Republic of Moldova: Media Space

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Republic of MoldovaMedia Space

• BDR Associates, a Hill and Knowlton Associate

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The main features of the mass media in the R. of
Moldova

• Mass media in Moldova is continuously developing
  and covering all types of media channels TV,
  radio, written (magazines, newspapers), press
  agencies and online
• Lately, the increasing quality and role of the
  online mass media was noted, but mainly at
  Chisinau level
• The main language of publications is Romanian,
  but an important segment of the market is
  occupied by the publications issued in Russian
  language and multilingual media channels
• The multilingual mass media
• Almost all main TV channels broadcast news in
  both Romanian and Russian.
• Recently, trilingual media channels appeared
  Romanian-Russian-English (mainly press agencies
  and web portals).
• The range of specialized mass media is not very
  large and it covers, mainly, the following areas
• Daily newspapers (the most developed)
• Business / Economy 2 magazines, Profit. Banci si
  Finante and Business Class, 2 newspapers Logos
  Press and Economist, 1 press agency InfoMarket
• Entertainment
• Constructions real estate
• IT (at the beginning)
• Others (accounting audit, for children and
  youths)

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The most developed media segments

• Central mass media versus regional one
• Central media is much more developed than
  regional media
• However, because of its low buying power, a
  significant portion of rural population prefers
  the regional media
• The most popular media categories among the
  general public (decreasing in importance)
• TV Radio
• Online media (web portals, online TV, blogs).
  Online media started to be more popular beginning
  with last year. A kind of launching in this
  respect belongs to Unimedia web portal, which was
  launched in 2009.
• Written (printed) press
• Press agencies

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The most popular mass media by area of operation

• Economic business
• Newspapers Logos Press, ECOnomist
• Magazines Profit, Business Class
• Press agencies Infomarket
• General interest
• Newspapers Timpul, Jurnal de Chisinau,
  Nezavisimaya Moldova, Moldavskie Vedomosti
• Press agencies Infotag, Info-Prim Neo
• TV (news) Prime TV, PRO TV, TV7, Moldova1,
  Publika TV, Jurnal TV
• Radio (news) Radio Moldova, Europa Libera, Vocea
  Basarabiei
• Entertainment Punkt, VIP Magazin, Aquarelle
  magazines Komsomoliskaia Pravda newspaper

5
International mass media on Moldovan market

• TV channels (with local programs)
• From Romania
• PRO TV
• Press agencies (subsidiaries)
• AGERPRESS - Romania
• NEWSIN Romania
• RIA Novosti Russia (local name
  Novosti-Moldova)
• Radio channels (with local programs)
• FREE EUROPE Czech Republic
• Radio France International
• Newspapers (Russia)
• Kommersant plyus
• Komsomolyskaya Pravda

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Foreign investments in the Moldovan mass media

• Foreign investments in the Moldovan mass media
• Publika TV (Romanian investments)
• Jurnal Trust Media (German investments)
• Other international media with a major impact on
  the local market
• PRIME TV channel (local name) - Pervii Kanal
  channel of Russia
• TV7 (local name) - NTV channel of Russia

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Media organizations

• Associations of media channels
• CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM - supports
  professional journalism, promotes qualitative,
  impartial and independent press
• ASSOCIATION OF THE INDEPENDENT PRESS comprises
  regional publications, two press agencies and the
  Centre for Independent Journalism
• ECONOMIC PRESS ASSOCIATION comprises most of
  economic media from RM
• JOURNALISTS UNION OF MOLDOVA its members are
  journalists from the entire country, it is the
  oldest mass media association in Moldova. It
  supports independent professional journalism
• Other associations (not influential), i.e.
  Electronic Press Association, Health Press
  Association etc.
• AUDIOVISUAL COORDINATING COUNCIL (CCA) - a
  national regulatory body that supervises
  audio-visual media outlets. Its members are
  appointed by the Parliament of Moldova
• Others the Audit Bureau of Circulation, it is
  just being launched in Moldova and its members
  are several media channels and private
  enterprises, interested in the real value of
  circulation of the press

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Media ownership

• Public media channels Moldova 1 TV and Radio
  Moldova
• Other mass media institutions from Moldova are
  founded by journalists, business units, town
  halls, local executive public institutions, or
  are local representatives of foreign mass media
  institutions (ProTV, Free Europe)
• Moldovan mass-media is not transparent in
  disclosing its owners
• The only official media trust in Moldova is
  Jurnal Trust Media.
• Media analysts divide Moldovan media in media
  groups, taking into consideration the editorial
  policy of media outlets. The most developed are
  media groups controlled by political parties
  i.e. communist press, the liberal and
  liberal-democratic parties press and the
  independent one (very few)

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Press groups trusts

• AnaliticMedia-grup (the same management team).
  This group is mainly focused on economic,
  business and social areas. Political news are
  reflected impartially.
• Infotag press agency
• TV7 channel
• Profit magazine
• Euronova Media Grup (the same management team).
  This group is focused mainly on anti-communist
  topics.
• Vocea Basarabiei radio station
• Euronova TV channel (Nisporeni raion)
• Jurnal Trust Media
• Jurnal de Chisinau newspaper
• ECOnomist newspaper
• Apropo newspaper
• JurnalTV TV channel
• Jurnal FM (radio channel)

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Appendixes

• Particularities of Moldovan media environment (2
  slides)
• Print online media development
• Print market structure (the most popular
  newspapers)
• Broadcast media
• The most important TV channels
• The ratings of the most important TV channels

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Particularities of Moldovan media environment

• None of the private media institutions declare
  its sources and amount of funding, while public
  institutions do not offer access to reports on
  how public funds are spent. In most cases,
  founders of media outlets are not known by the
  public. There are no laws ensuring transparency
  on media funding and ownership.
• Mass media in Moldova isnt positioned as a
  business in the good meaning of the word, thus
  independent press almost doesnt exist. Although
  rare, there are cases of self-financed
  newspapers. Several publications have managed to
  establish a good reputation both as credible
  information providers and as enterprises that can
  cover their publishing expenses and even be
  profitable. Among these publications one can
  mention Logos Press newspaper and Profit
  magazine. The regional press also has success
  stories with the weekly SP in Balti, Unghiul in
  Ungheni, Cuvantul in Rezina and Observatorul de
  Nord in Soroca.
• Public access to diverse sources of information
  is extremely precarious in the rural areas, where
  most Moldovans live. Despite the formally high
  number of media, population does not have access
  to diverse news sources in all regions of
  Republic of Moldova.
• The most vibrant media scene is undoubtedly in
  Chisinau. Moldovas capital is home to 54.5 of
  the outlets identified throughout the study, and
  boasts a variety of media.

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Particularities of Moldovan media environment

• The CSR projects, developed in Moldova, are not
  correctly approached neither by mass media, who
  thinks that CSR projects are only promotional
  activities of its developers, nor by developers,
  who demand from press to release media materials
  in the content and shape they provide
  (conclusions made during the last conference
  organized on this topic with the participation of
  mass media and business representatives).
• Investigative journalism is not developed, too.
  This domain is only at the first stage of
  development and now exists only due to the
  international organization programmes, i.e.
  Centre for Investigative Journalism. Usually
  journalists publish this kind of materials due to
  participating in special competitions.
• Most journalists in Moldova are called universal
  journalists. Only a few media workers are
  specialized in covering a certain area.

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Print online media development

• The impact of printed media is still limited
  (according to a poll published in July 2009,
  34.1 of Moldova's population did not read
  newspapers at all in the last 3 months, while
  only 9.9 of the population read newspapers on a
  daily basis and 25.1 several times a week).
• Online media is developing fast during this year
  
• Unimedia and Stirea Zilei web portals are the
  most popular, due to the rapid reflection of the
  political events in Moldova, mainly in the period
  of time related to the parliamentary election
  campaigns (in 2009 ).
• Other recently created web portals Politik.md,
  OMG.md, Hotnews.md.
• The blogging trend is represented by a narrow
  circle of persons. One cannot divide blogs on a
  certain specialization.

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Print market structure (the most popular
newspapers)
Source Newspapers information
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Broadcast Media

• The Moldovan broadcasting market has continuously
  developed since its very beginning. The number of
  private radio stations increased from 20 in 1999
  to 44 in 2008, and today there are 166 cable TV
  operators and 38 ground TV stations.
• Moldovans, however, prefer foreign programmes.
  According to AGB Moldova, PRIME is the most
  popular TV channel in Moldova, and 90 of its
  programming is rebroadcasts from the Russian
  station Pervii Kanal. It rated 10 audience points
  in Chisinau in prime-time compared with 3 to 6
  points for the other TV channels (PRO TV, TV7,
  NIT, etc.) Newscasts are the most popular local
  programmes.
• According to Public Opinion Barometers, the press
  is one of the three most trusted social
  institutions in the country. When it comes to
  information, 87 of respondents said TV was their
  primary source. Radio was on the second place,
  with 48.
• According to the legislation in force,
  advertising in newscasts is prohibited. Almost
  all media programmes, i.e. talk shows, are on
  commercial basis.

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The most important TV channels in Moldova

• Public television
• Moldova 1 TV channel belongs to the public
  national broadcaster company Teleradio-Moldova
• Moldova 1 (TVM) has a wide range of shows
  (social-political, economic, entertainment)
• Teleradio-Moldova has founded the Moldova
  International TV Radio channels, broadcasted by
  satellite
• Private TV channels
• TV7, PRO TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, NIT, EU TV,
  2PLUS, N4 and others
• Other relevant information
• Regional TV channels are in continuous
  development (about 28 channels in various raions)
• TV channels broadcasting 43 ether TV studios
  7 broadcasted by satellite TV

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The ratings of the most popular TV channel
Source AGB Moldova, www.allmoldova.md