Managing Teleradio-Moldova: Truth or Libel?

Foto:www.deca.md

Now that the long Moldovan holidays are over, besides such events as abundant snowfall that made the traffic even more difficult, and the car accident caused by Mayor of Chisinau, I hear people talking and writing about failures. Failure to successfully implement laws, policies and plans, failure to reform public institutions, failure of Moldovan citizenry to demand a better political representation and government.

It is too bad we are starting off a brand new year with such a poor progress evaluation. However, it is good to see some people feel compelled and independent enough to deliver the bad news. To continue the previous discussion about the well-being of Moldovan public institutions, let’s take the case of the public TV&Radio company Teleradio-Moldova. Two members of the company’s supervisory board published a report which spells out some facts and figures that suggest an extremely poor management of this important but highly-vulnerable public institution. For example, out of all television companies active in the country (about 7), the public TV Moldova1 with 92% coverage has merely a 4.7% audience. In addition, the report provides a colorful picture of how the company is managed on everyday basis, including its human resources, finances, public relations. Evidently, in this picture, the director of the company does not look very good. So, he decides to sue the authors of the report - and the organization they are affiliated with - for libel.

Will have to see what the court – another public institution – decides in this case. For now, however, I look at this report as a favor to the public in the sense that it provides some hard evidence (although, I must admit, still poorly documented and referenced) about the quality of management of one of its key institutions – the national television and radio. It does provide some answers to those of us wondering why the quality of Moldova1 and Radio Moldova programs reached a level so low it is below any criticism.

Searching for Truth in Moldova

Lately, I’ve had a pressing desire to find reliable facts on several issues of public interest, or what media likes to call “scandals”. When I feel such need for truth, I remember a story of several blind men who attempted to describe an elephant. Each of them touched a different part of the elephant, and concluded that the elephant was, in fact, something that resembled 1) a big snake 2) a sword fish 3) a tree trunk 4) a wall 5) a rope, etc. The idea of the story is that everyone is right in their own way, and that the ever-escaping truth can be attained only by considering all possible opinions.

I’ve followed this rule of thumb for the last couple of years in the public sphere in Moldova, and I discovered that Moldovans are pretty opinionated people. Almost everyone is eager to offer their opinions on pretty much every possible topic. Media abounds in various opinions. However, listening to this multitude of opinions rarely led to any miraculous revelation of truth. Why? The majority of opinions – particularly those continuously present in Moldovan media – are poorly informed and seriously biased. Politicians are, of course, the most outspoken, although as poorly informed as the majority of common citizens. This leads to a very lively public life: about 2-3 scandals – domestic and international – a week. Moldovan politicians like to politicize things, and one can’t blame them for that. After all, their job is to accumulate political capital in any possible way and from any possible source. Therefore, as a rule, politicians shouldn’t be regarded as a reliable source of information.

Then, who and/or what could be reliable sources of information, hard data and real facts? In an ideal world, public institutions (financed by taxpayers) would provide objective information – via mass-media and civil society – back to the public. Once highly-objective information is publicly available, then a politician can use it – as any other citizen – to support his arguments, propose changes and win votes. We all know that Moldova is not an ideal world, but, interestingly, of all these key elements, objective information is the one missing in the Moldovan public sphere. That is, before they could express their opinion regarding what the elephant looked like, the blind men needed to actually touch a REAL elephant.