29 June 2009
API promotes the idea of setting up a Press Council

API of end public debate on whether to create a Press Council as an instrument of self-regulation of the press in Moldova.

Discussions were held under the slogan "Freedom and Responsibility: Enhancing professional standards in journalism" and took place in Chisinau and Balti municipalities and cities Orhei and Comrat. Overall, the debate was attended by over 80 people: press publishers, journalists, opinion leaders, readers of national and regional periodicals, etc..

Participants in the debate discussed the media responsibility for the information published, the rules of ethics and professional conduct, existing mechanisms for self-release and the opportunity to create a Press Council in Moldova after the model of European countries. Most participants in the debate accepted the idea of setting up a Press Council, considering that this form of self-regulation would increase the credibility of the media and could contribute to improving standards of quality media outlets. The same view is 82% of those polled by the API in a study on the opinions of journalists on whether the creation of Press Council as a mechanism of self.

In public debates, were several proposals on the organization and functioning of the Press Council, the selection of its members, potential funding sources. Journalists and representatives of the public believes that the basis of the Press Council should be dealing with complaints at work in mass media consumer information and the Council should be represented both professional journalists and the general public.

In the following months, API will conduct a media campaign to promote responsibility and the Press Council as a mediator of conflicts that may arise between the media and consumers of information.

Public debates were held in the project "The Press in Moldova", implemented by API with support of Eurasia Foundation, Moldova Representative, source U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.