An American journalist's perspective: the media in the region have loyalties, accept financial support, and get around truth-telling.



MARK Mulcahy, an American journalist and journalism professor, explored media ethics in Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova for his MA thesis, which he wrote as a graduate student of journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia. For his research, he interviewed editors working at newspapers in the three countries during a four-month period from September to December 2001.

Here is a conclusion he made in his thesis: "One overwhelming theme that seems to play out throughout the region is the editors' tendency to blame outside institutions for any decisions that may be judged by others as being unethical. They print speculation and rumour because they say government officials are not forthcoming with information. They accept financial support, putting themselves in a situation where they are now indebted to that person or institution because business is so bad, they would not survive. They show bias toward one side in a story because the source shares the same philosophy as the reporter or newspaper in general.

"All of these countries also hope to become part of the European Union and while this does not direct affect their press systems, as their cultural, political and economic systems evolve, their press system will either follow or lead the way... Indeed, many papers in Romania and Bulgaria are already emulating the British and German press and may evolve in much the same manner."



Mulcahy answered our questions about media freedom in the region.



How do Eastern European editors understand media freedom?



My research found different types of problems in different countries. For example, in Moldova and some Bulgarian newspapers, there is still a loyalty to political parties.

However, in both Bulgaria and Romania I found some newspapers producing more nudity and sensationalist tabloid stories than is accepted in the United States. There is also a problem with newspapers, particularly in Romania, printing stories that have not been confirmed. All three countries have newspaper editors who told me they print rumours, hearsay and information they "just know to be true" without any proof that the information is true. I believe that while some editors embraced the freedoms they were given with the fall of communism, not all have accepted the responsibility to society and truth telling that comes with that freedom.



How do they impose it and protect it?



Moldova enacted legislation to protect press freedom and there is a law enacted in the summer of 2001 to protect Romanian press freedoms. (Editor's note - there is no press freedom law in Bulgaria, and the penal code holds journalists responsible for libel. Libel is classified as a civil offence in Bulgaria).



Is there a functioning system of protecting media freedom in Eastern Europe?



There are Independent Journalism Centres in the capital cities of each three countries.



How far have Eastern European countries gone in their effort to produce high-quality journalism?



So far, the evolution of the media appears to be slow but steady. There are newspapers in Romania (Cotidianul), Moldova (Journal de Chisinau) and Bulgaria (Kapital, Pari & and to some extent Dnevnik and Monitor) that seem to be rising to the ideals of Western journalism. Keep in mind that not even the most respected Western newspapers are without their problems (note the Jason Blair scandal at the New York Times). Still it seems that Bulgaria may be the most advanced of the three countries when it comes to high-quality journalism, Nosten Trud and other tabloids being the exception to this rule, although the Romanian press is not far behind. Moldova has its own set of problems with a dominant Communist Party and a 2.5 per cent newspaper readership ratio among adults.



What do you see as the main problems of the media in that region?



There are a number of problems that seem to affect all three countries. First, there is the issue of loyalty. A few papers in each country still show a loyalty to a political party. Others show loyalty to advertisers or, in some cases, to sources that bribe reporters.

Next there is the issue of truth telling. Some newspapers regularly print rumours or information without sources. An editor at 24 Chassa told me he sometimes prints "what he knows to be true."

All of these things damage the credibility of the press in the region.