The International Foundation "Justice for Journalists" based in London, UK, has published a Report on Attacks on Media Workers in the Republic of Moldova in 2023. The report was prepared with the support of the Association of Independent Press (API), the Foundation's partner in Moldova. Monitoring reports on attacks on journalists in several countries of the former Soviet Union have been published since 2017.

 

According to the report, in 2023, 43 cases of attacks/threats against media professionals were recorded in the Republic of Moldova, 13 attacks less than in the previous year. Over the last three years, the number of attacks on journalists in Moldova has decreased, with 68 cases documented in 2021 (the same as in 2020) and 56 attacks in 2022.

Data was collected by monitoring open source attack and threat statements in Romanian, Russian, and English. Physical attacks and threats to life, liberty and health; non-physical and/or cyber-attacks and threats; attacks using legal and/or economic mechanisms are analyzed.

 

The report's authors found that

• The absolute majority of attacks on Moldovan media professionals in 2023 were non-physical and/or cyberspace attacks and threats (33 or 77% of the total), including: intimidation, pressure, threats of violence and death, discrediting, cyber and DDoS attacks on media platforms, etc. Since 2017, these types of attack have been the main method of pressure on Moldovan media professionals.

• There were 3 cases of physical attacks and direct threats to the life, freedom and health of journalists, and 7 cases of legal and/or economic harassment of media outlets.

• Most of the attacks (16 cases, or more than 37% of the total) came from unknown individuals, mainly online threats from fake profiles and accounts. Another 13 attacks were initiated by political activists and participants in anti-government protests organized by political groups affiliated with Ilan Shor, including three cases in which journalists were physically attacked.

• In 8 cases, journalists were intimidated by representatives of local and regional authorities, with a worrying situation in the Gagauzia Autonomous Region.

• The number of attacks on media workers and newsrooms using legal and/or economic mechanisms decreased slightly compared to 2022 (from 10 to 7 such incidents), and mainly concern civil lawsuits initiated mainly by people journalists have reported on in the context of corruption allegations and/or journalistic investigations.

• In 2023, several journalists and the chairwoman of the Broadcasting Council were declared undesirable persons in the Russian Federation, and a journalist was banned from entering the Transnistrian region, which is not under the control of the constitutional authorities.

 

In 2023, employees of 19 media outlets and organizations in Moldova were attacked or threatened. The most frequent targets of the attacks were employees of the Comrat portal Nokta.md and TV8/Tv8.md, the investigative publication Ziarul de Gardă, and the media trust Jurnal. The portals Newsmaker.md, Center for Investigative Journalism /Anticoruptie.md, Zonadesecuritate.md, Ialovenionline.md (Ialoveni), CU SENS media project, Tuk.md (Taraclia), Nordnews.md (Bălți), Radio Free Europe, Elita TV (Rezina) and other media outlets also reported attacks.

To note that some attacks and threats are not reported publicly and are not covered by the media because many journalists consider cyber-attacks and non-physical threats to be an unavoidable part of their daily work and therefore do not report them.

 

REPORT ON ATTACKS ON MEDIA WORKERS IN MOLDOVA IN 2023: ENG, RO.

See also:

Reports on attacks on journalists and other media workers: 2017-2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.
 

Pictured: March 12, 2023. One of the participants in the anti-government protest organized by Ilan Shor intimidates and insults journalist Viorica Tataru.

Photo by Viorica Tataru