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Moldova is small; wedged between EU member Romania and Ukraine. Parliamentary elections will be held February 24th. There is also a slice of Moldova, Transnistria, bordering Ukraine that is occupied by 1,500 troops of the Russian Federation. Populist Moldovan president Igor Dodon favors some sort of reintegration with the Russian Federation while center-left prime minister Pavel Filip favors closer ties with the European Union. The election campaign in Moldova has been much like those elsewhere.
The fake news, propaganda and disinformation trolls have been out in force. So much that local fact-checker app Trolless pushed Facebook to take down 168 accounts, 28 pages and 8 Instagram accounts, reported Balkan Insight (February 14). “Some of this activity was linked to employees of the Moldovan government,” said the Facebook Newsroom statement. (See more about fake news here)
Political advertising popping up in Moldova has also joined the post-modern era. Those wishing to reach voters with campaign messages have turned to search engine and social media served ads to avoid disclosure rules applied to broadcasters. “Press institutions… are paid to take manipulated anti-European ‘news’,” noted investigative news portal WatchDog.md (February 20). “And on one of the most popular social networks in Moldova - Odnoklassniki (OK.RU) - there is a real tsunami of anti-European and pro-Party of Socialists (PSRM).” (See more about elections and media here)
Moldova’s Audiovisual Council sanctioned eight television broadcasters for “inappropriately reflecting the start of the election campaign,” said a statement (February 15). The channels, which editorially reflect positions of specific political parties, failed to offer opposing viewpoints in violation of the Audiovisual Media Services Code, which requires "ensuring impartiality, balance and favoring the free formation of opinions, opposing views, when issues are in public debate.”
Discovery Communications has received 19 broadcast licenses from Bavarian media regulator BLM, notes infosat.de (February 15). The pay-TV channels target Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The company had applied for the licenses, which will replace UK licenses, earlier in February. Sports channel Golf TV, available in Germany, will also move to a Bavarian license.
Discovery Communications is moving its European headquarters to Munich. "For us, the new licenses mean a further strengthening of Bavaria as a media location,” said BLM president Siegfried Schneider in a statement. “For companies, this means legal security.” Turner Broadcasting System and NBCUniversal Global Networks were granted TV licenses by the BLM last December. Sports broadcaster DAZN has applied for licenses from the Berlin-Brandenberg Media Authority (MABB).
Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT), formerly Modern Times Group (MTG), is moving its UK licenses back to Sweden. “With or without Brexit, it will be natural for NENT to have Nordic licenses," said chief executive Anders Jensen, quoted by marketwatch.dk (February 20). BBC Worldwide, commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster, is moving appropriate licenses to Amsterdam.
As the UK is about a month from leaving the European Union (EU), referred to as Brexit, television broadcasters targeting EU and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) viewers need to obtain licensing within the EU.
A stalwart voice of the French left for generations, L’Humanite is facing impending doom. It placed itself in voluntary receivership January, holding €7 million debt. Court administrators will decide the newspaper’s fate at the end of March. Liquidation is a possibility.
L’Humanite first appeared in 1904 and was the newspaper of record for the French Communist Party until 1994. Its leftist orientation made it much beloved by intellectuals and artists but not enough in recent years to sustain publication. The French Communist Party ended its weekly supplement in the newspaper at the beginning of February. Last September a paywall appeared. (See more about media in France here)
A special celebrity soirée is organized for this week to raise awareness of the newspaper’s plight as well as a bit of money. After entering receivership supporters contributed €700,000, said director Patrick Le Hyaric, noted Le Parisian (February 8), some a pole apart politically. "Even if you do not always agree with this newspaper, how can you imagine humanity without L’Humanity?” offered former Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon. “In the political debate, it is necessary.”
Italian daily Il Giornale, at the other extreme politically, is also facing disruption due to financial shortcomings. Publisher Società Europea di Edizioni, principally controlled by firms owned by the Berlusconi family, announced across-the-board 30% salary cuts. With elections on the horizon, said the editorial committee’s statement, “it is fundamental that readers always find our daily newspaper,” quoted by Secolo d’Italia (February 15), which noted revenue and circulation declines for Il Giornale have been “much larger compared to the overall average of national newspapers.”
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