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

Foundation Moldova ended its cooperation with TRM at thestart of 2014 in order to focus on other fields that had not receivedas much support as TRM in the past years.Furthermore, the Soros Foundation Moldova fostered cooperationbetween TRM and independent audio-visual producers.To this end, it organized round tables for TRM’s managementand the producers and issued a grant worth 30,060US dollars (about 22,000 euros) for TRM to buy independentcontent – a step that was aimed at improving the quality anddiversity of its programs.Another Soros Foundation initiative was aimed at professionalizingthe outlet’s Council of Observers, in particular byfunding a study trip to the Czech Republic in 2011.DW AkademieDW Akademie has been involved in the transformation processfrom the beginning. It assisted with institutional reformas well as with the improvement of TRM’s journalistic products.On the institutional level, DW Akademie’s activities wereaimed at enabling the TRM management to steer the reformprocess and involve a larger part of the staff – at a minimumthe middle management – in this. Together with TRM’s executivelevel management, it drew a road map for organizationalrestructuring that was updated on a regular basis.On a journalistic level, DW Akademie assisted in setting upTRM’s new multimedia department – a project funded by theCouncil of Europe and implemented by DW Akademie. It alsohelped TRM create Radio Tineret, the newly-established youthstation, and assisted with its programming. Professionalizingthe news departments in radio and television was anotherpart of DW Akademie’s engagement with TRM. Furthermore, ittrained reporters at radio and TV, for example staff working onthe program “Baştina,” a program specifically targeted at therural population.In addition to management consulting and journalistictraining, DW Akademie assisted TRM with the developmentof a new approach to making news at TV Moldova 1. Consultingwas provided in 2012 to introduce additional news casts,change the focus of single news programs, improve the newspresentation and adopt a citizen-focused approach in reporting.The implementation is underway, the process is nowplanned to be finished by the end of September 2014. Therefurbishment of its main television studio was meant as avisual signal that the content of its main news and current affairsshows has changed, as well as a way of making TRM moreattractive to the Moldovan TV audiences.There was no coordination of the support to TRM reformby any of the donors – with the exception of 2011, when theCouncil of Europe contracted DW Akademie on two occasions,to build the new Multimedia Department and to trainlocal correspondents of Radio and TV, and the OSCE coordinateda conference branded “Re-Think TRM” in order to insurepolitical and public support as well as donor money forthe restructuring.Status of the Media OrganizationLegal Framework, Governance, EthicsTeleradio-Moldova is legally speaking a public broadcaster, butits governance and financing structure render it prone to politicalinfluence.The Moldovan constitution guarantees freedom of expressionand speech as well as access to information as basic humanrights. The pro-European government is firmly set on apolitical course of European integration. In the media sphere,this implies bringing legislation into line with the guidelinesof the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe(OSCE) and the European Convention on Human Rights. Thisis a condition for the EU association agreement Moldova is tosign in 2014.A new law on freedom of expression was adopted in2010, making it more difficult to sue journalists for libel incivil courts by introducing a state fee of three percent of theamount of the legal claim. According to assessments of the implementationof the law in practice, the newly introduced statefee discourages plaintiffs, as intended, from claiming millionsof Moldovan lei (MDL) from journalists. 23 Generally speaking,media NGOs consider Moldovan press legislation to be “almostperfect” apart from aspects of transparency of ownershipand media concentration. 24 However, there are problemswith its implementation, mostly due to the lack of knowledgeof the laws on the part of judges. Nevertheless, there are provisionsthat need to be amended, namely in the aforementionedfield of ownership transparency in the media sector and in theaudio-visual codex, Moldova’s broadcasting law.The latter is the basic piece of legislation for Teleradio-Moldova, defining the structure of governance of the publicbroadcaster. Adopted in 2006 under the communist government,the Broadcasting Code stipulates that TRM is a publiccompany that is “to assure the right of information of all categoriesof citizens of the Republic of Moldova, including nationalminorities.” It is to provide a public service “with an independenteditorial board that offers program services to alllayers of society on the whole territory of the Republic of Moldova.”Furthermore, the Broadcasting Code defines the structureof the governing bodies of TRM: the Council of Observers,the president of TRM and the directors of radio broadcastingand of television. The highest governing body is the Councilof Observers. It approves the company’s statute and its annualtask schedule, including the budget. Furthermore, it evaluatesthe company’s performance. The Council of Observers is supposedto consist of nine members of civil society, selected as“persons of public life with professional qualifications in differentdomains.” 25However, the current appointment procedure does notguarantee that the Council remains free of political influence.Its members are selected by Parliament from a field of 18 candidateswho are nominated by the national Broadcasting Commission(CCA). Although formally independent, the CCA itself124