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Strengthening independent media reporting in the Republic of Moldova
Project justification
Free and independent media are a cornerstone of democratic societies. Although freedom of
expression and freedom of the press are guaranteed by the Moldovan Constitution and the
relevant laws, the international reports stress that the situation of media in the Republic of
Moldova is clearly deteriorating.
The most recent 2017 World Press Freedom Index ranks Moldova 80th of 180 countries
(https://rsf.org), 4 positions lower compared to 2016 Index and 8 positions lower compared to
2015 Index.
Freedom House’s assessment rates the country as “partly free” and the Freedom House report
notes that “press freedom in Moldova remains constrained by partisanship and pressure from
both the government and media owners” (https://freedomhouse.org).
In the case of freedom of speech, IREX Media Sustainability Index 2017 reports that journalists
and media outlets often practice self-censorship in order to avoid possible civil law suits for
critical reporting or in line with the interests of the media outlet owners (https://www.irex.org).
The proposed project focuses particularly on promoting the rights and principles enshrined in
the European Charter on Fundamental Rights and in the European Convention of Human Rights,
by supporting independent media reporters of the online platform Moldova.org in covering the
most actual issues relevant to Moldova’s economic, political and social development. By using
innovative approaches, the journalists involved in the project will provide objective and
accurate information to the Moldovan public on three major topics: access to information in
border areas, research on social justice issues and development through cross-border
partnerships and partnerships with EU and international organizations. Selected topics
constitute current and sensitive problems faced by the population of Moldova. Addressing
these problems and the opportunities for their resolution would increase the level of attention
and awareness of the public and authorities towards them.
Goal
The project goal is to strengthen independent media reporting in the Republic of Moldova
through empowering and supporting independent journalists to provide objective and accurate
coverage of the issues relevant to Moldova’s development for stronger application of European
standards in the Republic of Moldova.
Objectives
Objective 1. Facilitate the dissemination of independent professional journalistic work on the
access to information in border areas, cross-border and international partnerships and social
justice issues through the publication of four materials per month on www.moldova.org online
platform and social media channels.
Objective 2. Strengthen the freedom of expression and increase professionalism of journalists
by improving the quality and the relevance of journalistic materials, corresponding to the needs
of Moldovan audience for accurate, professional and objective information.
Objective 3. Raise awareness and combat misinformation within the Moldovan public space
related to the right to the fair access to information in border areas, cross-border and
international partnerships and social justice issues through the publication of accurate and
objective information on www.moldova.org.
Objective 4. Strengthen the journalistic skills and abilities of 8 future media professionals by
providing the opportunity of a two-months internship within the editorial team of moldova.org,
with the focus on multimedia journalism.
Objective 5. Ensure the innovative approach of using technology and media to inform
Moldovan audience through the publication of 48 journalistic materials in multimedia media
format, the creation of podcasts and the use of the software application to create multimedia
elements.
Objective 6. Promote the innovative approach in the journalistic work by making available to
the public the improved version of the application to create multimedia elements.
Project activities
Activity 1 – Management of the project
The objective of this activity is to ensure the proper implementation of the project, the
coordination of the project team, the attainment of the expected results, the development of
strategies for unforeseen challenges and the evaluation of the results.
The project manager will convene the project team in monthly meetings in order to analyze the
implementation of the project and draft support documents. At the end of the project, the
project manager together with the project team will evaluate the results of the project and will
draft the final report for the financing body.
Activity 2 – Creation, publication and dissemination of media content
Over a period of 12 months, 48 journalistic materials in multimedia format are expected to be
published on www.moldova.org by the team of journalists.
The media content will cover 3 major topics:
 - Access to information in border areas – the population living in border areas have
limited access to information due to the lack of variety of media outlets available in the
area, which means lack of choice and pluralism of opinions. This situation creates
paradoxical behavior of the electorate during elections.
- Development through cross-border partnerships and partnerships with international
and European organizations – the project would like to present success stories of
Moldovan people and localities where after the establishment of cross-border
partnerships and partnerships with international organization, a change has been
produced, the European standards has started being implemented and the quality of life
of ordinary people has improved.
- Research on social justice issues – the journalists would like to address important and
sensitive issues that concern domestic violence, sexual abuse, juvenile delinquency, the
right to fair justice, the level of trust in the justice system.
The team of journalists will focus on creating multimedia content (video reportages,
infographics, timelines, interactive tests) in order to more effectively inform Moldovan
audiences on actual issues.
The media content will be disseminated through social media channels, particularly on the
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Ok.ru and Youtube profiles of Moldova.org.
All journalistic work will be translated into Russian and English, so that the access to
information will be ensured both to Russian and Romanian speakers from the Republic of
Moldova, as well as the audience from abroad.
Activity 3 – Internship program for future media professionals
The editorial team of Moldova.org will host 8 students in their last year of studies from the
Faculties of Journalism of Universities based in Chisinau for an internship program of two
months. There will be two rounds of the internship program: two-months in the beginning of
the project (4 students) and two months at the end of the project (4 students).
The interns will be selected after the publication of a call for applications on the internet, as
well as the dissemination of the announcement in faculties with the help of faculties’
administration. The internship program will involve the interns in the daily activity of the
independent media platform Moldova.org, and will be particularly focused on training the
interns in creating journalistic materials in multimedia format.
The interns will be motivated to participate in the internship program not only for the
exceptional experience in journalism, but also for a financial support for the period of the
internship and the possibility to join Moldova.org editorial team after the internship program.
Also, it is expected that at the end of the internship program, journalists will use their
new/improved skills and will share their experience with their colleagues.
Activity 4 – Creation and publication of podcasts
Within two months from the start of the project, the project team will improve the online
platform www.moldova.org, making it more accessible, user-friendly and in step with
technology by launching the podcast. During the project implementation the project team will
record and publish xxx podcasts on the major topics selected for the implementation of this
project.
The project team has the necessary equipment for recording and publishing the podcasts.
Support is required to create the podcast.
Moldovan audience will have the possibility to listen to audio digital files, as well as to
download and subscribe to new podcasts.
Activity 5 – Promotion and use of the improved version of the application software.
The project team has already developed the software application DIY News (Do IT Yours News)
that is available for downloading and allows the public to create short news by uploading video
files and answering several questions.
The project team would like to improve the application and enrich it with more complex
features, such as the option to personalize it by adding the logo of the company, the possibility
to change fonts, xxx. The project team will promote the improved application not only through
journalists, but also the Moldovan audience, so that any person would be able to create short
news and share them via social media channels.
Monitoring and evaluation
The project team will ensure that the project is implemented in a timely and output oriented
manner through administration, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of the project objectives.
The achievement of projects objectives will be measured with qualitative and quantitative
indicators. The indicators will be evaluated and data collected monthly by the project manager
and the project team. Quarterly reports will be issued on the measurement of indicators.
Quantitative indicators:
- Number of journalistic materials published on the independent platform moldova.org
within the project period of 12 months;
- Number of views on moldova.org website for each of the journalistic material published;
- Number of likes and shares on the social media pages of moldova.org for each of the
journalistic material published;
- Number of participants involved in the two-months internship program;
- Number of journalistic materials published by the interns within the two-months
internship program;
- Number of podcasts recorded and published within the project period of 12 months;
- Number of downloads of the software application for creation of multimedia elements.
Qualitative indicators:
 - Facilitated dissemination and support of independent professional journalistic work;
- Strengthened freedom of expression and pluralism of opinions by providing the
Moldovan audience with accurate, professional and objective information;
- Raised awareness within the Moldovan audience and authorities on the major topics
selected within the project;
- The feedback from the Moldovan audience on the relevance and quality of published
materials;
- Increased efficiency of information due to the use of innovative approaches in
journalism and combination of technology and media;
- Strengthened abilities of beneficiaries of the internship program in independent media
reporting and reporting using multimedia elements;
Key personnel
Project manager – Oxana Greadcenco – qualifications - responsible for the overall project
implementation, administration, monitoring, evaluation and reporting; responsible for
convening team meetings, assessing the achievement of project objectives by measuring the
indicators specified above, 75% involvement.
Accountant – Ilie Cazac - qualifications - project financial management, bookkeeping procedure
and financial reporting, 50% involvement.
Journalist 1 – Ana Gherciu – qualifications - creation and publication of media content, 100%
involvement.
Journalist 2 – Serviu Benes - qualifications - creation and publication of media content, 100%
involvement
Journalist 3 – Victoria Colesnic - qualifications - creation and publication of media content,
100% involvement
Photo-reporter – Ramin Mazur – qualifications - responsible for photographing, editing and
presenting images, 50% involvement.
Video-reporter – to be identified – responsible for shooting, editing and presenting videos, 50%
involvement.
Illustrator – Irina Clescenco - qualifications - responsible for creating illustrations, 25%
involvement.
Social media manager – Diana Madan – qualifications - responsible for content management
and promotion on Moldova.org social media channels, 50% involvement.
The translation of the materials into English and Russian will be don on volunteer basis.
Project partners
For the successful implementation of the project, the South East Junior Association has
established partnership links with representatives of UN Women, NDI and Department of
Penitentiary Institutions, who have agreed to share relevant information with the project team
on the selected topics, in order to be able to provide efficiently information to the Moldovan
audience.
The project team will cooperate with the administration of Faculties of Journalism of
Universities based in Chisinau for the promotion of the internship program, selection of
participants and successful conduct of the internship program.
Strengths and Innovation
Moldova.ORG has a reputation of objective source of information and news in English,
Romanian and Russian. The existence of a solid IT infrastructure and content database that was
built since the launch of the website in 1997 and contributes to placing Moldova.ORG among
top websites specialized in Moldova. The subscribed members represent international
organizations, national NGOs and think-tanks, governmental institutions, private firms, and just
individuals from some 50 countries.
the average number of users/visitors per month is xxx. xxx Facebook users liked Moldova.ORG
page
The proposed project has an innovative approach towards using technology and media. The
editorial team has already experienced multimedia journalism (text, images, video, audio,
graphics) and would like to further improve its competences. The use of multimedia elements
offers not only the advantage of enhancing the message, but also the advantage of increasing
the effectiveness of perception, learning and awareness raising among the audience.
The project team intends to use and to improve the application software that was developed.
The application will be enriched with new features, will become more accessible and user-
friendly and the improved application will be made available to the public.
Another strength of the proposed project is the openness of the editorial team to share the
experience and train the future journalists in order to improve their reporting skills by using
multimedia elements.
Sustainability
As administrator, the South East Junior Association ensured the sustainability of the
independent platform Moldova.org by attracting funds in order to support the activity of the
editorial team in covering the actual issues related to Moldova’s development.
To ensure the further development of the website and the publication of actual, accurate and
objective information, the project team will search for new opportunities of funding to ensure
the support for the journalists.
The project team plans to promote the improved DIY News application and charge a symbolic
fee for downloading it, which would allow to cover hosting fees for the platform Moldova.org.
There are two other ways of ensuring sustainability of the platform and financial support for
the journalists – donations and advertisement. The project team will attract companies that
would place ads on the website. In order to attract donations, the project team will distribute,
with the help of US based Moldova Foundation, an open declaration, calling for support of the
independent media in the Republic of Moldova.