The Republic of Moldova is still a fertile ground for Russian propaganda because there is an interdependent connection between the phenomenon of propaganda – on one side, and disinformation and poor societies, which are easier to manipulate – on the other side. Television is an important means of information for the population of the Republic of Moldova, and in the last two years, for the Moldovan information space dominated by the Russian media, television remained an important lever of influence. This is one of the conclusions of the study "Information policies of TV stations in the Republic of Moldova", conducted by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS "Viitorul") and presented on Friday, December 15, 2023.
The study was carried out within the project "Supporting critical thinking and resisting disinformation in the Republic of Moldova", implemented in the period January 2023 - October 2024, with the financial support of the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest and aimed to monitor the main TV stations in the Republic of Moldova in order to determine the informational narratives of TV media sources and to estimate whether they inform the citizens correctly and fairly, or on the contrary, have a tendency to misinform and manipulate the Moldovan public opinion.
Ion Tăbârță, political expert at IDIS "Viitorul" and author of the study, stated that the topics selected for monitoring represent the informational essence of the space in the Republic of Moldova were the internal politics; the social-economic situation; the justice sector; the Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) Gagauzia; the foreign policy; Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. The following main information products that shape opinions in the information space have been analyzed: news bulletins; political and social-economic materials; and political talk shows. Thus, Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, TV8, TVR Moldova, Pro TV, Vocea Basarabiei, Orizont TV, Exclusiv TV, Cinema 1, and Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT) TV channels were selected for monitoring. The criteria for selecting the TV channels were the audience level according to the measurements made and their popularity ratings resulting from the sociological research data.
It is worth mentioning here that on 16 December 2022, the Commission for Exceptional Situations ordered the suspension of the broadcasting license for the channels “Primul în Moldova”, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, Orhei TV, for "lack of correct information in the coverage of national events, but also of the Rusian war against Ukraine", and some of them - RTR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Primul ]n Moldova and TV6, which were at that time among the top 10 TVs with the highest audience, migrated to others, with lower audience. RTR Moldova to Cinema 1, NTV Moldova to Exclusiv TV and TV6 to Orizont TV. Thus, their duplicates were included in the monitoring. As of April 2023, Primul ]n Moldova no longer produced news content and was not monitored.
The study analysed the narratives of the given TV channels on topics such as: May 9, the Great "European Moldova" Assembly on May 21, 2023; energy issues; farmers' protests; the increase in ministers' salaries; patent holders' protest; the incident at Chișinău International Airport resulting in the death of two people; the language scandal at the "Timofei Moșneaga" Republican Clinical Hospital; justice reform; elections for the position of Bashkan of the UTA Gagauzia; the European Political Community Summit; Moldova's relations with NATO; denunciation of several agreements with the CIS; Russian military aggression against Ukraine, etc. .
The study shows that some Moldovan TV channels deliberately misinform and manipulate Moldovan society, acting in the geopolitical interests of the Russian Federation, but also in the group and personal interests of oligarchic elements in the Republic of Moldova. Their aim is to prevent reform and modernisation of state institutions, part of the European integration effort. That is why some TV channels try to undermine any pro-European government in Chișinău, regardless of its political colour. These group on channels include: Orizont TV; Exclusiv TV; Cinema 1; and Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT).
The author of the study also states that in the last two years, these TV channels, through their information policy, have promoted several narratives with the aim of discrediting the pro-European government in Chișinău, and, by doing so, intentionally and constantly discredit the European course among citizens. During the monitoring period, manipulative and misinformation narratives were promoted such as: "we pay dearly for gas because Sandu did not want to go to Moscow to make a deal with Putin", "we buy the same Russian gas, but more expensive from Europe", "the Republic of Moldova is going the way of Ukraine, being a docile tool for the aggressive purposes of the West", etc.
"The general conclusion of the study is that Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, TV8, TVR Moldova, Pro TV and Vocea Basarabiei build their information policy by addressing the main media topics, based on their own editorial policy, objective and subjective, and their way of disseminating information in the public space is through news and talk shows. Exclusiv TV and Cinema 1 have a balanced news editorial policy on some topics, interpretative on others, and non-informative on sensitive geopolitical topics, such as Russian military aggression against Ukraine. There is a noticeable attempt not to promote Moldova's European course, and, on the contrary, to camouflage the eastern direction of the external vector under the slogan of geopolitical balance. Orizont TV openly promotes the political interests of the Shor group, with an anti-EU and pro-Russian information policy. GRT's information policy is poorly connected to the public agenda of the Republic of Moldova, it reflects the situation in ATU Gagauzia with clear hostile accents against the central authorities in Chișinău and the political interests of the Shor group in the Gagauz region", said Ion Tăbârță.
According to Ion Tăbârță, Chișinău is a target of Moscow's hybrid aggression, and one of the elements of this aggression is the spread of Russian propaganda through disinformation, in order to lower the resilience of society and state institutions against this hybrid aggression directed from Moscow. "In the Republic of Moldova, there is still a large segment of the socially vulnerable population, which, along with Russian-speakers, is the most exposed to propaganda and disinformation coming from the Russian Federation, including through domestic political actors, acting against the interests of the Republic of Moldova," the author notes in the study.
Ion Tăbârță believes that in order to combat and reduce the phenomenon of disinformation in the Republic of Moldova, it is very important to know which Moldovan TV channels manipulate public opinion through misinformation or non-information on the main thematic issues of interest to Moldovan society. Thus, in his opinion, the solutions against TVs that misinform, and in general against the phenomenon of misinformation, are: applying the legislation of the Republic of Moldova against television stations that do not comply with the provisions of the audiovisual code and act in a way that undermines the security of the state institution, and to pay more attention to the process of media education, starting in schools and continuing through all levels of society
With reference to legal solutions, Ion Tăbârță argues that it is advisable for state institutions to: communicate strategically; establish clear criteria for evaluating TV channels; develop tools to combat misinformation on the internet and social media platforms. With regard to educational measures, it is necessary to: modify the school curriculum (in areas such as personal development or education for society) so that pupils from an early age are taught to find their way through the information labyrinth of postmodernist technologies, to be able to distinguish between a platform that informs and one that misinforms, to detect news that misinforms and manipulates; make media education a compulsory subject in the last year of secondary school (at least) and in high schools and colleges.
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The project "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resisting Disinformation in the Republic of Moldova", implemented by IDIS "Viitorul" from January 2023 to October 2024, is financially supported by the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest.
IDIS "Viitorul" is an independent think tank established in 1993 that combines social, political and economic research with strong advocacy components. The institution conducts applied monitoring research on several areas: economics, social policy, EU policies, regional development, but also security and foreign policy risks.
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