Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 20 (of 30)
Political Environment: 25 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 21 (of 30)
Total Score: 66 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

Press freedom declined in Moldova as the government restricted independent news reporting in the months ahead of the June local elections. While the Moldovan government has turned away from Russia and towards European integration in recent years-approving a number of legal reforms and experiencing economic growth-those reforms have not been implemented and media restrictions have continued. The government often infringes on legally guaranteed press freedoms. Libel is no longer punishable by imprisonment, and in 2006 the parliament approved legislation capping previously unlimited fines in libel cases. No new libel lawsuits were reported during 2007, in part because journalists avoided politically sensitive topics like government corruption. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights also overturned at least six previous convictions of journalists, mostly involving articles exposing government corruption. Journalists were unable to get basic public information from the government because secretive officials continued ignoring an existing Access to Information Law. An Audiovisual Code approved by the parliament in 2006 was used in January 2007 to privatize and silence two municipal media outlets in Chisinau that had previously criticized the government in their news reports. In March, the ruling Communist party and their Christian Democrat allies passed a law reducing the re-broadcasting of parliamentary debates on public television, which decreased coverage of the political opposition in the months ahead of the local elections.

President Vladimir Voronin's government controls the country's politicized public broadcaster, Teleradio Moldova, whose radio and television news programs consistently favored pro-governmental candidates and ignored opposition candidates during the local election campaign. Owners of both state-run and private media continue to promote self-censorship and the police sometimes harassed journalists for reporting on politically embarrassing events. In March, police officers in Chisinau arrested television news crews of Pro TV and DTV and confiscated their videotapes after they videotapes police arresting peaceful protesters. Despite these and other pre-election abuses, the ruling Communist Party's candidates lost the prestigious mayoral election in the capital of Chisinau as well as other local posts around the country.

Some of Moldova's independent and opposition newspapers expressed diverse political views but the broadcast media was weaker and more pro-government, often rebroadcasting programs from Romania or Russia. Authorities continued to influence the media through the politicized distribution of broadcast licenses, financial subsidies and non-transparent privatizations of state media. In January, pluralism in the broadcast media declined significantly when Chisinau city authorities rushed to privatize of two popular public broadcasters known for their independent news reporting; companies with ties to the ruling Communist Party purchased Radio Antena-C and Euro-TV and shifted them towards entertainment and pro-government news programming. In July, the nine members of the Audiovisual Coordinating Council – a broadcast media regulatory agency – voted to replace their pro-government chairman with a representative of the opposition. The government refused to recognize the vote and two months later authorities reportedly pressured the council to elect a different pro-government chairman.

Authorities do not control internet access, although internet services are limited to roughly 15% of the population owing to an underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure. In the separatist Transnistria region, media are highly restricted and politicized. Most local broadcast media are controlled by the Transnistrian authorities or companies like Sheriff Enterprises, which are linked with the separatist regime. Several small opposition newspapers like Novaya Gazeta and Chelovek i Yevo Prava criticized abuses committed by the separatist authorities and, in retaliation, their journalists and advertisers were aggressively harassed by the authorities. Print media in Transnistria are required to register with the local Ministry of Information in Tiraspol rather than the legitimate Moldovan government in Chisinau.

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