Moldova: What the Media Think About the Media in Figures

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Very rarely (or never) do surveys show what the representatives of a professional community or a field think about themselves and about their fellow professionals.

Given the conditions in which the media industry of Moldova is developing today, with media outlets divided into camps and fighting across various barricades instead of working for the public, asking the opinion of the media about the media is an interesting endeavor.

At the request of the Independent Journalism Center, a SEENPM member, the company iData conducted such a study titled ‘What the Media Think About the Media in Figures‘.

The survey was conducted on a sample of 200 public and private media outlets (including online portals, television and radio stations, magazines, newspapers, and news agencies) in Chisinau and in the regions (excluding the Transnistrian region).

Data were collected between November 2016 and March 2017, but refer to the past 12 months (February 2016 to February 2017) or, in some cases, to the situation in general.

Conclusions:

In the iData survey, representatives of Moldovan media outlets offered the following opinions about their industry:

● Overall, the image of the media is neutral (35%) or quite positive (31%).

● The freedom of the media is less respected/observed in Moldova (50%) than freedom of expression (61%) although the media are the fourth power (66%).

● Media outlets present news and information neutrally (48%) but are an important tool of manipulation (76%).

● There is either somewhat unfair or totally unfair competition in the Moldovan media market (92%).

● The media should play an important role in the economic development of Moldova (94%), in education (91%), in promoting gender equality (96%), and in democracy (99%).

● Television is the least independent of politics (11%) while online portals and print press are the most independent (20%).

● Media taken together have significant influence on public opinion in Moldova: television has the most influence (93%) and print media the least (75%).

● Overall (57% to an average extent and 32% to a great extent), the media complied with/demonstrated professional principles of correctness, timeliness objectivity, relevance, diversity, uniqueness, credibility, and good quality language. The least compliance was with objectivity at 17%, and the greatest was with timeliness at 45%.

● Overall, analyses, investigations, and commentaries published in the past year were of average quality.

● In the past 12 months, 53% of outlets favored political parties/movements to a significant extent and 40% did so somewhat.

● Overall, journalism in Moldova is of average quality.

The results of this survey mostly confirm the opinions of media experts and/or studies produced on various segments of the media industry.

Read the study What the Media Think About the Media in Figures online.