edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

Part II Moldova: Slow but Successful Reform, Need for Visible Journalistic Qualityernment installed a different leadership at TRM as one of itsfirst acts in office. The new management, in office as of February2010, started a reform process with the declared aim oftransforming TRM into a genuine public broadcaster servingthe interest of the public. During the first five years of transformation,the company closed down its international channelsin TV and radio and created a new multimedia news portal anda youth radio station.Today, TRM has one TV channel, three radio stations, notablyRadio Actualități (news) and Radio Tineret (youth) on-air,as well as Radio Muzical (music) online, and the multimediadepartment, producing and distributing content on www.trm.md and through social media. TRM mostly broadcasts in Romanian.There are TV programs for ethnic minorities in Russian(including a news show) and radio programs in Russianand other minority languages such as Ukrainian and Bulgarian.In addition, Gagauz Radio and Television (GRT), the publicbroadcaster of the autonomous territory, cooperates withTRM. Although GRT is associated with TRM it operates completelyindependently from it as part of the cultural autonomyof the Gagauz territory. Although Gagauz are a Turkic nationof Orthodox religion, only a few journalists speak and work inGagauzian which is why the majority of the programming ofGRT runs in Russian.TRM has set itself clear objectives, as well as a clear vision,mission, and values stressing its public service remit. 18 The objectivesinclude “fast, complete, and objective information ofthe citizens,” “assuring the right to information on the base ofpluralism of opinions, impartiality,” “assuring access to informationto all citizens,” “presenting events, contributing to theformation of public opinion,” “promotion of national values,”as well as presentation of the socio-political reality of the Republicof Moldova. The production of programs for childrenand young people is mentioned explicitly.TRM’s vision is to promote the restructuralization processon a managerial, organizational, editorial, technological,and human resource level in order to be able to function ina competitive media environment with topically and artisticallydiverse formats, with the aim of improving the qualityof content. 19TRM’s mission states that the PSM is “to produce radio andTV programs for all segments and categories of the public.” Itsvalues include responsibility, credibility, editorial independence,political, and social pluralism.Overall, TRM has the program structure a public broadcasterneeds to fulfill its service functions. This applies to specialprograms for ethnic minorities as well as young audiences, butalso to other shows for specific social groups such as rural populations,children, and families. It is the question of contentwhich might decide to what extent it can live up to the needsof the audience.Stakeholders in the Transformation ProcessAlthough the Moldovan media landscape is very small, it has avery vibrant media community with strong media NGOs andcompetent media experts. The community has taken an activerole in the transformation process of Teleradio-Moldova withthe most important actors being the Independent JournalismCentre (IJC) and the Electronic Press Association (APEL). BothMoldovan NGOs have received grants from foreign donors ona regular basis. 20 In 2010, Angela Sârbu was elected director ofthe television department of TRM by the Council of Observers.Before this, Sârbu had headed the IJC for ten years. Thus, civilsociety was directly involved in the transformation processfrom the very beginning. However, Sârbu resigned in 2012,declaring she lacked support from the rest of TRM’s managementfor her reform strategy. 21The transformation of Teleradio-Moldova into a genuinepublic broadcaster has been supported by various internationaldonor organizations: the Council of Europe fundedthe creation of the new multimedia department. The UnitedNations Development Program (UNDP) financed a “Study onthe restructuring options for the public Company Teleradio-Moldova” elaborated by the Business Consulting Institute 22 incooperation and a consultant from the European BroadcastingUnion EBU with NPI [National Public Institute] ‘Teleradio-Moldova’”in August 2011 that serves the management as a basicguideline for the reform process.Soros Foundation MoldovaThe Soros Foundation Moldova supported the transformationprocess at TRM up until early 2014. Through a long-termpartnership with APEL, it provided Teleradio-Moldova with assistancein producing a set of internal normative acts (regulationsand other documents necessary for the implementationof reform). Furthermore APEL advised TRM’s managementon reforms to the company’s salary system and monitoredits programs in order to evaluate the progress made. It alsomonitored the manner in which TRM was managed in order topush forward reforms. All reports and monitoring are publiclyaccessible through APEL’s website (www.apel.md). The Soros6Perunov 2012.7Institutul de PoliticiPublice 2013, 24.8ibid.9Terguta 2012, 22-24.10Ludmila Andronic, Head ofthe Press Council of Moldova.11Terguta, 2012, 22-24.12Ibid.13Various interviews with mediaexperts, see Annex.14CCA 2014.15CIA 2014.16IREX 2012, 210.17Study by APEL quoted inMoldova azi, March 13, 2009.18Teleradio-Moldova.19Ibid.20Such as Soros FoundationMoldova, European Commission,SIDA, Eastern EuropeFoundation, and USAID.21Unimedia, March 23, 2012.22A Moldovan NGO offering consultancyservices to private and publiccompanies, financed by donors.Edition DW Akademie In the Service of the Public 123