Monitoring Report No. 2: Elements of Propaganda, Manipulation of Information and Violation of the Rules of Journalistic Deontology in the Domestic Mass Media

The purpose of the monitoring was to identify whether the media respected professional ethics or used procedures of manipulation when addressing issues of public interest. The report aimed to expose mistakes made by journalists, deliberate or not, and to help increase vigilance among media consumers regarding the risks of unsafe information sources. The monitoring focused on 12 key events, including the voting of the Law on Prosecution, the Peace Conference in Munich, and the release of the 'Petrenco group'. The report identified several general tendencies in the media's coverage of these events, including selective presentation of facts, unilateral presentation of facts, and the use of anonymous sources without verification. Selective presentation of facts was observed in news about protests in Chisinau on April 24th on Publika.md, Sputnik.md, and Newspmr.ru. Unilateral presentation of facts was noted in news from a single source posted on the website of Publika.md, Deschide.md, and aimed mainly at hearings involving the LDPM leader Vlad Filat. Using anonymous sources without verification of information from independent sources was recorded at the publication of news about defense witnesses in the case of Vlad Filat on Deschide.md, Publika.md, Accenttv.md, and Rtr.md. Exacerbation of facts, unjustified emphasis, artificial intensification of facts, and exaggeration of the scale of feelings were also observed in some media institutions. For example, Jurnal TV used such methods in the news edition on April 24th, when they talked about the manifestation organized by the party "Platform of Dignity and Truth" against the leadership. The report also identified elements of propaganda in the topics about the Munich Security Conference on RTR and some subjects about the criminal case, in which the defendant is Vlad Filat, on Publika.md. Inaccurate quoting and interpretation of source messages were noted in news about the protest in the center of Chisinau on April 24th, placed on Publika.md. Quoting anonymous experts and repeating a false idea to confer it credibility were also identified in most news about the protest in the center of Chisinau on April 24th, placed on Publika.md. Labeling, applying pejorative nicknames or marks, was applied by Jurnal TV at the address of the politician Vlad Plahotniuc, by Publika TV when talking about businessmen Viorel and Victor Topa, and by Ziarul National with regard to the businessman Ilan Sor. Headings/images, video and audio effects were used by some media institutions to put a negative spin on subjects or groups, or to emphasize the idea promoted in the text and amplify the negative message they wanted to transmit to the public. Emotional manipulation using music and lyrics in the newscasts on April 24th was observed on Jurnal TV. The report concluded that some media institutions deviated from deontological rules and used characteristic elements of propaganda and informational manipulation practices.