On Tuesday, 6 February 2024, at the initiative of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", a Guide regarding the identification, classification, and countering of false information, in the public and media space of the Republic of Moldova, was launched with the intention to facilitate the quick and easy identification of fake news, by applying the verification tool called "red flags". The guide was developed within the project "Supporting critical thinking and resistance to disinformation in the Republic of Moldova", financially supported by the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest.
During the discussions on the guide, organized within the Discussion Platform to combat disinformation in a national, regional, and international context, at the second working session, Sergiu Bugai, the author of the guide, stated that this is a tool dedicated to those who create and consume news and information, as it includes not only the detection of disinformation and the manipulation of public opinion but also analysis procedures and recommendations for preventing and counteracting the risks generated by these harmful tactics.
"In addition to providing information on how to spot and verify fake information/news, the guide also provides examples to develop your skills in this area. The "red flags" tool provides useful tips that should be considered when consuming media news and verifying before sharing them on social media. To achieve advanced fact-checking, the guide also presents a list of online platforms for checking information sources, data, video, and photo materials", said Sergiu Bugai.
The author of the guide also says that many interdisciplinary research centers apply the methodology of "red flags" to identify fake news more quickly. The Oxford Internet Institute has launched the online guide The ComProp Navigator to check the news, where also is found the tool Top Six Red Flags that a News Story is Unreliable, Disreputable and Embarrassing for You to Share developed by the media watchdog in the United States „Ad Fontes Media”. Another American organization, ”The News Literacy Project”, launched the free e-learning platform ”Checkology”, which proposes the instrument Ten Questions for news detection for checking fake news. The company "TeachThought" offers "Critical Thinking" e-learning platforms, proposing the tool 20 Questions To Help Students Think Critically About News to identify false information.
The guide also mentions that disinformation has been and continues to be a challenge for democracy. The digital age needs new approaches and commitments to match the scale, speed, and prevalence of information threats launched into the public and media space. The problem of fake news has become one of the most important topics in modern journalism. More and more, the social science system, journalists, and information security specialists are taking the problem of fake news, and more recently, deepfakes created by artificial intelligence, very seriously. Their impact on the opinion and behavior of the news consumer is very noticeable, especially during pre-election campaigns. "A series of researches, analyses, recommendations, media education manuals, and policies regarding information security have been developed by fact-checking experts and Moldovan journalists. However, in the conditions of a hybrid war, in which the national media space has become a battlefield, there is a need to react promptly and operatively to everything called disinformation, manipulation, fake news", the author mentions in the Guide.
"Propaganda is targeting our country in an increasingly active manner. An opinion survey, presented last year, shows that around 70% of Moldovan citizens believe that it is very difficult for them to distinguish between false and true information. This is an indicator that stands before civil society, journalists, and all those who are interested in combating this phenomenon. We know that several organizations are working in that direction. This Guide, which was created by Sergiu Bugai, at the behest of IDIS "Viitorul", we believe will be useful both to journalists, journalists and representatives of civil society, students, and all those interested in understanding how this phenomenon works", said the executive director of IDIS "Viitorul", Liubomir Chiriac.
"With the start of the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, we felt the fertile ground to work intensively in this field of disinformation, supporting critical thinking and resilience to disinformation in the Republic of Moldova. Today, we are in an information-abundant era, and we believe that the ability to analyze, evaluate, and select information is crucial for a society that wants to be democratic, prosperous, and healthy. From the flow of information that is spread today, it is very difficult to tell if it is fake news, erroneous information, propaganda, or misinformation. In drafting this guide, we felt that a useful tool was needed to help society be able to verify the information that is being provided", mentioned Carolina Ungureanu, deputy director of IDIS "Viitorul", project manager.
Mihail Nesteriuc, a student at the Faculty of Journalism at the USM, and a member of the Discussion Platform, stated that the Guide is interesting, well-constructed, and even a source of information for the whole society. But his concern about misinformation is related to those deepfakes, which are created for ridicule, to amuse people. "I doubt that many people believe that what is shown through these deepfakes is true. We have to be careful, because we don't know if these deepfakes, which are being made today, won't turn into something serious over time, and the situation can become dangerous", said Mihail Nesteriuc.
Ion Bunduchi, director of public policy within the Electronic Press Association, stated that no matter how many guides and studies of this kind there will be, they will not be enough, because the phenomenon of disinformation is very complex. The expert urged everyone to be careful when using the notions of "fake information" and "fake news". "News is a journalistic genre. Journalists are taught to write news, and journalists are not taught to write fake news. Journalists who write fake news are pseudo-journalists. It could happen that someone intentionally widely uses fake news to cast this harmful shadow on journalists. Not all fake news is harmful and not all propaganda is harmful. If propaganda is capable of causing disastrous damage, then we must take care of this propaganda. Not all misinformation is dangerous. It is dangerous when it harms national security. When we use the notions more accurately, we can focus on the truly harmful phenomena, which we need to identify, assess, and determine to be harmful and potentially harmful, and to combat them", said Ion Bunduchi.
Oxana Iuteș, director of Internews Moldova, recalled that the Center for Independent Journalism developed in 2017 the first media education manual, for the primary level. Then, it followed for the middle school level in 2018 and in 2019 for the high school level. According to Oxana Iuteș, the optional course is not about media education and media content, but about information literacy, which is already outdated. "These notions are intellectually, informationally, and digitally outdated. Children don't read the news. Kids are only on social media. Few people read and watch the news today. Even the notions need to be changed. Because of this avalanche of fake news, the journalistic industry was affected in Moldova, especially during the pandemic we had. Smart people called it infodemic because it's about information, not specific journalistic content. Things are changing so quickly, that we have to realize that we are no longer analyzing from the point of view of journalistic content, but we are talking about informational content on social media, video", pointed out Oxana Iuteș.
During the second working session of the Platform, two articles were presented, in which two participants in the Training program on critical thinking, media literacy, analysis, resistance to disinformation, and unbiased coverage of public interest information, organized in May-June 2023, analyzed news topics distorted or presented in an intentionally erroneous way, to misinform the Moldovan public opinion.
A Discussion Platform to combat disinformation in a national, regional, and international context was launched on Monday, October 16, at the initiative of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul". This is represented by journalists, students, and non-governmental organizations that implement projects in the field of disinformation, but also by teachers who teach media education in schools.
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The project "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resistance to Disinformation in Moldova," implemented by the 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 risk.
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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.
Follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IDISViitorul ;
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A Discussion Platform to combat disinformation in a national, regional and international context was launched on Monday, October 16, at the initiative of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul". This is represented by journalists, students, non-governmental organizations that implement projects in the field of disinformation, but also by teachers who teach media education in schools. In the first session, a collection of five articles was presented, having been written by five participants of the May-June 2023 training program on critical thinking, media literacy, analysis, resistance to disinformation, and unbiased coverage of public interest information. The articles analyzed a series of current news topics , distorted or presented in an intentionally erroneous way, for the purpose of misinforming the Moldovan public opinion.
The Discussion Platform was launched within the "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resistance to Disinformation in Moldova" project, implemented by IDIS "Viitorul", in the period January 2023 - October 2024, with the financial support of the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest. The Discussion Platform aims to facilitate cooperation between the public, journalists, and the regulatory agency in the context of the fight against disinformation in a national, regional, and international context. Also, this aims to ensure a participative environment for debate, with workshops where topics related to critical thinking, media literacy, analysis, resistance to disinformation, and reflecting information of public interest are discussed in an unbiased manner.
Carolina Ungureanu, project coordinator, and deputy director of IDIS "Viitorul": ”By launching this Discussion Platform, we want to draw attention to the numerous information that is currently being disseminated through many information channels and that needs to be assimilated carefully. They require critical thinking and analysis from various sources to avoid manipulation. Our object in launching this Platform is to investigate the tools, ways, and sources of disinformation, but also to provide constructive recommendations for citizens. Today we need to get much more involved in this regard. The speed with which information circulates is different than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. These processes influence the behavior of citizens and shape the mentality and thinking of man. We want to have a democratic society, where there is critical thinking, the possibility to reflect and understand which information is truthful and correct, with the possibility to express the opinions of all parties involved.”
Maria Nistor analyzed how some media sources manipulated, in political interest, narratives on the historical event of June 28, 1940, when, from a historical point of view, the day of the Soviet occupation, and how the pro-Russian parties from Chisinau celebrated it as "the liberation of Moldova from the Romanian occupation". Some information sources, according to Maria Nistor, published falsehoods on this occasion, supporting the ideological visions of pro-Russian political parties. "We know what happened on June 28, 1940. When I saw the report on Primul în Moldova I researched to find out why we have such material. I found out that the TV station has a suspended broadcast license, it was fined by the Broadcasting Council several times because it misinforms. It was previously affiliated with a political party with Russian views, and today, another pro-Russian party manages it. At the same time, the people who organized the protest action are members of another political party, which militates for the eastern direction of external orientation of the Republic of Moldova.”
Mihai Avasiloaie researched how the media manipulates the presentation of opinion surveys. Thus, he found out that ignoring the context, presenting opinions as facts, and blurring are some of the methods used in a news story kp.md related to a IPRE and CBS-AXA survey from July 2023. "Opinion surveys are often an opportunity for some media sources to manipulate. I found out, during the realization of this analysis, that the kp.md portal is a media source financed from Moscow and follows the narratives of Russian propaganda. The website (but also the newspaper Комсомольская правда) has intensively promoted the interests of the PSRM in recent years, being owned by the company of the former president of the Socialists from Parliament, Corneliu Furculita. An investigation by Ziarul de Gardă, from 2021, said that this company also owned the newspaper „Аргументы и Факты в Молдове” (aif.md.)”
Mihail Nesteriuc spoke about Moldovan-Romanian relations through the lens of Putinist disinformation. In his opinion, modern Russia inherited the foreign policy strategy from the USSR, which, instead of consolidating the people in their national states and attracting them to cooperate with the Russian people based on a project or an idea of mutual benefit, chose to divide nationalities into artificial blocs and control them. ”The situation in the Republic of Moldova, and the neighboring regions, remains complex and dynamic. Opinions on armaments, foreign policy, and geopolitical interests need careful consideration and discussion with all stakeholders. Policymakers and NGOs involved in information security and education must prepare citizens for disinformation and potential challenges of enemy propaganda.”
Cătălin Murzac analyzed how some media manipulated the subject of the Republic of Moldova's withdrawal from the Agreement on the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). ”The monitoring carried out shows that there are trends of informational manipulation in the content of the reports made by the television station OrizonTV. Rules of the Audiovisual Media Services Code of the Republic of Moldova were violated, such as: promoting audiovisual pluralism; correct, objective, complex, and impartial information; and promoting pluralistic public debates. To present the current authorities of the Republic of Moldova in a bad light, several types of manipulation were used. The statements of the authorities, although present in the reports, are taken out of context, and the contrary narrative is presented from dominant positions, through its quantity and diversity. The lack of impartial expertise and the omission of information, as well as its extraction from context, clearly mark the contours of manipulation.”
The attention of Pavel Vintilă was the manipulation of history in political interest, by political parties, through mass media channels. He analyzed how some media institutions reflected the date of August 24, 1944, when from a historical point of view the Iasi-Chisinau operation is marked. ”These historical, tragic events of national importance are used by the agents of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova for political purposes, stepping over the historical truth, slandering the memory of thousands of Bessarabians, who became victims of the Soviet administration of occupation and, on the other hand, it wants to glorify, to praise the Soviet regime that was established in Bessarabia after the military operations of the summer of 1944. At the same time, all falsehoods and denigrations are directed at the government democratically elected by the citizens, in order to weaken its support, so that the hybrid war plans organized by Russia against the Republic of Moldova and the current pro-European leadership can be realized.”
Ludmila Barbă, journalist Moldova 1: ” I didn't know that today's young people have the desire to delve deeper and study the world of fakes, which dominate our standard of living, but also our thinking. I welcome the fact that these young people learned to distinguish between correct and false information. They must, through other activities, take this assimilated knowledge further. This is very important because propaganda and manipulation act on people's emotions.”
Irina Bejan, Regional Center for Community Development from Cahul: „Today, when we are bombarded with false information, we are increasingly being fed untruths, we are directly involved in a hybrid war and it is necessary to join forces to counter and prevent disinformation. A common platform between specialists, representatives of civil society, and the authorities, would be one solution that can contribute to this fight against propaganda and the influence of media aggressors. The more topics will be discussed within the Platform, the easier we will discern the lie from the truth and send the message that we are not afraid, we are ready to fight the attacks from outside in the information field.”
Until now, within the project "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resistance to Disinformation in Moldova", a mapping of media institutions and civil society organizations active in the media space was carried out. A meeting was organized with the members of the Audiovisual Council to announce the objectives of the project and estimate the contribution that civil society can have in this field. 20 sessions of the training program on critical thinking, media literacy, analysis, resistance to disinformation, and unbiased coverage of public interest information were conducted, where 31-35 people participated. Two infographics were also produced based on information from the Program. A study will be presented on how the most influential Moldovan media institutions reflect the internal and external problems that affect society, from the perspective of disinformation, the presentation of fake news, but also a Guide - signaling tool, on the principle of the "red flags", which will be a guide for journalists and media users, and will focus on ways to identify false information.
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The project "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resistance to Disinformation in Moldova," implemented by the 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 risk.
Follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IDISViitorul ;
Subscribe to our Telegram channel - https://t.me/idis93 ;
Watch us on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@idisviitorul8539 .
The Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" is implementing the project "Supporting critical thinking and resisting disinformation in the Republic of Moldova" from January 2023 to October 2024. The objective of the project is to enhance the capacities of media institutions, civil society organizations and the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Moldova in critical thinking, media literacy, analysis, resistance to misinformation and the coverage of public interest information in an unbiased manner.
The project will carry out a mapping of media institutions and civil society organisations active in the media space; a meeting will be organised with members of the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Moldova to outline the main objective of the project. A study will be carried out on how the most influential media institutions in the Republic of Moldova cover internal and external issues affecting society from the perspective of misinformation, the presentation of fake news and the implications of these actions for the country.
Thirty-five representatives of media institutions, students of journalism faculties and civil society organisations will be selected for a comprehensive 20-session training programme. Participants in the training programme will have the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge in practice and to develop 15 evaluations / case studies / assessments or analyses on topics concerning our society but related to misinformation, media literacy and critical thinking. A cooperation platform will be created and regular meetings will be organized to present monitoring reports and make recommendations.
The project also aims to develop 12 infographics based on relevant information contained in the results and findings of studies, analyses, case studies, etc.
A "red flag tool" will be developed by experts in the field in the form of a guide for journalists and media users, focusing on how to identify false information.
The project "Supporting Critical Thinking and Resisting Disinformation in the Republic of Moldova", implemented by IDIS "Viitorul", is financially supported by the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest.
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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 in several areas: economics, social policy, EU policies, regional development, but also security and foreign policy risks.
Follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IDISViitorul ;
Subscribe to our Telegram channel - https://t.me/idis93 ;
Watch us on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@idisviitorul8539 .
