Transcript Media Space

Republic of Moldova:
Media Space
BDR Associates, a Hill and Knowlton Associate
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;
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The multilingual mass media:
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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);
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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)
The most developed media segments
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Central mass media versus regional one:
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Central media is much more developed than regional media
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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
The most popular mass media by area of operation
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Economic & business
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Newspapers: Logos Press, ECOnomist
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Magazines:
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Press agencies: Infomarket
Profit, Business Class
General interest

Newspapers:
Vedomosti
Timpul, Jurnal de Chisinau, Nezavisimaya Moldova, Moldavskie

Press agencies: Infotag, Info-Prim Neo
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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
International mass media on Moldovan market
TV channels (with local programs)
From Romania:

PRO TV
Press agencies (subsidiaries)
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AGERPRESS - Romania
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NEWSIN – Romania
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RIA Novosti – Russia (local name – Novosti-Moldova)
Radio channels (with local programs)

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FREE EUROPE – Czech Republic
Radio France International
Newspapers (Russia):
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
Kommersant plyus
Komsomolyskaya Pravda
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:
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PRIME TV channel (local name) - Pervii Kanal channel of Russia
TV7 (local name) - NTV channel of Russia
Media organizations
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Associations of media channels:
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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.
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AUDIOVISUAL COORDINATING COUNCIL (CCA) - a national regulatory body that supervises audiovisual media outlets. Its members are appointed by the Parliament of Moldova;
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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;
Media ownership
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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)
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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)
Press ‘‘groups” & trusts
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AnaliticMedia-grup (the same management team). This group is mainly focused on economic,
business and social areas. Political news are reflected impartially.
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Euronova Media Grup (the same management team). This ‘group’ is focused mainly on anticommunist topics.
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Infotag press agency
TV7 channel
Profit magazine
Vocea Basarabiei radio station
Euronova TV channel (Nisporeni raion)
Jurnal Trust Media:
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Jurnal de Chisinau newspaper
ECOnomist newspaper
Apropo newspaper
JurnalTV – TV channel
Jurnal FM (radio channel)
Appendixes
1.
Particularities of Moldovan media environment (2 slides)
2.
Print & online media development
3.
Print market structure (the most popular newspapers)
4.
Broadcast media
5.
The most important TV channels
6.
The ratings of the most important TV channels
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 isn’t positioned as a business in the good meaning of the word, thus
independent press almost doesn’t 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 Bălti, 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.
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The most vibrant media scene is undoubtedly in Chisinau. Moldova’s capital is home to 54.5% of
the outlets identified throughout the study, and boasts a variety of media.
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.
Print & online media development
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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).
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Online media is developing fast during this year:
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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.
Print market structure (the most popular newspapers)
The circulation of the most important newspapers, ex.
w eekly, Jurnal de Chisinau (Friday edition)
19537
w eekly, Flux
10000
w eekly, Saptamana
11232
w eekly, Logos press
8530
w eekly, Kishineovskie Novosti
8121
w eekly, ECOnomist
6500
1
5372
w eekly, Jurnal de Chisinau (Tuesday edition)
3000
3 ed./w eek, Moldavskie Vedomosti
4618
4 ed./w eek, Moldova Suverana
4277
4 ed./w eek, Nezavisimaya Moldova
42150
daily, Komsomolyskaya Pravda (the highest
circulation - Thirsday edition)
43750
daily, Timpul de dimineata
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
Source: Newspapers’ information
45000
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.
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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.
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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%.
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According to the legislation in force, advertising in newscasts is prohibited. Almost all media
programmes, i.e. talk shows, are on commercial basis.
The most important TV channels in Moldova
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Public television
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Moldova 1 TV channel belongs to the public national broadcaster company Teleradio-Moldova
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Moldova 1 (TVM) has a wide range of shows (social-political, economic, entertainment)
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Teleradio-Moldova has founded the Moldova International TV & Radio channels, broadcasted by
satellite
Private TV channels
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TV7, PRO TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, NIT, EU TV, 2PLUS, N4 and others
Other relevant information

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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;
The ratings of the most popular TV channel
May TV Rating %
4,50
4,00
3,993,95
3,50
3,00
2,50
Moldova
2,00
Chisinau
1,33
1,50
1,00
0,54
1,12
0,73
1,29
0,52
0,50
0,150,28
0,00
PRIME
TV7
NIT
MOLDOVA 1
Source: AGB Moldova, www.allmoldova.md
PRO TV