not receive them at all, but the rest get it in full. This is also evident from the figures. Thus, in 2020-2021, the Council issued fines for less than MDL 700 thousand, but in 2022 – already MDL 2.3 million, and last year – MDL 3.14 million. The trends and methods are obvious. It is clear that the threats of blocking and huge monetary penalties greatly influence the desire of still operating media to touch on sensitive topics in principle, for which they will definitely “get hurt.” Even such high-rating and publicly interesting events as the elections of the head of state. Having cleaned up the broadcasting network and official electronic media, the authorities are already thinking about how to put independent Internet resources in a pit, including bloggers, influencers, Telegram channels, publics, etc. Here, Western partners have already come to the rescue, sending delegation after delegation with valuable advice on controlling the Internet under the guise of counteracting the “Kremlin’s hybrid aggression.” The “Ministry of Propaganda” that began operating this year will certainly play its role here – officially the “Patriot Center for Strategic Communication and Combating Disinformation” headed by the unforgettable Ana Revenco. The idea of ​​its establishment belongs to the president, if anyone does not remember. What exactly this structure does is not known for sure – the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is in no hurry to report on the results of its work. However, by a strange coincidence, an analogue of the Ukrainian site “Mirotvorets” recently appeared in our segment of the network with a list of Moldovan enemies of the people. And, according to rumors, this craft is sourced from the “Patriot”. In general, the information dictatorship that I have been talking about for a long time is being built in full swing here. To the applause of the West, which in almost every report paints a picture of some unprecedented democratic progress in Moldova. So the “yellow comrades”, unhampered by anything, will continue to follow the “true path”, suppressing the remnants of freedom of speech in the country.