Opinion: Authorities Divert People from Inconvenient News

The ruling regime more and more often decides for citizens what information they should obtain and where from

Semyon ALBU, RTA: Yesterday’s news about the banning of seven more Internet resources in Moldova was covered quite routinely. For some reason, among those affected are mainly the government agencies websites and the Crimean media, which were hardly very popular with our audience. In addition, a little-known portal advocating against the European integration and two major Russian media outlets, RIA Novosti and Nezavisimaya Gazeta, were shut down. According to the Internet provider Orange Moldova, the Security and Intelligence Service “sponsored” the restrictions. As usual, the logic of our special services in banning access to specific sites defies rational explanation. However, at the time TASS and Interfax were blocked I wondered why RIA Novosti were not among them, but this time the agency is banned as well. Although, most likely, the recent US sanctions against the Rossiya Segodnya media group, which includes Novosti, were heeded. As they say, why not kill two birds with one stone – to show loyalty to American patrons and to silence another alternative source of information. But while we are used to media bans (the list of those undesirable is gradually approaching one hundred), the refusal of the public company Teleradio-Moldova to broadcast electoral videos of registered candidates and parties, as stipulated by law, is definitely something new. Thus, the TRM management did not broadcast the address of PCRM leader Vladimir Voronin on the European integration referendum, and then the campaign video of presidential candidate Renato Usatii. Such events have certainly stirred up many opposition pundits, as well as Russian politicians and public opinion leaders, who began to accuse the ruling regime of total censorship and a desire to deprive the population of the information which the government deems undesirable. As one analyst aptly put it, “the authorities want to completely sterilize the information field”. I would, however, point out that they not only have such a desire, but have already almost achieved that. In recent years, I have devoted a whole series of articles to how freedom of speech is killed in our country under Maia Sandu and PAS. They chronicle what is essentially a disaster. We have now reached the point where even the period of the captured state seems to be a time of triumph of pluralism and dissemination of information. Dozens of national TV channels and Internet resources have been shut down, the remaining ones are functioning under the punitive oppression of the Teleradio Council, which annually collects millions of lei from the fines of “guilty” media outlets. Under the current regime, one can be punished simply for daring not to demonstrate absolute affection for the ruling party and its chosen domestic and foreign policy course. Our media is already so cowed that it tries to avoid covering hot-button issues altogether. I recently wrote about the paradoxical refusal of 73 TV channels and radio stations to cover the presidential election and the European integration referendum. Isn’t this a clear indication of how things really are with freedom of speech? Under the current ruling gang, you have to keep quiet to survive. Although even this does not always help – you remember how the first six TV channels were gagged for “propaganda of the war in Ukraine through silence”. Of course, the “yellow” media pretend that they are the most democratic and innocuous in the world, and Sandu told Dud with gusto that in fact Moldova is even growing in the ratings of media freedom. What she didn’t take into account was that a new top of Reporters Without Borders was coming up, where the blockades and the adherence of the majority of media to the “political agenda of the party” were no longer unnoticed. Amnesty International and the OSCE once drew attention to the excesses, but the geopolitical situation makes it possible to tighten the screws without any obstacles. After all, it is more than favorable for Western partners to keep Russian and anti-Western local media out of the Moldovan information field. This excessive “care” of the PAS about the information hygiene of the population has borne its natural profits: people no longer trust the official traditional media, but their interest in Internet sources has increased significantly. And now most people prefer to learn about the reality around them not from propaganda stories of sterilized TV channels and radio stations, but from social networks and messengers. The authorities are well aware of this, and they have their own answer to this in the form of the Patriot center for combating ‘disinformation’, which is in charge of detecting anything that the government considers untoward, and reporting it to the right agencies. Therefore, control over social platforms down to personal correspondence is not that far away. All the more so because the aspirations of the regime and its foreign handlers coincide completely: they are also furious about the availability of tools that allow to express their thoughts online in safety from administrative or even criminal prosecution. The special operation to arrest Pavel Durov is the clearest example of this. Judging by the media reports that Telegram has already become much more willing to co-operate with Western law enforcement agencies, this messenger will soon be forced to play by the rules. The result of all this is that our dear authorities will soon completely decide on the type of information we should obtain and where from, and from what information we should be forcibly isolated, whether we want it or not. Is there any way to counter this? Not really, because this is a steady trend and not only inside Moldova. However, as a first step, we can at least try to discard those politicians who have contributed hugely to eroding the freedom of speech and media in the country. You know how to do it.