On April 10, it was the third day Moldovan authorities have refused to allow foreign journalists inside the country. Reporters seeking to cover events after the parliamentary elections tried to enter Moldova through the Romanian and the Ukrainian borders, to no avail. Customs authorities have claimed several reasons for refusing entry, like „technical” issues, the need for an invitation, accreditation, or medical insurance. Some were not given an explanation.

The media organizations whose employees were prevented from entering Moldova include the British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Romania Actualitati [Imedia: Romanian for “News”], the Associated Press, EPA, France Press, Intact Images, NewsIn, Mediafax, Reuters, as well as Romanian newspapers Evenimentul Zilei, Jurnalul National, Ziua, and television station Realitatea TV.

At the same time, a large number of journalists from various media institutions were allowed to enter the country on April 8 after landing at the Chisinau airport from a Moscow flight. Several Moldovan journalists reporting on the ground have been intimidated and beaten by people who did not provide any identification.

Four reporters from Ziarul de Garda [Imedia: „The Guard Newspaper”] – a newspaper focused on investigation stories – were physically and verbally abused and threatened on the evening of April 8 by unknown individuals.

On the same day, at around 11 p.m., a cameraman from online television station JurnalTV was beaten by people in plain clothes. His two cameras were taken away, as well. Georgia asked for official explanations from Moldova for its refusal to allow journalists from various media outlets like Imedi, Rustavi-2, and others into the country. Russian news agency Itar-Tass says that Chisinau has been planning to deport three Romanian journalists, but it is unclear what media outlets they represent and if they have already been sent out of the country. No official press release has been made public about this topic. Romania-based Realitatea TV disappeared from cable services on April 7, during the violent protests that ended with the destruction of the Parliament and Presidential buildings. At the same time, there is information that online social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Odnoklasniky cannot be accessed by Moldovans, especially by subscribers to internet services provided by state-run Moldtelecom.

Commentary:

Corina Cepoi: „This is not normal. If it were a war, certain limits to journalists’ access would be justifiable” Corina Cepoi, project director at the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), says that her organization will send an appeal letter to international human rights and journalist organizations and will ask them to „send protests to our state institutions – the Presidency, the Government, and the Parliament.” „They will be getting protests from every corner of the world. The New York-based Institute for the Protection of Journalists has already made a request. Romanian journalists have also done so via two organizations: the Press Monitorization Agency and the Investigative Journalism Center. People at the Ukrainian border also had problems getting in. As a result, we are talking about a general limitation of the freedom of expression and of the communication of information. Journalists are not allowed to get here to write about events in our country,” adds Corina Cepoi. Ms. Cepoi stresses that „this is not normal. If it were a war, certain limits to journalists’ access would be justifiable. In case of a war, journalists are embedded, placed next to military forces so that they are not attacked or fall victim to bombs, and so on. But we are talking here about demonstrations, so there is no reason to limit the access of journalists to this zone. They were asked for medical insurance, invitations, accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But all of these things are not required. Women journalists from the Ziarul de Garda were beaten, pushed around, threatened with rape. This is very serious!”

Ioana Avadanii: „It is hard for us to believe that this is still possible in Europe in 2009” Ioana Avadanii, executive director of the Independent Journalism Center in Bucharest, says that „we still remember how foreign journalists were treated in 1989. For Romanians who lived during that time, this is a painful deja-vu. After 20 years of building democracy, it is hard for us to believe that this is still possible in Europe in 2009. But it is, which proves that the Voronin regime has something to hide.” Ms. Avadanei stresses that „what Chisinau authorities, which made this decision, seem not to have understood is that technology has changed, you can no longer shut down the country and not allow journalists to come in. You really cannot, information can no longer be controlled.”

Oleg Panfilov: „The Communist authorities in Moldova have begun to use the worst methods of authoritarian regimes” Oleg Panfilov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, believes that „we can talk about a certain political agreement, about the fact that Moldovan authorities have spoken with their Russian counterparts and have entirely changed their rhetoric. Whereas a few weeks ago Vladimir Voronin was talking about the fact that the actions of Moldovan authorities fall in line with Council of Europe legislation, now I believe that Chisinau officials have begun to act like the Kremlin, particularly toward foreign journalists.” “We previously thought that Moldova has always been a state that was more calm and harmless with regards to violating the rights of journalists, and it is true that, compared with other zones in the former Soviet Union, the situation was better… Now we see, however, that beyond all appearances, the Communist authorities in Moldova have begun to use the worst methods of authoritarian regimes, and will seemingly do everything to limit journalists’ access and to limit the spread of information about what is happening in Moldova,” argues Mr. Panfilov.

The Russian journalist is currently in Tbilisi (Georgia), where the opposition is staging largescale protests against President Mikheil Saakashvili. He suggested that „if Vladimir Voronin saw what is happening on Georgian television, he would have a heart attack because, for example, two television stations have been broadcasting these protests live, where people are demanding for the direct overthrow of the government or for the resignation of the Georgian president…” He concludes that “we could probably say that Vladimir Voronin has remembered his true origins, of a person who keeps his communist ideology in the background and by definition cannot have a different attitude toward the freedom of speech. His attitude toward journalists, toward mass media outlets that promote a different viewpoint fits absolutely with the regime that Vladimir Voronin represents.”

Gabriel Gatehouse: „I’ve never been refused entry into any country before. So this is a first for me. And it happened three times in a day” Gabriel Gatehouse, the BBC’s reporter for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, says that he tried to enter the country on April 8 to cover the protests in downtown Chisinau, as well as the postelection situation. Mr. Gatehouse tried three ports of entry, but was refused each time, both by the Moldovan and the Transnistrian side. In Palanca, a customs point controlled by Moldova and Ukraine, several journalists, including Mr. Gatehouse, had to wait for approximately an hour before Moldovan authorities said “sorry, we are not letting you through.” “The official reason given at the Moldovan border crossing was that we did not have Moldovan Foreign Ministry accreditation. But we were given to understand that it was unusual to refuse entry to a foreign journalist for lacking accreditation. I was given to understand by the Foreign Ministry that the way it usually happens is – you come to Moldova, you go to the Foreign Ministry once you are there in Chisinau, and then you get your documents if you need them,” Mr. Gatehouse adds. The BBC journalist has had a long experience reporting the news, but “I’ve never been refused entry into any country before. So this is a first for me. And it happened three times in a day.” “Different countries,” he says “have different attitudes toward foreign journalists coming in and having an accreditation. In Ukraine if you come to work for a couple of weeks, there is absolutely no need to get an accreditation at all. In Russia it’s a very good idea to get an accreditation. But they certainly will let you into the country without that accreditation. You can get it once you get to Moscow. It’s very hard to get an accreditation in any other country, although not impossible. I’ve done it with Belarus. But this is the first time ever I have been denied entry to a country for being a journalist,” Mr. Gatehouse concludes.

File: Mass media organizations in Moldova (the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Center for Journalistic Investigation, the Acces-info Center, the Center for Young Journalists, and the Association of Electronic Press) have expressed their “concerns with the actions of Moldovan authorities, which limit the free movement of journalists, and calls on them to respect the obligations Moldova has pledged to respect by signing European treaties and conventions.”

At the same time, the media organizations “vehemently protest against police attacks on journalists doing their jobs and demand the immediate cessation of these abusive and illegal practices, the investigation of the mentioned cases, and the punishment of people who have committed abuses toward journalists.” The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which represents over 600,000 journalists in 123 countries, “condemns the decision by Moldova to bar Romanian journalists trying to cover disturbances in the country.” Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, said that “the government cannot expect the international community to believe its claims if independent journalists are not allowed to do their work.” Other international media organizations have also released statements about the Moldovan authorities restricting journalistic activity and limiting the freedom of speech.

Profile: Corina Cepoi was born on December 5, 1971. She graduated from High School Nr. 1 in Chisinau and then went on to attend the Alexei Mateevici Teaching School. Ms. Cepoi holds a degree in English philology from the State University of Moldova and has two M.A.s – one from the State University of Moldova and the other from the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Journalism School in the United States. She interned for the Cape Cod Times and for the International Journalism Center in the U.S. Ms. Cepoi was also a Chevening researcher at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. She is a project director for Moldova’s School of Advanced Studies in Journalism and for the Independent Journalism Center (IJC). Between 2005 and 2008, Ms. Cepoi was interim head of the IJC. back

Ioana Avadanii is executive director of the Bucharest-based Center for Independent Journalism. She has an experience of over 15 years in the media field, having worked as a news agency and a television editor. She was instrumental in the passing of critical media legislation in Romania, such as the Access to Information Law. Between 2004 and 2006, Ms. Avadanii was president of the South East European Network for the Professionalization of the Media. back

Gabriel Gatehouse has been working for the BBC since 2001. He has been the Kiev correspondent for BBC News since January 2008, and he also covers the rest of Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. Mr. Gatehouse has previously worked on a variety of BBC radio programs and outlets, including the organization’s World Service, BBC 4 (domestic radio), and BBC Russian (for nearly five years). He was born on April 29, 1977. Mr. Gatehouse holds a degree from the University of London. He has also taken courses in Russia, and has developed a fondness for Russian literature. back

Oleg Panfilov has been head of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations since 2000. He has been a journalist since 1973, during which time he worked for the Associated Press, Nezavisimaia Gazeta (Russia) [Imedia: Russian for “Independent Newspaper”], Gazeta Wyborzca (Poland), and the Central Asia Magazine (Sweden). In 2000, Mr. Panfilov started producing and presenting a show entitled “The Government and the Press” on Radio Free Europe/Svoboda. He is one of the most well-known experts on security issues for journalists. Mr. Panfilov is also head of the Russian branch of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (the United States). He has written and edited 27 books, numerous articles, and studies that have been published around the world. Mr. Panfilov was born in 1957 in Tajikistan. He has a personal blog and a website.

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