Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) SEMI-ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT October 2017 – March 2018

Cooperative Agreement No. AID-117-A-17-00001

Activity Start Date and End Date: April 3, 2017 to April 2, 2022

Implemented by: Internews Network

Partners: Freedom House, Independent Journalism Center

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 2

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 3

II. HIGHLIGHTS (OCTOBER 2017 – MARCH 2018) ...... 4

III. BACKGROUND/CONTEXT ...... 5

IV. PROJECT ACTIVITIES ...... 7 OBJECTIVE 1 7 ACTIVITY 1.1. TARGETED GRANT SUPPORT FOR CONTENT PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ...... 7 ACTIVITY 1.2. NEEDS-BASED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ...... 14 OBJECTIVE 2 17 ACTIVITY 2.1: CONDUCT PUBLIC SURVEYS TO MEASURE AUDIENCE MEDIA PREFERENCES, PERCEPTIONS, AND HABITS ...... 17 ACTIVITY 2.2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN PUBLIC MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE CITIZENS’ ABILITY TO SEEK, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, AND PRODUCE NEWS CONTENT...... 17 ACTIVITY 2.3: IMPROVE THE CAPACITY OF MEDIA WATCHDOGS TO EFFECTIVELY MONITOR MEDIA FOR MISINFORMATION, BIAS, CENSORSHIP, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ...... 22 ACTIVITY 2.4: SUPPORT RIGOROUS AND CREATIVE ELECTION COVERAGE MONITORING 28 OBJECTIVE 3 28 ACTIVITY 3.1. MONITORING, ANALYSIS, AND OVERSIGHT MECHANISMS ...... 28 ACTIVITY 3.2. ADVOCACY ACTIONS AND COALITION-BUILDING ...... 35 ACTIVITY 3.3. EDUCATION AND AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS: ...... 38 OBJECTIVE 4 40 ACTIVITY 4.1 ASSESS ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY ...... 40 ACTIVITY 4.2 PRIORITIZE, PLAN, AND BUILD ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY ...... 42

V. PLANNED HIGHLIGHTS (FOR APRIL 2018 – SEPTEMBER 2018) ...... 42

VI. CHALLENGES ...... 44

VII. MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING PLAN INDICATORS……45

VIII. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS ...... 50

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) is a five-year activity (MEDIA-M or Activity hereafter) that aims to promote the development of an independent, professional media that gives citizens access to a variety of perspectives, and to create a media sector that is more resilient to political and financial pressures. By focusing on the supply of and demand for objective information, this Activity will strengthen the ability of independent media to fulfill its role as a watchdog over the government and serve as a space for citizens to engage in public policy dialogue. Moreover, the Activity’s focus on the legal enabling environment will reinforce existing protections for freedom of speech, facilitate better implementation of laws, and advocate for media sector regulation in accordance with international norms.

MEDIA-M will focus on three programmatic and one crosscutting objective to be achieved with the Implementing Partners Independent Journalism Center (IJC) and Freedom House (FH):

O1. Support independent media and production and dissemination of alternative content through grants and needs-based technical assistance O2. Build consumer understanding of and demand for independent, reliable, and high quality news and information through targeted media literacy activities O3. Improve the enabling legal and regulatory environment for independent media by strengthening the capacity of media support organizations O4. Nurture organizational capacity of local media institutions for transition to direct local award (Cross-cutting objective)

II. HIGHLIGHTS (OCTOBER 2017 – MARCH 2018)

Objective 1

• A team of international experts finalized the Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) of Key Partners (KPs) in November 2017. • The grant agreement contracts with all six KPs were signed February-March 2018 and KP activities were launched. • IJC awarded six Emerging Opportunities Grants. • Internews established the Capacity Development Assistance Plan and calendar schedule for all six KPs for 2018. • IJC conducted two open group trainings: one on data mining and fact-checking and one on data visualization.

Objective 2

• IJC developed the high school media literacy curriculum. • Production of youth-oriented media literacy education tools: IJC’s consumer-education portal Mediacritica.md published seven digital literacy tutorials and eight Media ABC videos. IJC also produced two online masterclasses on detecting false pictures and fake news, and launched the Media Literacy online platform WWW.EDUCATIA.MEDIACRITICA.MD. • IJC awarded one Media Misinformation Campaign Grant. • Media watchdogs Media-Azi.md and Mediacritica.md published a new series of media monitoring case studies as well as two media monitoring reports. • Press Council launched a broad public outreach campaign • The updated Press Council website was launched. • 16 Novateca librarians led 120 media literacy trainings.

Objective 3

• Internews, FH, IJC, and representatives participated in the Parliamentary Working Group to improve media legislation and in meetings of the eight thematic subgroups, continuing efforts to synchronize Moldova’s audiovisual legislation with European laws and norms. • The Working Group’s draft of the new “Audiovisual Media Services Code of the Republic of Moldova” was registered in the Parliament and is expected to be called to a vote during the next session. The document will also be submitted to the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for review. • Four Moldovan authors produced high-quality policy briefs as part of the Media Forward series with technical assistance from FH. The briefs were published online, printed in trilingual format, and distributed during the Media Policy Forum. • FH and Black Sea Trust awarded three Media Freedom Matters small grants for advocacy initiatives to raise awareness of press freedom, freedom of expression, and independent media. The grantees are Newsmaker.md, NGO Prospect, and Sud-Est Junior Association. • Citizens, political parties, and others submitted 51 cases of ethical violations among media to the Press Council; all 51 were resolved in compliance with decisions determined by the Press Council. • FH developed a needs assessment of the Press Council based on interviews with the Association of Independent Press (API), the Press Council, and third parties that work with them. • Achieving its target, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) drafted and filed 15 applications for summons on selected cases of restricted access to information by public institutions. Each of these

applications will ultimately lead to court decisions that will set a precedent for how the judicial system handles cases on access to information. • FH’s Freedom of the Press team led a review of the Independent Journalism Center’s (IJC) methodology for the Moldovan Press Status Index Report and offered recommendations on how to professionalize the Report’s methodology. • API conducted media monitoring and led the conversation surrounding how journalists should report issues involving minors and victims of sexual assault after an irresponsible report on the topic was published in November.

Objective 4

• Internews selected six media support CSOs to benefit from a long-term assistance program within MEDIA-M and held an introductory meeting for the group. • Internews trained 14 local organizational development consultants on the SATT/OSS Index administration. Three of the trainees have been contracted to perform these assessments for the six media CSO partners.

III. BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Pressure on media in Moldova continued in this reporting period, and many non-profit media organizations issued declarations condemning the situation. In Fall 2017, photojournalist Constantin Grigorita was repeatedly denied access to events at the President’s office after posing critical questions to the President at a press conference. In February 2018, border authorities of Moldova refused entry to two journalists (one Ukrainian and one Russian); media NGOs responded, calling on the government to ensure free movement of journalists based on commitments Moldova undertook internationally. Also in February, charitable organizations investigated by Liuba Sevciuc of RISE Moldova threatened her on social networks. In March, a Jurnal TV crew was attacked while filming and the cameraman was hit with a shovel; NGOs reminded the country that impeding journalistic activity is a crime according to the Criminal Code of Moldova. And most recently, Moldova’s Popular European Party accused media outlets of improperly linking Prime Minister Leanca to bank fraud, and offered alternative background information that would portray him favorably. Media NGOs consider such “advice” to the media as pressure on the media outlets.

In February, a group of 15 leading human rights NGOs issued a laundry list of attacks against non-profits in Moldova from September 2016 to December 2017. Some common themes were: public figures, political parties, and politically-affiliated media outlets accused non-profit organizations of representing foreign or political interests; and public institutions occasionally excluded NGOs from public discussions or participatory processes. Such actions stifle the wish of NGOs to monitor governance and get involved, thus affecting the democratic process in Moldova.

Also in February, the anti-propaganda amendment to the current Broadcasting Code came into force banning broadcasting of news, military content, and information programs produced in countries that have not ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (CETT). The United States, Canada, and EU member states are exempt from this law; notably, Russia (which has not ratified CETT) is not exempt. The Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) started monitoring Moldovan broadcasters’ compliance with the anti-propaganda amendment to the Audiovisual Code, as well as new local content production requirements. Eight hours per day have to be produced locally while six of the eight hours have to be in prime time. The BCC either fined or issued warnings for TV and radio stations for broadcasting banned programs, usually originating from Russia. Two TV stations were fined this quarter: RTR Moldova and Prime TV.

Four Moldovan TV channels filed a formal complaint to the Competition Council of Moldova to alert them of an agreement between the two main advertising houses in the country. The ad sales groups, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party and the Socialist Party which is not in power, are reportedly offering significant discounts to advertisers who agree to place 100 percent of their ads exclusively with them.

The Association of Independent Press is monitoring Moldova’s commitments in the field of media according to the Moldova—European Union Association Agreement. Their two latest reports in their yearlong process, which cover this reporting period (September-November 2017 and December 2017- February 2018), highlight extreme delays in promised actions. Both reports estimate that half of the National Action Plan steps were undertaken. For example, a key piece of legislation in the broadcast field, the Broadcasting Code, was postponed from the first quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018. The same applied to the Media Development Concept draft, which was presented for public discussion but with no date for approval in Parliament. Protection of linguistic and cultural heritage activities planned for early 2018 did not take place. Often the national plans do not coincide with promises made by the state and are focused exclusively on broadcasting (leaving aside print or the Internet, for example).

The Council of the European Union reviewed its relations with Moldova in February, in regards to media among other issues, highlighting the need to balance between Moldova’s wish to fight propaganda and maintain media freedom. The Council encouraged Moldova to reform the broadcasting field and to create competitive conditions for the development of media with a transparent ownership structure.

The Barometer of Public Opinion launched in December 2017 shows that TV is still the main source of information for Moldovans, followed by the Internet. Media remains among the most trusted institutions in the country. The community association Watchdog.md presented in February the results of a survey aiming at linking political preferences with media consumption habits. Activists found a strong connection between consumption of Russian channels and trust in the Russian president (and locally in the pro- Russian President Dodon). On the other hand, those trusting Angela Merkel and sharing EU values are viewers of independent and opposition TV channels. At the end of March, the national level survey “Evolution and media preferences in the Republic of Moldova” conducted by IMAS and funded by the U.S. Embassy in Moldova in cooperation with the Swedish Embassy in Moldova revealed that Moldovans watch TV and use the Internet almost equally, on average three hours a day for each platform. When watching TV, they prefer entertainment programs in Russian but watch the news in both Romanian and Russian. The most popular channels across all age groups are Prime, Jurnal, RTR Moldova, and PRO TV (the last is a Media-M Key Partner). Three-quarters of respondents consider that what they see in the media on any platform does not reflect reality. Two-thirds of young people prefer to get information from the Internet rather than TV.

IV. PROJECT ACTIVITIES

OBJECTIVE 1

Support independent media and production and dissemination of alternative content through grants and needs-based technical assistance

Activity 1.1. Targeted grant support for content production and distribution

1.1.1. Key Partner grants

In order to identify the needs of the Key Partners (KPs) to be covered under the grant program, a team of three international experts conducted an Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) of each KP (for more details please see Activity 1.2.1.). After completing each assessment, the international experts provided a list of recommendations for each KP. Some of these recommendations will be covered by the grant program and others by long-term mentoring provided by Internews.

To ensure the efficiency of the assistance provided through the grant program, Internews organized discussions with each KP separately on the proposed recommendations. After a long period of discussions of the recommendations, each KP developed two lists of actions: (1) for the grant program and (2) for long-term mentoring (see Activity 1.2.1). The actions for the grant program were identified according to the OCA scorings, specified priority areas, and budget limitations.

Upon finalization of each KP’s action plan, Internews developed and signed Sub-grant Internews meeting with NewsMaker to discuss the identified Agreements with each KP for a one-year period. OCA priorities and recommendations The grants are primarily dedicated to support for content production and technical upgrades.

The total value of the grant program for Year One of assistance for all six KPs is US More details are presented in the table below: Amount disbursed Amount spent KP Value of SGA Amount % of total amount % of total Ziarul de Garda 10.6% 4.5% PRO TV 14.7% 13.1% RISE 24.7% $0 - SP $0 - $0 - Interact $0 - $0 - News Maker $0 - $0 - Total 8.8% 4.5%

To monitor the KPs’ implementation of the Sub-grant Agreements, Internews established monthly monitoring meetings. Two monitoring meetings took place during the reporting period: one on March 15 with Ziarul de Garda, and one on March 20 with PRO TV. Monitoring meetings for the other four KPs will start one month after their Sub-grant Agreements are signed.

After Sub-grant Agreements were signed, each KP was asked to present an Activity Schedule for the grant program. A consolidated Activity Schedule is presented in Attachment 1.

PRO TV

PRO TV signed their Sub-grant Agreement on February 19, 2018. Once it was signed, PRO TV started to implement the actions listed in the budget and applied for (and received) the initial advance payment, amounting to With these funds, PRO TV:

• Contracted an IT equipment supplier and made an advance payment. • Contracted, for whole period of Sub-grant Agreement, three investigative journalists to produce investigative reports. By the end of the reporting period, these reporters produced three investigative reports, all of which were based on investigations conducted by two other KPs: RISE and Ziarul de Garda. • Contracted four regional/local TV outlets and two regional freelancers to produce regional/local stories, in order to increase coverage of PRO TV’s audience around the country. During the reporting period, PRO TV together with these media outlets and freelancers produced 25 regional and local news stories with content not only from media sources but also new interviews and additional information.

Ziarul de Garda (ZdG)

ZdG signed their Sub-grant Agreement on February 15, 2018. Under the grant so far, ZdG:

• Rented new premises for their office, including a conference-debate-studio room which will be refurbished for filming programs and organizing public events. • Purchased and installed video cameras. • Started the procurement process for furniture for the office and studio. • Contracted one investigative reporter. • Began the process to contract an office manager, two audience relations assistants, and a news reporter, who will be hired in April.

Activities for the following KPs will start next quarter:

RISE signed their Sub-grant Agreement on March 14, 2018.

SP signed their Sub-grant Agreement on March 26, 2018.

Interact signed their Sub-grant agreement on March 27, 2018.

NewsMaker signed their Sub-grant agreement on March 27, 2018.

1.1.2. Emerging Opportunities (EO) grants

Emerging opportunities grants are intended to foster the development or expansion of nascent media platforms and innovative tools providing an informational alternative to the public, particularly those in rural areas, youth, and marginalized groups. The grants program was open to all Moldovan media outlets, NGOs, bloggers/vloggers, activists, individuals, and other entities adhering to ethical and professional standards.

On October 10, 2017, IJC announced the six winners of the Emerging Opportunities Grants, encompassing media institutions and NGOs: Ca Lumea, Moldova.org, Diez.md, Initiativa Pozitiva (Positive Initiative), and

the regional outlets Observatorul de Nord and SP (the last of which is also a Media-M KP). The grants are of varying sizes and support the development of new media communication platforms. The purpose of these grants is to help these institutions develop their content offerings and become platforms for intelligent and balanced public discussion on issues of national importance.

NGO Ca Lumea, Internetu’ Grăiește (Internet Speakin’)

Ca Lumea has produced and streamed 17 episodes of their 60-minute live online talk show Internetu Graieste since the project launch at the end of 2017. The show, hosted by Nata Albot and Andrei Bolocan, both Moldovan journalists based in Canada, is aimed at presenting a weekly retrospective of the country’s most important issues. The hosts go live on Facebook every Thursday around 9 PM, covering subjects of public interest for the Republic of Moldova: political corruption, disinformation in media, and civil servants’ incompetence, as well as subjects of great inspiration to Moldova’s polarized society: examples of kindness and respect among regular citizens, or success stories of Moldovans on an international scale.

CA LUMEA Outcomes and Results in numbers

• 1 new LIVE online talk show “Internetu Grăiește” launched • 17 episodes (around 60 min each) broadcasted • 10 episodes broadcasted on national level TV due to partnership with TV8 • almost 450,000 unique viewers on FB • “Internetul Grăiește” Facebook page reached 5,556 followers • “Internetul Grăiește” YouTube channel reached 3,000 subscribers and 80,000 views One episode gathered almost 40,000 unique viewers on Facebook

The show is highly appreciated and commented on by Internet users. On FB it has reached almost 450,000 unique viewers, and the average number of unique viewers for a single episode is almost 40,000. On Youtube, the show has 3,000 subscribers, with 80,000 total views. On Soundcloud, the show has about 100 followers; this number dropped significantly after the hosts decided not to direct people there, because Soundcloud charges a monthly fee for accounts that exceed the allotted amount of video.

On January 20, TV8 – a national TV channel in Moldova – began broadcasting Internetu Graieste. TV8 also shows repeats of the episodes on Sunday mornings. The hosts hope that this partnership with TV8 helps them reach an even larger audience, appealing to those who do not have time or resources to connect with them on social media. Ten episodes have been broadcast on TV8 so far.

Moldova.org, Combating False News and Statements by Fact-Checking and Development of Interactive Video Content

Thanks to the grant offered to Moldova.org, their team has created a multimedia lab, which includes three journalists, a camera operator, and a video editor. The purpose of the lab is to produce high-quality content, such as short videos, interviews, and fact-checking articles and videos. By the beginning of April, Moldova.org published 69 video materials and 17 fact-checking videos on its Facebook page; 16 multimedia materials (interviews, articles) with innovative elements were published on the new multimedia platform. Within the emerging content grant, the journalists have also updated and

relaunched Moldova.org’s DIY News application which enables the public to participate in the news- making process by creating video materials and sharing them on social media.

Apart from the impact Moldova.org that their own Outcomes and Results in numbers produced content has • 1 multimedia lab created had on the public via • 1 multimedia platform launched social media and on • 69 video-materials their website, the DIY • 17 fact-checking videos News App has also • 16 multimedia materials helped increase the • 1 Mobile application DIY News for number of unique creating short video news launched viewers of the site. and reached 300 users The updated DIY News Application For the moment, (creating short video news) updated • The published media products about 300 users have reached by Moldova.org 103,000 views downloaded the app. Usually, the number of downloads is influenced by the protests in Moldova and Romania or another big event, so that people can feel more involved.

The grant-supported materials published on Moldova.org’s multimedia platform have reached 103,000 total views, and received lots of feedback from readers. Moldova.org editors have used multiple innovative tools in order to convey the relevant information, including audio and video elements, diagrams, infographics, and quizzes. Additionally, thanks to their focus on interactive content, the reach of Moldova.org’s Facebook posts has significantly increased. The weekly reach is almost 100,000 users, which is almost twice as much compared to their old approach.

Furthermore, the Moldova.org journalists have collaborated with experts from NGOs, such as Expert Group and Promo-Lex, to provide high-quality information, as well as to help debunk false and unclear statements from the public information space, including media and social networks.

Diez.md, Universitatea #diez

#Diez Under the grant, Diez.md Outcomes and Results in has created three tools: numbers #diez app for Android; #diez app for iOS; and the • 3 applications for #diez online Russian Google Chrome news portal created App. All applications were • 1 media project Universitatea created and beta-tested in #diez launched the reporting period. • published 20 media stories These apps will increase online and reached 18 000 #diez’s visibility, and gives views #diez readers a more user- friendly way of reading and getting the news.

The grant also funded Diez.md’s Universitatea #diez project, which launched in November 2017. Since then they have produced 20 stories, which have been viewed almost 18,000 times altogether. The stories featured the life of six students living and studying in Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and the Netherlands, with useful links.

After the project was launched, Diez.md received messages from young people studying abroad who were interested in sharing their knowledge with #diez readers. Diez also received a request from Moldovan students studying in Romania to do a similar series with Romania. Additionally, some young professors at Moldovan universities wrote in to say that they read these kinds of articles to improve their teaching.

NGO Initiativa Pozitiva/Positive Initiative, Contributing to Social Inclusion, Authorities’ Accountability and Raising Public Awareness Regarding Violations of Rights of Vulnerable Groups

The main objective of Positive Initiative‘s project was to create an interactive mechanism for anonymous submission of cases of violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens from vulnerable groups, with the aim of producing news content for media. Therefore, in March the NGO developed and launched a mobile application “RUPOR4YOU.” In order to promote the new app, Initiativa Pozitiva discussed it with project partners and potential beneficiaries, all of whom expressed interest in using RUPOR4YOU.

The other goal was production of attractive news content to highlight cases of violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens from vulnerable groups, in order to promote the development of social inclusiveness and accountability. Within the framework of the project, 77 publications (articles, interviews etc.) were published on the website and on social networks. The main objectives of the media products are to increase the level of awareness among people from vulnerable communities as well as ordinary citizens on such topics as HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and drug use; contribute to reducing stigma, self-stigma, and discrimination; and promote greater access to treatment by combating corruption schemes and promoting the use of transparent procurement systems. Additionally, during the reporting period, the team produced nine short video interviews (titled “Blitz 25”) with opinion influencers1. Through these video pieces, the interviewees try to combat stereotypes and discrimination in Moldovan society.

INITIAȚIVA POZITIVĂ Outcomes and Results in numbers

• 1 new mobile application RUPOR4YOU developed and launched, intended for submission of rights violation cases • Signed memorandums with 13 NGOs across Moldova and 10 media platforms • 50% increase in visibility of the Facebook Page • 33% increase of web traffic • 9 videos interviews with opinion RUPOR4YOU mobile influencers application for publicizing Video interview from the series Blitz 25 videos the violation of rights • 77 publications (articles, interviews with public figures and influencers launched etc.)

The grant project has helped Initiativa Pozitiva to increase the visibility of its Facebook page by 50%. Additionally, the web traffic for www.positivepeople.md grew by 33%, with 8,000 unique visits and 16,000 page views per month. Positive Initiative has signed memoranda with 13 national and local

1 Natalia Morari, Maxim Milentii, Olia Tira, Maria Marian, Lili Ojovan, Dmitrii Voloșin, Victor Tvorceschii, Dara, Vasile Botnaru.

NGOs2 and 10 media platforms3 across Moldova, developing partnerships and expanding the dissemination of news to the public. Thanks to these memoranda, Initiativa Pozitiva is able to publish its information on more webpages, for example this notice on allmoldova.com.

Observatorul de Nord (OdN), Campaign for Media Literacy

The purpose of regional media outlet Observatorul de OBSERVATORUL DE NORD Nord’s project was to promote media literacy in the North Outcomes and Results in numbers region of Moldova and to involve people in media content • Campaign for Media Literacy production through communicating with OdN reporters launched and suggesting topics to be covered. In this context, OdN • 11 media literacy workshops across organized 11 workshops4 across Moldova as part of their Moldova Campaign for Media Literacy to discuss topics in a more • 11 FB group chats created useful and impactful way. These media literacy workshops • 6 Observatorul video talk-shows, reached a total of 202 people across Moldova (156 broadcasted that reached between women and 46 men): professors, students, social workers, 350 and 1000 viewers each. mayors, etc. The information provided to local • 156 women and 46 men reached by media literacy activities communities enhanced the identification of various interesting subjects which deserve to be made public. After each workshop, a group chat was created for each visited locality (a total of 11 group chats5), including the most active members of the communities. This is a good opportunity for journalists to be informed about the local events and noteworthy subjects. Other participants of the group chats include local librarians and Solving community problems thanks to three reporters of OdN Observatorul de Nord’s chat group in the newspaper. villages from Soroca district. These mini discussion platforms are friendly In order to become more and useful to reporters as a means of financially sustainable, the outlet communicating with the people from local changed its strategy regarding the communities. For instance, OdN learned that placement of advertising and the bus connecting the village Rudi to Soroca announcements. OdN created the was out of order for a couple of weeks without being replaced. After talking on the OdN Advertising group on chat with the Rudi locals, OdN reporter Facebook, which contains over Tatiana Mitrofan wrote about this case; 800 members, through which it following publication of her article on the now promotes advertising and subject in the newspaper, the problem was solved. announcements. Also, OdN published its first commercial

2 The Public Health Alliance, IDOM, RICS ADEPT, Centrul Social Regional `Viata cu speranta`, UNAIDS Moldova, AO `CRPC`, AO `Второе Дыхание`, Centrul Social Regional Renasterea (Chisinau), AO `Pas cu Pas regiunea Sud` (Cahul), Bendery City Society `Милосердие` (Bender), Information Center `Healthy Future` (Tiraspol), Center for Social Support `Trinity` (Ribnita). 3 Newspaper `Economic Review`, VIP magazine, www.allmoldova.md, locals.md, moldova.org, www.newsmaker.md, www.simpals.md, TV8, TV Romania, Impact TV. 4 Vasilcău (13 participants), Voloviţa (12 participants), Rudi (14 participants), Tătărăuca Veche (12 participants), Nimereuca (12 participants), Racovăţ (27 participants), Redi Cereşnovăţ (16 participants), Bădiceni (14 participants), Şolcani (24 participants), Schineni (45 participants) and Băxani (17 participants). 5 The chats include participants from - Vasilcău (7 locals), Voloviţa (9 locals), Rudi (9 locals), Tătărăuca Veche (18 locals), Nimereuca (4 locals), Racovăţ (12 locals), Redi Cereşnovăţ (3 locals), Bădiceni (9 locals), Şolcani (4 locals), Schineni (18 locals) and Băxani (56 locals).

article with detachable discount vouchers (readers are encouraged to buy the printed newspaper): it reached more than 1,000 views on the site.

The outlet initiated a series of monthly articles presenting the villages from Soroca county. These articles are written by members and/or groups from the local communities. OdN also developed a feature for OdN reporters to attend city council meetings and report on them in live text format. Afterwards, OdN also publishes video reports from these meetings. This format was popular, getting up to 2,000 views.

SP, Mobile app tools to keep the public better informed

With grant support, local outlet SP created four distribution SP channels of SP in Viber, Vkontakte, Telegram, and Outcomes and Results in numbers Odnoklassniki messengers to facilitate interaction with citizens, by providing content directly on readers’ mobile • 4 new distribution channels phones. Within these channels, a daily digest of SP launched (Viber, Vkontakte, materials is disseminated. For Viber, SP created a feedback Telegram, and Odnoklassniki messengers) mechanism: the editorial staff can receive messages from • Around 850 people subscribed to readers through this messenger. In addition, SP promoted newly created channels news channels in the social networks Facebook, Vkontakte, • Readers feedback communication Odnoklassniki, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as on the channel created through Viber www.esp.md website and in the SP newspaper. In the messenger reporting period, more than 500 people subscribed to the Viber messenger, 214 people subscribed to Telegram messenger, 82 – Vkontakte, and 37 - Odnoklassniki.

From January to the end of March, readers sent in 67 messages and questions through the messengers. SP forwarded these to the appropriate local or central authorities, and 22 of the reader questions received responses, which were then published on the www.esp.md website and in the SP newspaper. In the same period, SP sent out 70 issues of the news digest for users of each of the four messengers, totaling 280 distribution packages.

Through messengers, SP sent out more than 200 links to news on the www.esp.md website. According to Viber statistics (other messengers do not give statistics), over the course of one month www.esp.md accumulated 1,287 views of the messages sent on this channel.

Mentoring for Emerging Opportunities Grantees

Given the number of grant recipients under this activity, and in order to ensure a high-quality innovative component to these grants, an innovation expert was assigned to the Emerging Opportunity grantees as well as the Media Misinformation Campaign grantee, rather than just to the MMCG, as initially planned (See Activity 2.3.3 for more details).

IJC published a call for applications on October 11 and later selected IT expert Dona Scola as mentor for EOG recipients and the MMCG recipient. She designed a work plan and contacted the grantees, establishing individual and group meetings. All six Emerging Opportunities Grant projects benefited from the expertise of Dona Scola. She gave feedback on the recipients’ innovations and suggested improvements to ToRs for mobile applications and websites.

In the middle of February, IJC hosted a joint session among EOG and MMCG recipients with the participation of Dona Scola. At that meeting, the participants came up with an idea for creating a common news aggregator, which they aim to develop in April. An indirect benefit appeared as well: the grantees started cross-referencing each other’s publications and brainstormed to solve common issues.

Activity 1.2. Needs-based technical assistance

1.2.1. Long-term mentoring for key partners

As was mentioned above (in Activity 1.1.1), grant support to the Key Partners is supplemented by tailored long-term mentoring to help these media outlets strengthen their skills and capacities to produce high- quality, locally-driven content and implement more sustainable business models, contributing to a more informed public discourse and the ability to withstand external pressures.

In order to design efficient and tailored assistance for each KP, during the reporting period, Internews conducted a needs assessment evaluation of each selected KP. The assessments started in September and were finalized in November 2017. Throughout this

period, three international experts conducted an Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) at KPs focusing on: Business and management practices conducted by Tatiana Repkova, and The editorial capacity and content quality assessment for media outlets broadcasting/publishing in Romanian conducted by Ioana Avădani from the Center for Independent Journalism in Romania and by Natalia Belogrudova for those working in Russian. The experts scored each activity area and provided recommendations on how Internews may assist KPs to increase their quality of content production and strengthen their financial position.

Roundtable discussions were organized with each KP’s managers to coordinate and identify the priority areas for intervention according to recommendations provided by the experts. As a result, a list of mentoring activities to be conducted in Year 1 and subsequent years was drawn up.

KPs Baseline Organizational Capacity Assessment It is worth mentioning that mentoring assistance could meetings moderated by Tatiana Repkova at not been implemented until the Sub-grant Agreements NewsMaker (top) and Natalia Belogrudova at SP Balti were signed with all KPs. Because the development, (bottom), November 2017 approval, and signing process of the Sub-grant Agreements took longer than initially planned, the first Sub-grant Agreement was signed on February 15, 2018 (with Ziarul de Garda) and the last were signed on March 27, 2018 (with Interact and NewsMaker). As soon as the Sub-grant Agreements were signed, Internews started to develop a mentoring action plan for Year One of assistance. Internews has started to contact international experts and has already confirmed timelines for some interventions.

A tentative mentoring and assistance plan for KPs has been established to cover the OCA recommendations proposed by the international experts, and KPs have agreed to implement them in the first year of assistance, with additional

assistance from the grant pool. Internews will provide both group and individual assistance to KPs in strategic planning, editorial standards, and business areas.

In order to boost the KPs’ overall reputation and standing among donors, major clients, and partners, Internews will contract an international expert (Tatiana Repkova) to help the KPs develop strategic planning tools such as: Five-year business and marketing strategy, Business model, Business plan. According to the plan, five KPs will benefit from this assistance.

On editorial standards, Internews will contract two international experts (Ioana Avadanii and Natalia Belogrudova) to assist all six KPs in developing an editorial policy, reorganizing the newsroom, and developing new editorial planning practices and workflow. Additionally, Internews will contract an international expert to provide trainings on storytelling to all KPs.

In order to increase financial sustainability of the KPs, Internews will provide trainings to the responsible staff by contracting several international experts. All six KPs will have the opportunity to increase their abilities in Native advertising, Crowdfunding, and Project management.

As mentioned above, besides the group assistance, KPs will benefit from individual assistance from Internews. SP will make a working visit to a newspaper receiving comparable support from Internews. Agora will get consultancy for Content monetization and advertising sales growth. Internews will contract an expert who will provide assistance to RISE in developing their administrative procedures. The staff of NewsMaker will be trained in social media. For more details, please consult Attachment 2.

1.2.2. Open group trainings

Open group in-person trainings are intended to allow beneficiaries of emerging opportunities grants as well as other media professionals, journalism students, and other interested individuals who are not employed at Key Partner outlets to benefit from the expertise of MEDIA-M trainers, learn new skills, and network with others in the field.

First open group training on Fact-checking and Data processing

On October 26, IJC published the call for applications for two experts (one regional, one local) to conduct the first training. Based on KP needs assessment results, the main topics requiring an intervention to train journalists were data mining, fact-checking, and data visualization, so the first training was dedicated to fact-checking and data processing. The call was extended on November 7, and within a week IJC selected expert Cristina Lupu of the Independent Journalism Center (Romania) and investigative journalist Mariana Rata-Vremea (Moldova) as trainers.

The public call for participants was published on November 17. IJC received about 20 applications and Feedback on Open Group Trainings selected a total of 14 people (4 men and 10 women) “Coming to this training I suspected that we would representing local, regional, and national media learn interesting things, but what happened in institutions and civil society organizations, to attend the those two days exceeded my expectations.” training. During the two-day training on December 2-3, reporter from Ziarul de Garda the participants learned about tools needed to perform “During this training I understood that from a black background checks and fact-checks, and also improved and white article you can create a fairy tale and this their skills in using programs to search for information can be done quite easily. All you need is to have the and triangulate data from social networks, domestic and desire and a little creativity.” foreign public databases, and other open data resources. Representative of Digital Moldova

Second open group training on Data Visualization

The second open group training organized by IJC in this reporting period was designed to respond to journalists’ requests to learn how to “attractively package” journalistic articles. Based on an open call for

applications, IJC selected two experts: Andrey Misyurev6, for the regional trainer, and Angela Ivanesi, one of the most experienced graphic designers in the Republic of Moldova. On February 28, IJC announced registration for the training “Data Visualization – How to Make Monotonous Information Attractive.” IJC received 26 applications and selected 18 participants: 7 men and 11 women representing local, regional, and national media institutions and civil society organizations, including representatives from all six KPs.

A week before the training, Andrey Misyurev gave an assignment to the participants – to create in the Tilda program a personal page or a page for the media they represent, using three or four blocks of information, aiming to check their abilities in terms of using new tools. All assignments were sent in a previously- created chat, so the participants got to know each other in a unique way in advance. Mariana Tabuncic from IJC hands out the Infogram certificate to NewsMaker. The training took place on March 23-24, 2018, in Chisinau. Based on feedback on evaluation forms after To stimulate the interest of participants for the the event, the participants “developed their skills in Data visualization training, IJC announced a competition – the team that gets the most terms of visualization” and “understood how to look at votes from all participants and trainers, obtains their articles with the eyes of a designer” thanks to the a prize: a certificate for using the Infogram training, and afterwards the journalists will try “to Platform for two months. After the make their articles more interesting,” “to integrate the presentations, the team from Newsmaker.md Tilda platform into the platforms on which they was selected as the winner. publish, and gradually individualize the stories.”

Activity 1.3. Investigative journalism and support for practical journalism education

1.3.1. Support for the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism (CSAJ)

On February 15, Internews in Moldova organized and hosted a meeting with CSAJ alumni to discuss the former students’ opinions on the main strengths, weaknesses, and areas that need improvements or major changes in the school. Findings from this meeting will be taken into consideration when assisting CSAJ to implement its development strategy and CSAJ alumni meeting on February 15, 2018 curricula improvements.

6 Andrey Misyurev a visualization expert from St. Petersburg, Russia, with great expertise in communication, product development and information services used to draw readers’ attention.

1.3.2. Investigative Journalism Internship Program

On January 25, Internews and USAID representative met with Moldovan investigative journalists to brainstorm and discuss the existing needs and challenges faced by investigative journalists in Moldova, and discussed proposed solutions and requested assistance to support these needs. Based on these discussions, Internews identified the most urgent and important issues in this area to be Meeting with investigative journalists addressed in Year 2 of MEDIA-M, such as: on January 25, 2018

- Fundraising for investigative journalism groups, including crowdfunding, people’s fund for investigation, 2% mechanism of funding for NGOs and convincing people to allocate that to investigative journalism NGOs, etc. and promo of journalists’ work - Journalistic investigations presentation, packaging, and distribution channels – from long forms to shorter visual ones, using multimedia and social networks as distribution channels, ie. Instagram, etc. - Open database formats of state/government data are constantly changing and must be relearned - Training and attracting legal talent for stories and for legal defense (very few specialized experts in Moldova)

OBJECTIVE 2

Build consumer understanding of and demand for independent, reliable, and high quality news and information through targeted media literacy activities

Activity 2.1: Conduct public surveys to measure audience media preferences, perceptions, and habits

As part of its activities under this project, MEDIA-M will analyze media audience preferences, public perceptions of the media, media literacy, and news consumption habits. To support these efforts, Internews in Moldova published on October 31, 2017 a request for proposals to select a research company to conduct a national survey on perception of media around the country. The study aims to measure how well media consumers understand media content, whether journalists and media outlets provide professional content, and the level of knowledge among different target groups on issues such as propaganda and misinformation.

The initial submission deadline (November 17) was extended to November 30, due to the low number of applicants. Overall four companies submitted proposals. The proposals were analyzed based on previously-established evaluation criteria, and Magenta Consulting was selected to conduct the national survey. The selection was made based on the best price value and positive recommendations from previous clients. During the reporting period all focus groups but one were completed. The national survey data report is planned to be finalized in July 2018.

Activity 2.2: Develop and strengthen public media literacy education initiatives to improve citizens’ ability to seek, analyze, evaluate, and produce news content.

2.2.1. Develop high school media literacy curriculum and advocate for its inclusion in national school program

Taking into account previous experience in terms of developing the media literacy curriculum for elementary and secondary school levels, during the fourth quarter of Y1 IJC continued cooperation with

the experts Loretta Handrabura and Natalia Grîu on developing the high school-level media literacy curriculum. This innovative project, led by IJC, aims to introduce media literacy as an optional course in the educational institutions of the Republic of Moldova. Until now, the course has been introduced into the school program only for primary schools, for which IJC developed a handbook with the support of other donors.

IJC completed the high-school level media literacy curriculum (see Attachment 3) at the end of March. As it was developed, the rigors of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research were taken into consideration. In terms of advocacy for curriculum promotion, IJC has started planning a series of meetings with Ministry of Education representatives to discuss future cooperation and to propose a memorandum to be signed, establishing the goals and terms of cooperation.

2.2.2. Implement youth-focused media literacy programs:

Video Tutorials

In the reporting period, Mediacritica.md produced 10 digital tutorials, of which seven have been published and the remaining three will be published in April. The goal of these tutorials is to teach students the critical thinking skills they need to apply to their online experiences. The seven published tutorials covered such topics as what the Internet really is, tips for what to post and not post on social network profiles, spotting fake social network accounts and doctored images, tips for creating strong passwords, sexting, and cyberbullying. The other three tutorials will cover the following topics: trolling, social network crisis management, and Internet addiction. The video tutorials were distributed online through IJC’s websites Mediacritica.md, Media- azi.md, and Moldova-Azi, as well as on social networks with a special emphasis on target communities (Stop-Fals!, Adopta un Odnoklassnik, the group of teachers implementing the optional media literacy course), on Odnoklassniki and Twitter pages. Also, IJC approached various local TV channels to broadcast the video lessons free of charge. Thus, local and regional TV stations Axial TV, Albasat TV, and Euronova TV have agreed to broadcast the video tutorials.

IJC has also initiated collaboration with a series of news portals in order to offer more visibility to the tutorials. For example, Ziarul de Garda has published a Mediacritica.md banner on their website linking to the heading where tutorials can be found, and Reper.md, a local portal in Balti dedicated to young people, published the tutorials. Other portals will adapt these tutorials into articles. Nata Albot, who is considered an opinion influencer, shared a tutorial on cyberbullying and then, in the same day, it was shared at least 30 times.

In total, the seven published video tutorials have gathered more than 1,000 views on YouTube and around 30,000 views on Facebook, and they were shared about 100 times.

No THE TITLE OF THE VIDEO TUTORIALS Date of Number of views publication until 12.04.2018 on Mediacritica.md website 1. Internetul: ce este și cu ce se mănâncă 09.01.2018 571 views 2. Profilul social online: cât spui și cât lași… în minte 12.01.2018 533 views 3. Profilurile false: cum să ne ferim de ele 17.01.2018 527 views 4. Parola: o cheie care trebuie să fie doar a ta 16.02.2018 267 views 5. Cum evităm capcana imaginilor trucate 20.02.2018 236 views 6. Sexting: corpul tău nu este 20.03.2018 572 views „informație publică”

The video tutorials have gathered more than 2,500 views on Mediacritica.md according to web analytics (see chart above).

During the reporting period, Mediacritica.md has published seven Media ABC videos out of eight pieces produced by IJC’s team (the eighth will be published in April). These videos explain to media consumers how media works, what media consumers should take into account when they watch news, and why it is important to be media literate, etc.:

Media ABC Videos

No. MEDIA ABC VIDEOS Date of Number of publication views until 12.04.2018 on Mediacritica.md website 1. Aplicațiile mobile de știri, un canal direct de interacțiune cu O3.11.2017 1,135 views publicul 2. Social media manager, profesia născută în era lui Mark 20.11.2017 3,419 views

Zuckerberg 3. Stringer-ul: jurnalistul care practică o meserie transnațională 1.02.2018 301 views 4. Viralizarea falsurilor, un fenomen 6.02.2018 452 views tot mai prezent în mass-media 5. MoJo – o microstație de televiziune, autonomă și la 28.02.2018 220 views îndemâna oricui 6. Jurnalismul cetățenesc: un 14.03.2018 148 views complement la jurnalismul tradițional 7. Jurnalismul de date, sau cum scoatem cifrele din 23.03.2018 227 views anonimat

These videos were published on Mediacritica.md, Media-Azi.md, and Moldova-Azi.md, as well as on social networks (Facebook, Odniklassniki, Twitter). As with the tutorials, several portals published the Media ABC videos: Moldova.org, Reper.md, Diez.md, Cuvintul.md, Curaj.tv. In total, the Media ABC videos have gathered about 500 views on YouTube and 10,590 views on FACEBOOK and were shared 65 times. The Media ABC videos have gathered around 5,000 views on Mediacritica.md according to web analytics (see table above).

Media Literacy Online Platform

The “Educația Mediatică” online platform was launched on March 28. The platform consists of several headings: Reading room, Video, Quiz, Media literacy handbook, etc., and gathers media literacy-related materials, including IJC’s media literacy curricula and teaching materials for primary and high school students, as well as games, quizzes, tests, online workshops, and relevant articles. In order to optimize

cost and effort, it was decided to place the landing page for this new platform on the existing Mediacritica.md platform.

This resource is freely available for use by media literacy teachers, students, parents, librarians, and others interested in media literacy activities. The news about the platform launch was published on Mediacritica.md and Media-Azi.md, and several media outlets (including EA.MD and STIRILOCALE.MD) wrote about the new IJC platform. At IJC's request, several portals agreed to publish banners leading to this platform: Moldova.org, Agora.md, Unimedia.info, Diez.md, Moldova9.com, and Tv8.md.

2.2.3. National Geographic Photo Camps

In partnership with National Geographic, Internews will hold one five-day photo camp for 20 young adults, which will take place the week of April 16-20, 2018, in Soroca. The photo camp’s location, with its high proportion of Roma community members, provides a window into the life of a group that is generally stigmatized. The camp builds understanding and empathy through up-close interaction and sharing human moments on camera. Young adults from around the country, across different ethnic backgrounds, have the chance to come together to share their stories and to break down the existing stereotypes among them. All of them speak one language—the language of photography. This activity builds media literacy by giving participants the opportunity to experience firsthand how various factors within their control as creators of visual images (e.g. composition, light, color, mood, etc.) affect the story those images convey.

On March 1, Internews published three announcements in Romanian and Russian on web platform civic.md, IJC’s web platform media-azi.md, and on several news websites, about participant applications for the Photo Camp, as well as the employment of three assistants and the coordinator, with a deadline of March 15. Once Internews selected the staff for the camp, on March 26 the camp staff and Internews selected, from 279 applications, 20 young adults (aged 18-25) across various regions and ethnicities, Romanian, Russian, Gagauz, Bulgarian, Romani languages, women and men. All participants were invited to the Internews office on March 30 to sign paperwork, meet the staff and fellow participants, and get updates on the camp agenda and logistics.

First National Geographic Photo Camp in Moldova

The evaluation and selection process of the 279 applications The introduction meeting with the lucky 20 participants

2.2.4. Support media literacy efforts for rural communities

“Media literacy is a model that encourages people In Year One, Internews recruited 16 Novateca librarian to ask questions about what they see, hear, read – network members from all around the country, based on and to learn to distinguish fake news from real news. a call for applications, to lead at least 10 media literacy Many librarians have expressed a desire to hold such trainings each in their own and neighboring trainings in their libraries, in their communities, communities. All selected librarians were previously because today, when information comes from different contradictory sources and, sometimes, far trained in Media and Information Literacy as part of the from reliable news, is very important to know where "Strengthening Independent Media and Media Literacy" is the truth. Two librarians are already actively project implemented by IREX Europe Moldova. Under conducting media literacy training sessions in their Media-M, the contracted librarians informed the local libraries in Taraclia district on their own initiative.” population about balanced news, how to use and verify , different sources of information, techniques of Librarian from Taraclia district manipulation and propaganda in the media, as well as helped to develop skills to disseminate and critically analyze information, so that the population can differentiate between facts and fake information. The training audience included teachers, local administration representatives, pensioners, local leaders, kindergarten assistants, postmen, doctors, school librarians, students, unemployed people, etc.

Media Literacy Training, March 14th 2018, Post Office, Izbiște

For an engaging and efficient media literacy activity in Moldova, one of the librarians, from Izbiste, Criuleni, proved that you don’t need an impressive location or expensive logistics. The recipe is simple, just like the ingredients: a projector, a door as a projection screen, and a lot of enthusiasm, dedication, and creativity. He demonstrated this by organizing a training session in a post office for the elderly who were waiting to receive their pensions

The 16 librarians have already conducted about 120 training sessions of three hours each. There will be additional workshops to inform the local population about techniques of propaganda and manipulation of information in the media, and develop skills to disseminate and critically analyze information by the end of this activity, which is planned to be finished on April 30, 2018.

Till March 30, contracted librarians have organized 120 sessions (3 hours each) and by the end of the contracting period (April 30th) about 60 more sessions are planned to be organized. In total, during the reporting period, over 2,000 people from different social categories, genders, spoken languages, ages, and professions learned about misinformation, propaganda, fake news, and how to tell the difference between fake news and real facts.

2.2.5. Online master classes on detecting manipulation and propaganda

In the reporting period, IJC published and promoted the first online masterclass on detecting manipulation and propaganda in photography, conducted by regional expert and Stop-Fake project founder Olga Iurkova. The masterclass was structured in six parts and presents many new tools to help people avoid propaganda and manipulation via fake photos. It is available to the general public and young audiences, in Russian language with Romanian subtitles. In February 2018 IJC distributed it in specific online communities (for media educators and journalism students, as well as interested media consumers) in order to maximize its reach; IJC also contacted Moldovan university professors in journalism departments to promote the masterclass among journalists, and promoted the masterclass on its Facebook page, each of the six parts separately, highlight the focus of each part to attract attention to key lessons.

As a result, all six parts of the masterclass have registered more than 700 views on YouTube.

On January 5, 2018, IJC launched the call for applications to hire a Russian-speaking expert for the second online masterclass on detecting manipulation and false news. IJC hired Solvita Denisa-Liepniece from Latvia, an assistant professor at Vidzeme`s University of Applied Sciences in Riga. Solvita is the media literacy adviser at the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence and a member of the Political Communication Research Unit, University of Antwerp. In February, the expert recorded the masterclass, aimed at helping media consumers discern between fake or biased information and accurate, high- quality information. At the end of March, the masterclass, structured in three parts, was published on YouTube and available in the Russian language with Romanian subtitles.

Activity 2.3: Improve the capacity of media watchdogs to effectively monitor media for misinformation, bias, censorship, and conflicts of interest

2.3.1. Support media watchdogs and media monitoring initiatives

IJC Media Monitoring Reports

IJC launched two monitoring reports on manipulative information and propaganda techniques used by Moldovan print, broadcast, and online media that broadcast/publish in Romanian and Russian. The IJC media monitoring methodology was updated and adjusted with the support of Internews. These reports are designed to enable national regulatory and self-regulatory institutions to undertake measures to prevent media institutions from manipulating public opinion. The case studies and monitoring reports have been documented and written by the media researcher, Victor Gotisan, and were promoted on the Mediacritica.md website and its Facebook, Twitter, and Odnoklassniki pages.

The first monitoring report, “Elements of propaganda, information manipulation and violation of journalism ethics in the local media space” (October 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017)7 was launched at a press conference on January 31 with the participation of Nadine Gogu, executive director of IJC and Victor Gotisan, journalist and media researcher.

According to Victor Gotisan, who prepared the report, the media covered by monitoring during this period still ignored the rules of writing news in their coverage of events of significant public interest, disseminated incomplete information, or presented information only from one side. “The common problem in most of the monitored media is that journalists ignore, willingly or not, the principle of granting the right to reply to the people who were mentioned in news in a negative context,” Victor Gotisan said.

The monitoring report and press release were disseminated among journalists and international organizations in Moldova through the IJC database. In addition, the IJC team sent the report and an official letter to the Broadcasting Coordinating Council. At least eight media outlets (Agora.md, IPN news agency, Independent.md, TVR Moldova, Unimedia.info, Realitatea.md, Inro.news, and Adevărul Moldova) reported on the media monitoring results.

The second monitoring report, “Elements of propaganda, information manipulation and violation of journalism ethics in the local media space” (January 1, 2018 - March 28, 2018)8 was launched in a press conference on March 29, also with the participation of Nadine Gogu and Victor Gotisan.

According to Gotisan, the issues from the first report remained (disseminating incomplete and one-sided information). Additionally, he found that most of the political events were presented according to each outlet’s political preferences.

The second monitoring report and press release were disseminated among journalists and international organizations in Moldova through the IJC database. In addition, IJC sent the report and an official letter to the Broadcasting Coordinating Council. At least seven media outlets9 (Radio Free Europe, IPN news agency, Point.md, Ziarul de Gardă, Adevărul Moldova, Epoch Times,

Cotidianul.md) reported on the media monitoring results.

IJC representatives Nadine Gogu and Victor

7 The following media were monitored: Publika TV, Prime TV, Canal 2, Jurnal TV, Accent TV, RTR Moldova (newscast Vesti and local news), NTV Moldova, Ziarulnational.md, Gagauzinfo.md, Sputnik.md, Noi.md and Deschide.md. 8 The following media were monitored: Publika TV, Prime TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, Accent TV, RTR Moldova (newscast Vesti and local news), NTV Moldova, Sputnik.md, Noi.md and Deschide.md.

9 http://unimedia.info/stiri/doc-raport-cji-unele-institutii-media-continua-sa-prezinte-selectiv-faptele-si-ignora- dreptul-la- replica-147209.html; http://media-azi.md/ro/stiri/raport-cji-jurnali%c8%99tii-continu%c4%83-s%c4%83-prezinte- selectiv-faptele-

Case Studies

During the reporting period, Mediacritica.md published 12 case studies:

Number of views until 12.04.2018 No. PUBLISHED CASE STUDIES Date of publication on Mediacritica. md website Numirea lui Eugen Sturza în funcţia de ministru al Apărării în 1. 26.12.2017 712 views Guvernul Republicii Moldova

2. Sistarea finanțării UE în sectorului justiției 28.12.2017 585 views 3. Interviul lui Vitalie Proca acordat televiziunii Jurnal TV 10.01.2018 1010 views Al V-lea Summit al Parteneriatului Estic și semnarea acordului privind asistența macrofinanciară de 100 milioane euro, care va fi acordată 4. 19.02.2018 545 views Republicii Moldova de UE 5. Deschiderea Biroului de Legătură NATO în Republica Moldova 25.01.2018 557 views Studiu de caz. Unele instituții media au politizat subiectul învestirii noilor 6. 12.02.2018 337 views miniștri în Guvernul Republicii Moldova Studiu de caz. Adoptarea Legii anti-propagandă, prilej de polarizare 7. 26.02.2018 351 views jurnalistică Studiu de caz. Demisia lui Dorin Chirtoacă din funcţia de primar al 8. 13.03.2018 231 views municipiului Chişinău Studiu de caz. Concluziile Consiliului de Afaceri Externe al UE privind 9. Republica Moldova, reflectate în funcție de interesele editoriale ale 16.03.2018 168 views instituției media Studiu de caz. Interceptarea discuției audio dintre Veaceslav Platon și 10. Alexandru Tănase, care a dus la demisia acestuia din funcția de ministru al 21.03.2018 407 views Justiției Raport CJI: Jurnaliștii continuă să prezinte selectiv faptele și ignoră dreptul la 11. 31.01.2018 314 views replică Raport CJI: Mai multe instituții de presă din R. Moldova sunt angajate 12. 29.03.2018 811 views politic și manipulează pentru a influența publicul

In total, the case studies and monitoring reports have gathered over 4,700 views (according to web Analytics). The monitoring reports will be translated into Russian and English.

2.3.2. Promote the Press Council among Moldovan citizens to increase the number of citizen media reports.

Development of the Strategy for Promoting and Enhancing the Public Visibility of the Press Council of the Republic of Moldova

API selected Inga Burlacu, an expert with wide experience in journalism and public relations, and also a member of the Press Council, and in February she drafted the Strategy for Promoting and Enhancing the Public Visibility of the Press Council, which analyzes the current situation of the public visibility of the Press Council and the challenges the Council faces.

The draft Strategy (see Attachment 4) outlines several of the Press Council’s priorities for the following years to increase public visibility and establish the image of the Council as a representative structure for mediating information disputes:

- Revision and improvement of the mechanism and procedures for Press Council sustainment and management, by increasing the number of Council members to provide broader representation of

social groups and including the Ombudsman of the public television and radio company Teleradio Moldova - Improving internal communication and increasing the transparency of Press Council activity by: publishing on its website more substantial information on the Council’s work and decisions, by involving the members of the Council in events planning, fundraising, and other internal processes - Organizing a broad and open process of updating and supplementing the Journalism Code of Ethics - Active promotion of the Press Council by: development of detailed instructions for filing complaints and their publication and promotion through social networks; closer cooperation with civil society organizations, in tandem with community-based public libraries; dissemination of information about Council activities among media consumers from the regions, including the Gagauz ATU; and engaging all members of the Press Council in public visibility activities, including encouraging the participation of Council members in TV / radio shows, interviews, and analytical articles about Council decisions in case of violation of ethical standards.

Based on this draft Strategy, an action plan for the period up to 2020 will be developed and approved at the first meeting of the Press Council in 2019.

Press Council organizational capacities needs assessment

During the reporting period, FH finalized a comprehensive needs assessment with actionable recommendations for the Press Council (PC) of Moldova. From June 2017 through February 2018, FH Advocacy Specialist Vytis Jurkonis worked with members of the PC and external, third-party interlocutors to conduct interviews and a Likert survey examining the public perception of the PC, as well as the efficacy of its internal processes. In addition to Jurkonis’s data-gathering, FH’s Media Policy Fellow, Michael Ravitsky, analyzed 13 comparable press councils across the EU and Eastern Partnership regions to build an understanding of the operational procedures of more established press councils.

Through this process, FH delivered a set of 11 specific recommendations, subdivided into external relations, operational structure, and processing complaints, along with the aforementioned comparative review and a breakdown of the survey results, for the PC (see Attachment 5). The two most critical recommendations from the needs assessment centered on separating the PC’s brand identity from that of the Association of Independent Press (API) and restructuring its internal processes such that other members take ownership of certain tasks traditionally conducted by the Secretary. These two recommendations are designed to (1) build public understanding of the purpose of the PC and (2) ensure a sustainable operating model that does not disproportionately rely on the Secretary for critical functions. In Q1 of Y2, FH anticipates that the PC will begin to implement these recommendations in coordination with Inga Burlacu, the external consultant hired to improve the PC’s visibility, outreach, and internal processes.

Website of the Press Council updated

During the reporting period, API focused on producing video clips to boost the Press Council’s web presence and expanding the organization’s methods of educating the public on professional journalism. API and the Press Council held negotiations with a production group in order to produce short, one- minute video clips promoting professional journalistic ethics and norms. These clips will be published on websites, circulated through social networks, and used during meetings with media consumers in Moldova.

API and the Press Council decided to produce ten clips on different topics. The first clip "Ask for quality information from journalists" produced within MEDIA-M, addresses ethical standards for covering young victims in the media, and will be launched in early April. Work continues on the production of the other video clips promoting journalistic ethics and professionalism, and they will be published upon completion.

The company contracted by API finalized the technical programming of the updated version of the Press Council website www.consiliuldepresa.md , and the Romanian version of the website was launched. Currently the Russian and English versions are being populated with content. The updated version of the website provides complete information on Press Council activities, including all decisions and recommendations the Council adopted from 2010-2017, the list of media organizations that signed the Journalism Code of Ethics (Deontological Code), the Press Council’s promotional videos (including "Appeal to the Press Council!" and the Media-M produced “Ask for quality information from journalists") and an extensive list of guides for journalists covering various topics and encouraging professionalism (materials on minors, media coverage of suicide, respect for the principles of tolerance, non-discrimination, presumption of innocence, respect for The updated website provides special forms for gender equality, interaction with social networks and other citizens to file online complaints with the Press online resources, etc.). Council.

Discussion Clubs - Organizing debates in Moldova’s regions on journalistic responsibility

API organized four Discussion Club meetings out of a total of 9 planned to be organized through September 2018 dedicated to the topic of journalistic ethics and responsibility, in Discussion Club in Strășeni, March 15, 2018 the cities of Orhei, Donduşeni, Străşeni, and Hânceşti. Addressing the theme “Where do we get information? Journalists’ ethical obligations,” each of these meetings gathered media consumers in public libraries and cultural centers.

Press Council members explained to participants the Council’s role and the procedure for filing complaints when they believe journalists or media institutions deviate from the journalistic Code of Ethics or violate the rights of others. The organizers presented specific cases of flawed coverage for examination, and the participants responded to questions regarding the journalists’ obligations. The media consumers welcomed the Discussion Club meetings, expressing appreciation for the opportunity to become better informed of their rights in relation to journalists. Press Council representatives encouraged participants to call out journalists when they violate the Code of Ethics and provided participants with posters (in Romanian and Russian) with Council contact information, the printed Code of Ethics and details about the procedure for submitting complaints. In total, 81 people (71 women, 10 men) attended the four meetings.

Other activities to promote the Press Council during the reporting period included:

• Tatiana Puiu assisted the Press Council by drafting a comprehensive list of journalists’ rights that references relevant Moldovan legal provisions in a clear, concise way accessible to ordinary citizens. This list was distributed to the participants of the Media Forum on November 14-15 in Chisinau. • On October 5, Puiu, together with other media experts, participated in a meeting to discuss the improvements to be made to the Press Council’s online debate platform, WWW.MEDIAFORUM.MD, and provided a list of specific recommendations to be implemented.

As a result of all the above-mentioned efforts, the number of complaints per reported media outlet submitted to Press Council increased significantly compared to the last reporting period, from 32 complaints in the April – September 2017 period to 51 complaints in the October 2017 – March 2018 period. Additionally, the percentage of complaints submitted by general audience/citizens more than doubled, from 31% to 70%. Still the percentage rate of complaints submitted from outside Chisinau is very low (All the complaints and Press Council decisions are published on the Press Council website.

Number of submitted to Press Council and resolved complaints and distribution by source

2.3.3. Media misinformation campaign

The Media Misinformation Campaign grants program aims at supporting production and promotion of content debunking misinformation and propaganda. Fewer applications were submitted than expected; based on the recommendations of the selection board, IJC decided to award only one grant rather than

the two initially planned, and slightly increase the amount available for the one grantee. On October 31 the winner of the Media Misinformation Campaign grant was announced and the grant was awarded to the developer of an application (Trolless) that identifies fake social network profiles, in order to expand the use of the application to internet browsers and instruct internet users on how to spot fake profiles and fight trolls. Given that only one grant recipient was selected instead of two, and that the grantee’s project focused on building upon an existing innovation and expanding its reach, IJC decided to allocate the mentorship component of this activity to the Emerging Opportunities Grants recipients as well (for more details, see Activity 1.1.2).

In January, Trolless started work on creating a platform to identify fake social network profiles. One of the main goals of the new platform is to instruct internet users on how to spot fake profiles and fight trolls. During January-March, Trolless developed the technical design of the project and made sure that their project does not violate any user rights. Given that the platform will use Facebook as its main source of information, they have thoroughly studied the Facebook usage guidelines to avoid compromising project activity by inadvertently violating an internal regulation of the social network.

Also during this period, Trolless presented the beta version of the troll profile page. In this version of the app, they will focus on profiles that uses false identities. Taking into consideration that the number of these profiles predominates and their harmful effects can be quite serious, the main goal of Trolless is to have these profiles deleted from Facebook. Trolless will create a database with all the necessary evidence to send to Facebook so that they can take the necessary actions.

Activity 2.4: Support rigorous and creative election coverage monitoring

No action was taken under this activity during the reporting period.

OBJECTIVE 3

Improve the enabling legal and regulatory environment for independent media by strengthening the capacity of media support organizations.

Activity 3.1. Monitoring, analysis, and oversight mechanisms

Ongoing FH public engagement and advocacy on media policy

During the reporting period, Project Coordinator Tatiana Puiu, Project Assistant Olesea Garbuz, and other FH representatives participated in a number of engagements focused on media legislation, including:

• A working brunch with the Speaker of the Parliament to discuss the needs of journalists and present the Guide for Parliamentary Journalists as a tool for improving communication and increasing transparency; • A meeting with the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova and the East StratCom Task Force to discuss anti-propaganda measures and information security; • A presentation on the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement; • Publication of articles; • A meeting with Audiovisual Coordination Council (CCA) members who expressed interest in understanding effective methodologies for monitoring fake news and disinformation; • Participating in the inaugural meeting of the Task Force for European Integration at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Iurie Leanca; and many more.

Additionally, on November 14-15, Tatiana Puiu, Olesea Garbuz, and DC-based program officer Gina Lentine participated in the third annual Media Forum, where participants debated on the serious

problems facing the Moldovan journalistic community, and organizers held public meetings with journalists and editors on possible solutions to these problems. As a result of the Forum, a new resolution was adopted and the “Roadmap” was updated with actions needed to foster media development in Moldova. FH used this resolution to develop the follow-on agenda of the Media Policy Forum in Q4 of the project (see Activity 3.2.2).

3.1.1. UN Universal Periodic Review Process

On October 18, local project coordinator Tatiana Puiu met with the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) representative Olesea Perean to discuss potential joint activities and FH engagement with OHCHR on UPR monitoring. In November FH’s DC-based program officer Gina Lentine travelled to Chisinau to meet with OHCHR to further develop the plan for UPR monitoring and potential engagement on other UN mechanisms, with a specific focus on freedom of expression and press freedom. The meeting was very productive and FH and OHCHR resolved to coordinate on many fronts to monitor the Moldovan government’s respect for human rights. With the Ministry of Justice failing to regularly consult OHCHR or include suggestions in the draft National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) that was submitted to the government for approval, UPR monitoring has become even more imperative to ensure that the government respects human rights. Moving forward, FH will work to facilitate cooperation and engage with OHCHR on UPR monitoring in the following ways:

• Media-M partners will examine the provisions on media within the NHRAP and provide specific feedback to the government on their strengths and weaknesses. FH will likely engage API on this topic in the next quarter. • Media-M partners and other media NGOs that participate in FH activities take an active role in monitoring and reporting on the new human rights secretariat, particularly in areas that affect media groups such as access to information. • Media-M partners will serve as monitors for the Second Cycle UPR recommendations on press freedom. OHCHR is in the process of developing an online system to monitor UPR recommendations. The mechanism will allow monitors to assess the implementation of a recommendation on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being “no progress at all” and 5 being “fully implemented.” Monitors can also offer explanations to justify their scoring. • OHCHR also offered for FH and Media-M partners to engage in monitoring other UN conventions, recommendations, and treaty bodies.

On January 24, Puiu met with Olesea Perean, Human Rights Officer at the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), to discuss FH engagement with OHCHR on UPR monitoring, as well as the monitoring of the establishment and operations of the National Council for Human Rights and the Permanent Secretariat for Human Rights. Following the Parliament’s approval of the Human Rights National Action Plan for 2018-2022 on November 7, the Ministry of Justice drafted a decision to create a National Council for Human Rights and Permanent Secretariat for Human Rights. The government published the draft Regulation on the Permanent Secretariat for Human Rights for public consultation.

On February 2, OHCHR organized a consultative meeting with the participation of civil society and international donors, including FH, to discuss concerns regarding this newly created council. The creation of the National Council for Human Rights emerged from the need to coordinate implementation and monitoring of policy associated with the National Human Rights Action Plan. During the meeting, however, civil society representatives expressed concern over the Council’s capacity to cover all human rights policies and the difficulty of ensuring consistent interpretation, monitoring, and implementation of policy. CSO representatives advised against reaching decisions under the time pressure of the upcoming parliamentary elections and agreed to submit commentary for open, public consultations. Participants decided to schedule an additional meeting following the submission of commentary.

In light of these needs, FH will engage directly with OHCHR’s monitoring activities around the National Council for Human Rights and the National Human Rights Action Plan instead of UPR monitoring as originally planned. As the UPR recommendations are included in the National Human Rights Action Plan and the Council’s activities, the original monitoring efforts will still be accounted for.

3.1.2. Production and distribution of legal and policy analysis

Media Forward Policy Briefs

During the reporting period, FH selected five finalists to write policy briefs this year; FH had originally planned to select only three finalists, due to the high quality of submissions and acute relevancy of the proposed topics it decided to go with five authors. FH worked with translators and a designer to finalize the first four policy briefs in FH’s Media Forward series. Authors consulted FH’s senior researcher, Zselyke Csaky, to examine local research and comparative perspectives from Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltics, and the EU. The following authors produced briefs that were finalized in English, Romanian, and Russian (see Attachments 6 through 9):

• Victoria Bucataru: Media Literacy and the Challenge of Fake News • Mihai Mogildea: Seize the Press, Seize the Day: The Influence of Politically Affiliated Media in Moldova's 2016 Elections • Nadine Gogu: Media Pluralism and the Concentration of Ownership in Moldova • Danu Marin: Cultivating Information Resilience in Moldova's Media Sector

Collectively, the briefs covered the concentration of media ownership and efforts to circumvent anti- concentration laws in Moldova; the media consumption preferences of Moldovan citizens; social attitudes toward Russia, the European Union, and other parties; and domestic media manipulation during elections. Recommendations addressed greater authority for the Audiovisual Coordination Council (CCA), the internal composition of the CCA, transparency requirements for media ownership affiliation, media literacy initiatives, and efforts to enhance public understanding of the dangers of misinformation.

The briefs were published on FH’s MEDIA-M program page, shared though FH and partner social media accounts, referenced in IJC’s monthly newsletter, distributed to participants of the Media Policy Forum, and submitted to regional organizations specializing in information integrity issues. The first three briefs reached up to 1,700 individuals on Facebook, 100 guests during the Media Policy Forum, 300 downloads on the website, and were featured by institutions such as European Values Think Tank (Czech Republic) and the European Institute of Politics and Reforms (IPRE, Moldovan).

A fifth brief, covering the challenge of fake news in Transnistria, is tentatively scheduled for publication in Q2 of Y2.

The 2017 Freedom of the Press report for Moldova

FH also finalized the trilingual version of the 2017 Freedom of the Press Report for Moldova (See Attachment 10), which was printed locally and distributed during events, such as the Media Policy Forum, to raise awareness of press freedom issues in Moldova. The report was published online on FH’s MEDIA-M program page and was cited by eight Moldovan media outlets between January 26 and February 2, 2018.

On IJC’s request, FH’s Freedom of the Press team engaged in virtual consultations with IJC to improve the methodology for IJC’s Moldovan Press Status Index Report. The Freedom of the Press team conducted an in-depth review of IJC’s Index methodology and offered six recommendations to improve the professionalism, visibility, and consistency of IJC’s methodology (see Attachment 11).

The 2017 Moldovan Press Status Index (MPSI) 2017 report by IJC

In January, IJC published the 2017 Moldovan Press Status Index (MPSI) Report that indicates areas where interventions are needed to improve the media situation for the benefit of the journalist, citizen, and society.

According to applied methodology, the mass media status is analyzed based on seven relevant indicators: legal framework regulating the mass-media activity; political context; economic environment; professional environment; quality of journalism; informational security from the media’s point of view; and journalist security. Besides the scoring, each chapter presents a brief chronology of relevant events from 2017 and a generalization about expert rationales for the score they granted. Such an approach provides a broader overall image of the situation of mass media during the reference period. At the same time, the report shows the areas where it is appropriate to intervene to improve the situation of the media for the benefit of the citizen and society.

The report also explains why the legal framework regulating the mass media and informational security from the media’s point of view bear hardship. In addition, it makes clear why journalist security and the quality of journalism from the Republic of Moldova encounters serious problems. One of the report infographics that was promoted on social networks In addition, the author, Ion Bunduchi, came up with relevant recommendations aimed at improving the situation in the area.

The 2017 MPSI Report in Romanian and English was published on Media Azi portal in February. The document will be available in Russian soon. The document was publicized by several media institutions: Ziarul de Garda, Ziarul National, Radio Free Europe, Glasul.md, Adevărul Moldova, RTR Moldova, TVR

Moldova, Epoch Times, TV8, etc. In order to promote the report on social networks, IJC has made a series of infographics.

Assessment of the legal framework on media

In December IJC published an announcement to sub-contract two experts to develop a study assessing the legal framework on media. Because only two persons applied for the competition, the deadline was extended until the middle the January, and ultimately Tatiana Puiu and Olga Gututui were selected to conduct the assessment. The study entitled “Evaluation of the Regulatory and Self-Regulatory Legal Framework for Mass Media Activity in the Republic of Moldova” was published on April 6.

This study represents an assessment of the country's media laws, as well as of other documents contributing to the self-regulation of journalism, and represents an x-ray of the domestic legal framework in relation to European standards and best practices. Among other things, the document recommends the repeal of the Press Law and of the Law on Countering Extremist Activity, as well as the review of other laws, such as the laws on freedom of expression, protection of personal data, advertising and access to information.

The document was disseminated among journalists and international organizations in the Republic of Moldova through the IJC database. Further, the study will be sent to the working groups in the Parliament aiming at updating the legal framework on media. IJC will also translate it into English and Russian.

3.1.3. Strengthening media self-regulation

Although API’s “STOP FALS” campaign began in 2015, the web platform was launched for the first time in December 2017. Prior to that, in October, API reported the emergence of a clone website of www.stopfals.md, which illegally took over the logo and the disclaimer of API’s “STOP FALS!” campaign that focuses on identifying cases of manipulation of public opinion in the media. The clone website is registered on a server in the USA and it publishes fake news and distorted information. Based on the consultation provided by FH’s local coordinator, API launched the online platform www.stopfals.md to ensure the continuity of the media campaign against fake and tendentious information STOP FAKE! API filed a request with the State Agency on Intellectual Property to register the trademark “STOP FALS!” in December as well.

API conducted thematic monitoring of media coverage of a resonant topic – the case of a 17-year-old girl who was physically and sexually assaulted. The incident was recorded on video, which was obtained and published in early November 2017 by many news portals and other media in Moldova. On November 6, the Press Council issued an appeal to journalists and editors to report the facts with the utmost care and responsibility so as not to cause greater harm to the victim of abuse. The monitoring showed that some media outlets still posted the video on their websites.

On November 28, the Press Council examined the situation at a public meeting and decided that these media outlets violated the ethical standards for the protection of the right to dignity, and the protection of minors and victims. Members of the Press Council decided to organize a public debate on media responsibility in such cases, with the participation of journalists, human rights defenders, the Parliamentary Advocate for the Protection of Children's Rights, and representatives of public institutions.

Following this case, as well as another case of media coverage of rape, the Press Council developed a set of special recommendations for journalists regarding media coverage of cases of rape, violent sexual acts, and sexual harassment. See below for details.

Producing guideline s for journalistic best practices regarding Press Council recommendations

In February, the Press Council published their guidelines on how the media should cover sexual abuse cases. Monitoring results show that a good number of Moldovan media, especially those that report the

news, frequently bypass the rules when covering subjects such as rape, sexual abuse, and harassment. For example, the outlets inadequately censor images, allowing the victims to be recognized, and the media sensationalizes materials that lack substance or information of public interest. Meanwhile, Western professional mass media, in compliance with the basic mission of journalism, emphasize the importance of protecting victims and respecting their dignity throughout the entire journalistic process (i.e. interviewing, editing text, providing context). In an effort to help journalists in Moldova to more properly cover cases related to sexual violence, the Press Council prepared guidelines that outline key recommendations.

Viorica Zaharia, the author of the guidelines, analyzed several instances of media coverage that present ethical deviations and created a series of self-check questions meant to help journalists properly reflect on cases, use appropriate languages, and avoid presenting meaningless, unnecessary details.

During the reporting period, the Press Council also addressed journalistic integrity and conflict of interest, inspired by a RISE project journalistic investigation. The publication shed light on a case involving two beneficiaries of a charity project that raised money through a crowdfunding platform to provide expensive surgeries to patients in a hospital in Turkey. The individuals complained that they were deceived, for while the people were hospitalized in the Turkish hospital, they did not undergo surgery.

As a result of the RISE project publication, the public relations company representing the Medical Park Hospital in Turkey invited a number of Moldovan editorial offices for on-site visits to document the subject. Several media outlets accepted the invitation, and the organizers were to cover all travel expenses, including accommodation in a luxury hotel. The credibility of journalists who benefited from the so-called “study visit” to Turkey has been compromised, even if no one has explicitly requested that they publish materials to show the hospital in a favorable light.

The Press Council considered this case and determined that the acceptance of any form of compensation relevant to the subject of press materials, whether directly or indirectly aiming to influence journalistic behavior, seriously infringes on professional journalistic ethics. To help Moldovan journalists better understand this, the Press Council asked Romanian expert Ioana Avădani, director of the Independent Journalism Center in Bucharest, to develop clear guidelines on conflicts of interest in journalists’ work. The guidelines will be published on the Press Council’s website in the next quarter.

Press Council Study Visit to Estonia

On March 19-22, API organized a study visit to Estonia for Press Council members. Ten people participated, including eight of the nine Press Council members. Petru Macovei, the secretary of the Press Council, also participated. API invited Sorina Stefârta, the director of the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism, in the place of the ninth Council member, who could not attend. The study visit provided opportunities for the Moldovan Press Council members to ask questions about the relationship between media institutions and the Estonian Press Council. Other important questions addressed during the visit included the rate of compliance with conclusions of the journalistic self-regulation structure and its impact on the quality of journalism; what influence does the Russian Federation’s mass media have in Estonia; and how the impact of disinformation can be diminished, among other topics. (For an agenda of the Estonia study visit, see Attachment 12.)

The Moldovan Press Council members met with journalists and Editors-in-chief from several Tallinn-based editorial offices (Äripäev, Delovõje Vedomosti, Postimees, Postimees in Russian, online portal Delfi (in Estonian and Russian), the daily publication Eesti Päevaleht, Estonian Public Television, ETV+, a TV channel specifically created to counteract disinformation and circulate objective information in the Russian language).

Moldovan Press Council members also met with David Vseviov and Toomas Mattson, members of the Estonian Press Council, to discuss the procedure for considering complaints submitted to the Press Council, as well as the relationship between editorial offices and media consumers.

The meetings with Estonian Press Council representatives and the staff from different editorial offices fortified the belief that a journalistic self-regulating body is indeed an authority in countries with a sound media market, where politics and connections do not control the media, and where media institutions take their credibility with their audiences seriously. Having learned more about the characteristics of Estonia’s media environment, Viorica Zaharia, the Moldovan Press Council chairperson, asserts that the implementation of Press Council decisions depends on the degree of the democratization of society and the overall quality of journalism in the country.

3.1.4. Reform of oversight mechanisms

The Parliamentary Working Group met once during the reporting period. On March 12, participants discussed a series of amendments to the draft Audiovisual Media Services Code proposed by MP Corneliu Mihalache (Democratic Party). The proposed amendments address retaining the requirement of at least eight hours of local audiovisual programming within daily broadcasting time, copyright protections, property rights and private media providers, the process for measuring audiences and market shares, and the compositions of the Teleradio-Moldova Supervisory Board and CCA.10

Figure 2 - Parliamentary Working Group Meeting

The draft of the new Audiovisual Media Services Code of the Republic of Moldova was registered in Parliament and will be discussed within the Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport, and Media and prepared for a vote in the first parliamentary session. The document will also be submitted for review to the Council of Europe, the EU, and the OSCE.11

During the reporting period, the eight subgroups of the Parliamentary Working Group12 met regularly to generate legislative proposals and discuss progress on objectives. Internews in Moldova, IJC and FH in

10 “Propunerile asupra proiectului Codului serviciilor media audiovizuale au fost astazi examinate,” Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, March 12, 2018. Available at: http://parlament.md/actualitate/comunicatedepresa/tabid/90/contentid/3886/page/5/language/ro-ro/default.aspx 11 “Codul serviciilor media audiovizuale, inregistrat in Parlament,” Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, March 23, 2018. Available at: http://parlament.md/actualitate/comunicatedepresa/tabid/90/contentid/3937/page/0/language/ro-ro/default.aspx 12 In 2017, the working group for the improvement of Moldova’s legal framework on media was created by the Parliament at the initiative of the Speaker and with support from the Council of Europe. The mandate of the Parliamentary Working Group on audiovisual legislation is to promulgate proposals for legislative amendments on improving access to information, fighting propaganda, encouraging national production, including by providing tax subsidies, and regulations for online media and

Moldova representatives participated at the designated subgroups meetings. For a description of each subgroup’s progress this period, please see Attachment 13.

Activity 3.2. Advocacy actions and coalition-building

IJC statements

During the reporting period IJC issued 11 advocacy statements that were published in: Romanian, Russian and English on various platforms, including IJC portal Media-azi.md. The statements were jointly signed by the most active media institutions in Moldova, and in certain cases by international media organizations. They were published in Moldovan media and spread on the international level through IFEX and SEEMO networks. For a list and brief description of the statements please see Attachment 14.

Media Law/Legislative Bulletins

In the reporting period, IJC published two Media Law Bulletins in Romanian and Russian. Around 190 subscribers were informed about newly passed legal amendments and acts by Parliament, the Government, and the Broadcasting Council. An update of the judgments issued by the European Court of Human Rights under Article 10 is also provided in the Legislative Bulletin. The bulletin was also published on http://www.media-azi.md/ro/buletin-legislativ/buletin-legislativ-86. The bulletins are compiled in digital format once every two months.

3.2.1. Capacity development around advocacy and coalition-building

During the reporting period, FH organized a Baltic Exchange Visit for several MEDIA-M partners and other representatives from Moldovan civil society which will take place from April 23 to 26. The exchange visit will expose participants to unique approaches for productive engagement with the government and effective methods for raising awareness of media freedom issues.

3.2.2. Annual policy forum

On March 13, 2018, FH held the first annual Media Policy Forum “Challenges, Perspectives and the Road to Media Freedom in Moldova.” Originally planned to take place around the time of the November Media Forum, it was decided to postpone the event in order to ensure ample time for preparation and government and civil society attention. The event aimed to address challenges facing media policy in Moldova and to highlight media freedom issues affecting the wider region. FH brought in international experts to provide a comparative perspective from a range of countries throughout the EU and the Eastern Partnership region, including Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Macedonia, and Hungary. Over 200 participants from civil society, independent media, the Moldovan government, and the international community were invited to take part in the event.

FH facilitated new partnerships and secured cost-share agreements with the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST) of the German Marshall Fund, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Southeast Europe. In addition, BIRN and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Southeast Europe, which are relatively new partners for FH, expressed a desire for further coordination of efforts with FH on addressing media freedom issues in Moldova and the wider Eastern Partnership region. These partnerships will broaden Media-M’s network and expand audience reach for further activities in Year 2.

information security. Besides members of parliament, the group consists of representatives of Moldovan and international civil society groups, media outlets, and independent media law experts, including IJC representatives.

Overall, approximately 130 people took part in the Media Policy Forum, including high-level representatives from the Moldovan Parliament and government: Speaker Adrian Candu, representatives from National Center for Personal Data Protection, the Competition Council, CCA, and the Central Electoral Commission; civil society, including the Association for Electronic Press, Independent Journalism Center, and Association of Independent Press; independent media; and the international diplomatic, donor, and implementer communities. The Media Policy Forum featured remarks from high-level officials, including the Ambassadors to the United States, the European Union, and Germany, and key experts on media freedom and media policy in the EU and Eastern Partnership region. The agenda can be found in Attachment 15.

Media Policy Forum “Challenges, Perspectives and the Road to Media Freedom in Moldova”, Chisinau, March 13, 2018

Keynote speeches Audience and press corps

Some of the most important highlights included the following:

• The Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Andrian Candu, emphasized the importance of developing a commercial environment for mass media and a legislative framework that encourages investment in media.

• The Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Moldova, James D. Pettit, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, Peter Michalko, and the Ambassador of Germany to the Republic of Moldova, Dr. Julia Monar, reiterated the need to improve the legislative environment for media in Moldova. In reference to the “anti-propaganda law,” they added that any measures to combat propaganda and disinformation must conform to international standards regarding freedom of the press and access to information. Ambassador Pettit emphasized that the Working Group was a step in a positive direction, with Ambassador Michalko offering that the new Broadcasting Code has the potential to create an environment that may be more conducive to developing an independent and pluralistic media space.

• Participants in the first panel addressed the issue of media freedom in the EU and Eastern Partnership region, which is characterized by fledgling media markets that cannot sustain media outlets, economic and political pressure, and party colonization of media. - Dainius Radzevicius, chairman of the Lithuanian Journalists Union, affirmed that public broadcasters can be helpful in creating standards in the media market if professional management, independent journalists, and independent financing are guaranteed. - Nadine Gogu of IJC raised the issue of media literacy in Moldova and brought up the example of IJC’s successful cooperation with the Moldovan Ministry of Education for the introduction of a media education course in the curricula of 24 schools.

• Participants in the second panel shared examples, successes, and challenges of countering disinformation through media literacy and strengthening local voices. The panelists emphasized the importance of training, multilateral education of media consumers, and the significant role of civil society in media education and combating disinformation and fake news. - Yuliya Ivakhnina, the head of the Open Office of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) of Ukraine, provided the example of the Civil Oversight Council, established to provide transparency and civil control over the work of NABU Ukraine. - Hannes Rumm, the Counselor of the Estonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted some of the measures taken by the Estonian government to fight propaganda and strengthen media literacy, such as offering alternative information sources to the Russian-speaking community and training teachers who participate in media-related education initiatives.

• The participants of the third panel addressed Moldova’s policy challenges and recommended that government institutions create opportunities to stimulate media development at the local level, ensure equal access to qualitative information for citizens from rural and urban areas, and ensure citizens’ access to more alternative voices. The panel underscored the need to limit excessive concentration of media and create economic incentives and financial means for the development of independent media outlets.

The Forum was covered by more than 20 media outlets. CIJM livestreamed the event on its Youtube channel (50 Views), with privesc.eu (almost 50,000 views), and realitatea.md also broadcasting it live. Professional photographs from the event were uploaded to the Freedom House in Moldova Facebook page after each panel, thus ensuring live visual coverage of the event. Social media engagement surrounding the Media Policy Forum contributed to the largest single spike in followers of the Freedom House in Moldova Facebook page during the reporting period, which saw a 34 percent overall increase in Q4.

3.2.3. Legal and regulatory task forces

During the planning stages for the Year 2 work plan, FH determined that the proposed task forces would be duplicative of efforts undertaken by OHCHR (Activity 3.1.1) and the Working Group (Activity 3.1.4). Therefore, this activity has been canceled and the Policy Forum (Activity 3.2.2) augmented accordingly.

3.2.4. Strategic litigation

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) court cases

On September 7, 2017, LHR submitted 40 FOIA requests to multiple information providers, receiving 32 responses of which five responded to all questions, and 27 information providers responded only partially. Twelve of the 32 did not meet LHR’s demands, and another four submitted their answers very late, after LHR started taking steps against them: three were sued in courts, and a complaint was filed to the police with respect towards the fourth.

In order to select the cases of strategic litigation, LHR drafted a Strategic Litigation Cases Assessment Form and formed a Consultative Commission on the Selection of Strategic Litigation Cases. This commission met on October 20 to discuss which cases correspond to the necessary criteria for the selection of the litigation cases; they selected 15 cases as a result of this discussion. The contracted lawyer (Vasili Ciuperca) drafted the 15 applications for summons in order to defend the right of access to information, and he has represented and will continue to represent the interests of the association before the courts. See Attachment 16 for the list of 15 public institutions and dates of court hearings in their cases. The contracted lawyer, Vasili Ciuperca, represented and will continue to represent the interests of LHR in court.

VREAU Info online platform13 During the reporting period, LHR developed an innovative open source platform called VREAU INFO based on the Alaveteli tool. The platform aims to guarantee that access to information is fully enjoyed by media, civil society organizations, and underrepresented groups, and that public authorities respect the legislative field and do not restrict access to information. VREAU INFO facilitates the creation of FOIA requests and sends them to the appropriate contact in the right department of the chosen authority, making it easier for people to obtain information from public authorities. The tool contributes to building a public archive of information released under FOIA and advocates for greater transparency in Moldovan public institutions. LHR decided to engage an alternative consultant to build the web portal due to

administrative issues with the original consultant. The open VREAU Info Web Portal source platform is currently undergoing testing. Submitted requests route directly to an appropriate point of contact within the government department that users request. All requests and responses will be published in a permanent, open, and searchable online archive. LHR expects the platform to go live in Q1 of Y2. LHR Study visit During the reporting period, LHR also signed a Collaboration Agreement with Code for Romania Association. On October 5-8, IT Specialist (Sergiu Gafton) and Project Assistant (Oleg Postovanu) participated in the study visit hosted by the Association. Various meetings with stakeholders were held and technical aspects of the platform on access to public information were discussed with the representatives of the Code for Romania Association. Additionally, views on the experience and realities of Moldova in the area of access to public information have been shared and new partnerships with representatives of civil society in Romania have been launched. This visit enabled the LHR team to understand their project management cycle, challenges, risks, and contingency measures.

Legal consultations provided to journalists and media institutions

The IJC Media Law and Policy Department offered free legal assistance in seven cases on issues that had a direct connection with journalists’ activity. Advice was provided by phone and e-mail. The consultations provided were included in a register.

Activity 3.3. Education and awareness campaigns:

In late December FH, in collaboration with the cost-share partner – the Black Sea Trust of the German Marshall Fund – launched the call for applications for grassroots advocacy grants of up to for projects that seek to raise awareness about press freedom, freedom of expression, and independent media in the Republic of Moldova, including among the public, marginalized communities, government, local authorities, and other sectors. The announcement for the Media Freedom Matters small grants competition was posted on the FH website in English, Romanian, and Russian (see Attachment 17) and disseminated through FH and BST networks in Moldova. The Romanian-language posting about the grants

13 On November 15, LHR initiated a dialogue with public authorities in order to sign an eventual Collaboration Agreement, sending a Letter of Intention to the State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova to bring to their attention the benefits of a collaboration between the State Chancellery and LHR to develop the online platform. The State Chancellery kindly refused the collaboration, suggesting to discuss the issue with E-Government Centre instead.

competition on the FH-Moldova Facebook page was the best-performing post of its history so far, organically reaching 2,863 users.

FH and BST jointly developed the priority topics and the eligibility criteria of the call to ensure that the competition followed the objectives of both the Media-M project and BST’s ongoing grant programs. During this round, three winning proposals were to be chosen (FH will support two winners, while BST will provide a grant to one applicant as part of its cost-share contribution). The deadline for applications was January 21, 2018, and FH received 27 submissions for the first round of the Media Freedom Matters small grants competition. A selection committee composed of representatives of FH, the Black Sea Trust, Internews, and IJC, and the independent Moldovan media expert Liliana Vitu, evaluated the applications based on previously-established evaluation criteria and selected three organizations based on final scores:

1. Sud Est Junior Association, Chisinau 2. Newsmaker, Chisinau 3. NGO Prospect, Cimislia

FH will support two winners, Sud Est Junior and Prospect, while BST is facilitating a grant to Newsmaker.md with funding through the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) as part of its cost-share contribution. Newsmaker’s project proposal will be recommended for funding during EED’s quarterly board meeting, scheduled for April 19.

FH took efforts to ensure that the grants competition was as accessible as possible and that the entire selection process was both fair and professional. The call, available in English, Romanian, and Russian, encouraged interested organizations to submit applications in their desired language. Unfortunately, a significant number (10) of the submitted applications were disqualified due to a technicality – failure to submit all documents before the final deadline. The diverse panel provided valuable insight on the finalists, drawing from background knowledge and personal experience. Ultimately, the committee unanimously identified the top three contestants. FH staff took steps to inform disqualified applicants about the technical issues, and encouraged the organizations to apply again for the next round.

During the quarter, FH procured subawards for Sud Est Junior and Prospect. Prospect’s project focuses on raising public awareness of freedom of expression and access to local media in Moldova’s southern regions. Prospect also aims to improve non-discrimination of social groups in local media by increasing coverage of women, increasing accessibility in local languages, and promoting local stations that provide accessibility to people with audio-visual impairments, among other activities. Sud Est Junior’s project, titled “Fighting Propaganda Through Peer-to-Peer Communication,” aims to increase citizens’ capacity to identify different types of misinformation. By facilitating engagement and thoughtful discussion through targeted events, Sud Est Junior will foster a group of well-trained, non-traditional advocates who can promote fact-based journalism and freedom of expression. The next report will contain more information on the partners’ start-up activities and project launches.

OBJECTIVE 4

Nurture organizational capacity of local media institutions for transition to direct local awards (crosscutting objective)

Activity 4.1 Assess Organizational Capacity

Under Objective 4, Media-M aims to provide tailored assistance to interested and selected media NGOs to strengthen their capacity and organizational development. This is a long-term program, similar to the Key Partner format, which will be individually tailored for each media support CSO based on The Seat at the Table / Organizational Systems and Standards Index (SATT / OSS) methodology. This comprehensive, systematic, and proven local capacity development methodology was developed by the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and further elaborated by Internews. The Index uses a five-point ordinal scale to score internal and external capacities across 11 components and 48 sub-components and is fully compatible with USAID’s OCA and NUPAS tools. The SATT / OSS has been successfully used by Internews in other countries for nearly a decade to set baselines, prioritize and tailor organizational capacity efforts, monitor and evaluate progress, and capture lessons learned.

Training on SATT/OSS Index administration for local organizational development consultants

Since this is the first time the tool will be used in Moldova, in order to create a pool of local experts able to conduct an SATT/OSS external assessment, international expert Catherine Barnes, who has built out the SATT/OSS administration toolkits for Internews, was invited to Chisinau to lead a training workshop on external administration of the SATT / OSS methodology. Based on an open call for applications, 14 local participants with relevant expertise in organizational

assessment and development and experience All training participants received a certificate of participation in the civil society sector were selected to participate in the 2.5-day training from November 21-23, 2017. According to the pre- and post-test results: 100% of participants showed improvement of knowledge from the pre-test to the post-test; 79% of participants selected at least 10 out of 12 right answers in the post-test compared to 8% in the pre-test; and 93% of participants selected a majority of right answers in the post-test compared to 42% in the pre-test.

Selection of the media support CSOs Partners

On December 28, 2017, Internews in Moldova published a Call for Expression of Interest in Romanian, Russian, and English (see Attachment 18) on the Internews in Moldova FB page, on www.civic.md, and in the Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent FB group. Additionally, Internews in Moldova sent via email the Call for Expression of Interest to relevant media CSOs (the targeted CSOs should have a demonstrated commitment to media in Moldova and an exemplary previous track record with donors to be able to receive organizational capacity assistance). Overall, by the January 17, 2018, submission deadline, seven media support CSOs submitted the online application form. After detailed analysis of all proposals and

received documents, based on previously-established selection criteria, the following 614 media support CSOs (see short description of the selected CSOs in Attachment 19) meet all mentioned criteria and were selected:

1. The Association of Investigative Reporters and Editorial Security in Moldova / Asociația Reporteri de Investigație și Securitate Editorială din Moldova (RISE) [also a KP] 2. The Association of Independent TV Journalists / Asociația V.I.P. a Telejurnaliștilor Independenți (ATVJI) 3. The Association of Independent Press / Asociația Presei Independente (API) 4. The Ind ependent Journalism Center / Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent (CJI) 5. Youth Media Center / Centrul Media pentru Tineri (CMT) 6. The Investigative Journalism Center of Moldova / Centrul de Investigații Jurnalistice (CIJM)

Introduction meeting with the selected media support CSOs

As was mentioned above, the capacity development components of the selected Moldovan media support CSOs will be assessed based on the Seat at the Table (SATT) / Organizational Systems and Standards (OSS) Index by 3 contracted local experts who participated in the Media-M training in November. The baseline assessments for all six CSOs are planned to be finalized in Q1 of Year 2 and will be repeated annually to track progress, including as a result of MEDIA-M assistance. Since Internews has used the SATT/OSS Index for nearly a decade to set baselines, prioritize and tailor organizational capacity efforts, monitor and evaluate progress, and capture lessons learned in various countries, including Ukraine, MEDIA-M decided to learn from the media support organizations in the neighbor country’s experience.

Introduction meeting with the selected media support CSOs, March 27, 2018, Internews in Moldova office

In this context Kateryna Myasnikova, Executive Director of the Independent Association of Broadcasters (IAB) in Ukraine, and Kostiantyn Kvurt, the Head of the Board of Internews Ukraine (IUA, a locally registered leading media NGO) were invited to Chisinau for a one-day visit on March 27, 2018, to share

14 In the Cooperative Agreement and initial implementation plan it was mentioned that 5 CSOs should be selected. However, 3 of the total of 6 CSOs that meet the selection criteria are already receiving technical assistance and grant support, including for organizational development priorities. The MEDIA-M team has analyzed the relevant available budget lines for this Objective 4 component and decided that it is reasonable and affordable to select all 6 media support CSOs that meet the selection criteria.

IAB’s experience as a beneficiary of similar SATT/OSS Capacity Assessment and followed assistance with IUA’s support.During this introduction meeting with the selected CSOs, the MEDIA-M team presented and discussed the future assistance implementation steps, concept, and results to be achieved. The two Ukrainian representatives shared their experience, and described the challenges they faced as well as the progress they achieved. Also during the meeting, the CSO representatives were introduced to the team of local consultants that will perform the baseline assessment.

Activity 4.2 Prioritize, Plan, and Build Organizational Capacity

No action was taken under this activity during the reporting period. The activity is planned to be launched in June 2018 after finalizing the baseline capacity assessments of the six media support CSOs.

V. PLANNED HIGHLIGHTS (FOR APRIL 2018 – SEPTEMBER 2018)

Objective 1

• The six recipients of Emerging Opportunities Grants will finalize their media innovations projects in April 2018. • The six media outlet KPs will continue to implement the targeted grant support activities for content production and distribution: - All six KPs will hire staff needed to improve the quality of content production, expand content distribution, and strengthen their financial position. - Five KPs (all except ZdG) will procure new content production equipment and supplies. - Two KPs (PRO TV and ZdG) will contract consultants to develop Technical specifications for website upgrades. - SP will develop "Consumer Directory" software for the website www.esp.md. - Agora will update their existing Content Management System (CMS) and develop mobile- friendly software for updated CMS.

• Technical assistance and long-term mentoring will be offered for all KP media outlets: - All six KPs will receive assistance from international experts for developing Editorial policy, Establishing/reorganizing newsroom, and developing Editorial planning and workflow. - All six KPs’ staff will be trained in storytelling, native advertising, and project management. - The camera people from Pro TV, SP, and NewsMaker will get an in-house training led by an international expert. - Five KPs (all except PRO TV) will develop strategic planning tools with the assistance of international experts. - Management from SP will make a working visit to a newspaper receiving comparable support from Internews. - Agora and SP will benefit from expert consultancy on content monetization and advertising sales growth. Objective 2

• The national survey on media perception will be finalized in July and national data made available • IJC will conduct a Hackathon on media literacy in July and Internews will award two small grants to selected Hackathon teams, to be implemented during the next reporting period. • IJC will support networking efforts and hold a series of journalist and IT developer meet-ups. • IJC conduct an open group training in September (the exact topic still to be decided). • IJC Organizing and preparing at least one media literacy TOT for secondary and high school teachers.

• IJC advocating high-school media literacy curriculum inclusion in the national school program., including advocacy meetings with the Ministry of Education to promote the media literacy curriculum for high school. • Internews and IJC will provide consultancy assistance for the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism (CSAJ) on implementing the recently developed internal strategy • IJC will produce and publish at least four digital literacy video tutorials (topics to be decided) and actively distribute them. • IJC will update the new media literacy online platform and promote it among prospective users. • IJC will launch the next online masterclass on detecting manipulation and propaganda (exact topic to be determined). • IJC will award two Media Misinformation Campaign grants. • IJC will conduct and publish two media monitoring reports. • IJC will monitor the media coverage of local elections in Chisinau in May 2018. • The Press Council (PC) will begin its engagement with consultant Inga Burlacu to implement FH recommendations according to needs assessment. • API will organize another five “Discussion Club” sessions outside of Chisinau to promote journalistic ethics and define the public role of the PC. • API will produce and prepare for broadcasting a thematic program on journalistic ethics for a national TV channel. • API will produce and publish videos promoting journalistic ethics on social networks and news media. • API will publish an article highlighting arguments for a decision adopted by the Press Council on a specific topic (to be determined).

Objective 3

• FH senior researcher will begin engagement with the author of the fifth Media Forward policy brief • Representatives of Internews, FH, and IJC will participate in Parliamentary Working Group to improve media legislation and in meetings of the eight thematic subgroups. • FH will facilitate engagement with international expert consultants on comparative information security issues. • FH will implement the Baltic Study Tour (23-26 of April) for Moldovan organizations to learn capacity-building lessons. • FH will implement an advocacy and strategic workshop for the Press Council on April 19. • LHR will continue to participate in court proceedings. • LHR will launch the VREAU Info web portal and capture usage statistics and user feedback • FH will engage with the recipients of the Media Freedom Matters small grants to support projects designed to raise local awareness of media freedom issues. • IJC will perform media freedom monitoring and issue statements on abuses. • IJC will publish at least two legislative bulletin and provide ongoing request-based legal consultancy for journalists

Objective 4

• Six individual SATT/OSS Index assessment reports for selected media support CSOs will be finalized • Internews will provide assistance for all six media CSOs based on the received assessment recommendations.

VI. CHALLENGES

• The volume of the Center for Independent Journalism products is large and diverse: tutorials, Media ABC videos, articles on media activity, online masterclasses, media literacy platform, etc. However, not all products have enough visibility. In order to bring IJC products to more people, IJC launched discussions with news portals, TV stations, and influencers. Some media institutions contacted by IJC have published and broadcast IJC products. The Moldovan journalism departments from universities were also contacted in order to promote IJC’s online masterclasses. In the coming weeks, the IJC team will present the online masterclasses to the journalism faculties. • During the Media Policy Forum, FH noticed that there was moderate attrition in attendance following the lunch period. Although some attrition is expected for lengthy events, FH will rearrange the order of speakers and themes such that individuals will feel incentivized to stay through the duration of the next Forum. For example, FH frontloaded key remarks from ambassadors and high-level individuals during this year’s Forum. These individuals can be distributed across the agenda for added balance next year. In addition, while the Media Policy Forum received significant press coverage, media reports focused on keynote remarks by the high- level officials. Next year, FH will prepare informational packets for the press with details on key themes, speaker bios, and relevant current events so as to enable more substantial reporting on the Forum and broader media freedom issues in Moldova. • During the first round of the Media Freedom Matters grants competition, a significant number (10) of the submitted applications were disqualified due to a technicality – failure to submit all documents before the final deadline. For the next round, FH will write an internal set of completion guidelines to determine whether or not the application merits total disqualification, and work with candidates in advance of the deadline to help them ensure that their application packages are complete and can thus be considered for support. • The experience of the first cycle of Media Forward policy briefs was informative. Overall, FH aimed to select authors on the basis of potential as opposed to name recognition. In the selection process, the committee was conflicted when choosing between lesser known, yet highly creative authors versus more established players in the field. While FH ultimately opted to publish an extra brief to solve this debate, the quality of the final brief written by the more experienced professional did not compare to that of the others. During the next cycle, FH will select the strongest, most competitive proposals versus making selections based upon reputation. • FH Advocacy Specialist Vytis Jurkonis’ scheduling conflicts and time-sensitive engagements created certain delays in the implementation of activities requiring his participation, particularly Activity 3.2.1. FH reworked Jurkonis’s engagement in the project based on a new assessment of how his time should be allocated. • Coordinating with the Press Council to schedule and develop the first workshop under Activity 3.2.1 has proved challenging. Besides the predictable scheduling conflicts around holidays, this process lagged due to the Press Council’s conflicting engagements and insistence that such a training would be more beneficial in the fall, when new members will commence their terms. Nevertheless, FH will implement at least one training under the planned schedule, and the second and third trainings will include the new members.

VII. MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING PLAN INDICATORS

Reporting Reporting period period DATA Target April – October Project to PERFORMANCE INDICATOR INDICATOR DEFINITION DATA SOURCE COLLECTION Baseline Y1 September 2017 – Date Total METHOD /TOOL 2017 March 2018 USAID Indicators (*DR 5.2-1) Number of Output, Refers to all training, education events Project Records Attendance list 0 TBD 0 66 66 training days provided to whether short-term or long-term, in-country or journalists with USG abroad. It includes pre-service and in-service assistance, measured by training for journalists, editors, and related person days of training production staff for news and public information media. One training day is defined as no less than

six hours of training per day. (*DR 5.3-1) Number of non- Output Refers to non-state-controlled news outlets Project Records Number of signed 0 14 0 19 19 state news outlets assisted including privately-owned, community, or grant agreements, by USG independent public service media outlets (at least reports on two or more people). Measures USG activity aimed provided technical at strengthening independent sources of support professional and objective news and information (consultancy, through USG assistance such as training, grants or training etc.), GIS other support designed to improve the quantity Mapping and quality of professional and objective news available to the public. Types of platforms include: television, radio, print or Internet media outlets that produce news and public affairs related contents. (*DR 5.3-2) Number of USG- Output, Number of Media CSOs and supporting Project records List of grantees, 0 5 3 5 8 assisted media-sector civil institutions supported by MEDIA-M through grants, attendance lists, society organizations and/or training, consultancy and other technical assistance GIS Mapping institutions that serve to strengthen the independent media or journalists (*DR 4.2-2) Number of civil Output; CSOs that initiate or participate in Project records Reports data 0 35 3 1 4 society organizations advocacy initiatives made possible in part through receiving USG assistance MEDIA-M support

engaged in advocacy interventions Objective 1: Support independent media and production and dissemination of alternative content through grants and needs-based technical assistance 1.1: Number of supported Outcome, Refers to the number of key partner Annual capacity Structured and TBD 0 0 NA for NA for this media outlets with outlets with improved scores on at least 1 of 3 reports of Key semi-structured upon this period improved capacity and/or disaggregated components: on editorial Partners interviews with baseline period performance scores independence, newsroom technical capacity, management and assessm (see financial viability key outlet staff, ent report) review of online presence and organizational documentation, etc. 1.2: % increase of audience Outcome, Measures the % change in audience Annual capacity Web analytics, TBD +3% NA for this NA for NA for this reach of supported media reach of Key Partner media assessment mobile download upon period this period outlets reports, IJC records, BATI baseline period audience reach reports, IJC assessm reports audience reach ent reports 1.3: % increase in quality of Outcome, Measures the level of adherence to Content analysis Content analysis TBD +2% NA for this NA for NA for this news professional and ethical standards of news Reports of Key Partner based on period this period produced by key partner media outlets’ content initial period commissioned Analysis from an external research company. 15 1.4: Improved quality of Outcome: Measures the level of adherence Content Analysis Content analysis TBD N/A NA for this NA for NA for this election coverage to professional and ethical standards of election Reports of Key Partner based on period this period coverage. Will be evaluated only during election outlets’ content initial period years (periods). 16 will be Analysis commissioned from an external research company.

15 The content analysis methodology includes specific criteria and a scoring matrix that can be used for analyzing the quality of content produced by a media outlet. 16 The predicted election periods in Moldova are 2018 October-November Parliamentary elections, 2019 June Local Elections, 2020 Presidential Elections (Y2,Y3,Y4).

1.5: Number of innovative Output, Counting the media products (videoblogs, Project records, Sub-grantees will TBD TBD NA for this 18 18 media products and tools YouTube channels, media series on specific public including IJC be required to period created and successfully interest subjects, etc.) and tools (mobile reports provide proof of implemented with USG applications, online games, etc.) developed with the created support USG support through Emerging Opportunities, Key innovative media Partners and other grants product and/or tool (ex. including web links, screenshots, etc.). 1.6: % of citizens who report Outcome; Increasing % indicates a population with National survey National survey TBD +1% NA for this NA for NA for this consuming news from increased access to independent media report commissioned upon period this period independent sources from an external baseline period research firm survey (waiting survey data) Objective 2: Build consumer understanding of and demand for independent, reliable, and high quality news and information through targeted media literacy activities 2.1: Number of people Output, Includes people reached through media Project records Training records, 0 120 0 2,289 2,289 reached through Activity- literacy TOTs, pilot trainings in schools and partner reports (pending assisted media literacy libraries, field trips, photo camps, etc. verificatio efforts n from library reports) 2.2: Number of viewers of Outcome, Refers to number of views of activity- Reports from IJC Web analytics for TBD 200,000 108,094 138,127 246,221 critical analysis media supported online media literacy initiatives and other Mediacritica.md, platforms recipients of Media-azi.md, etc. support for media literacy campaigns 2.3: % increase of the Outcome; Increasing % of mentions indicates Project Records Google alerts n/a n/a n/a n/a This citations of Moldovan CSOs’ better publicity and broader reach of monitoring indicator media monitoring data in efforts has been the Moldovan and Western excluded, press with USAID approval. 2.4: Number of submitted Outcome, number of reports indicates broader use Press Council Registered citizens 0 45 32 51 83 reports of ethical violations of Press Council among the public reports reports among media

2.5: % of citizens who say Outcome. % of respondents in a national survey National survey National survey TBD +2% NA for this NA for NA for this they believe that being able who say they believe that being able to identify report commissioned upon period this period to identify manipulation or manipulation or misinformation in media is an from an external baseline period misinformation in media is important skill for all Moldovans to have. An research firm survey an important skill for all increasing % of citizens who agree with this Moldovans to have statement indicates a growing number of people who understand the importance of and are better prepared to demand high-quality media 2.6: % of people able to Outcome. % of people who receive a passing grade IJC (collecting Pre- and post- TBD 100% NA for this NA for NA for this identify false/misleading on a test designed to measure their ability to data from course tests (teachers period this period news and information as a recognize false or misleading news and information teachers trained only) period result of training made after completing a media literacy course based on through media possible by MEDIA-M the curriculum developed by IJC with support from literacy TOT) MEDIA-M Objective 3: Improve the enabling legal and regulatory environment for independent media by strengthening the capacity of media support organizations 3.1: Number of media Outcome. Refers to number of media enabling Project records Legal and policy 0 2 Stage 1: 3 Stage 1: 6 Stage 1: 6 enabling environment environment policies, regulations, and monitoring Stage 3: 1 Stage 3: 1 policies, regulations, and administrative procedures in each of the stages of Stage 5: 1 Stage 5: 1 administrative procedures in development as a result of USG assistance. Stage 4 each of the following stages of this indicator corresponds to the USAID Moldova of development as a result PMP indicator "# of policy changes, regulations, of USG assistance in each and procedures adopted by GOM with USAID case: Stage 1: Analysis; assistance that benefit and facilitate a better Stage 2: Stakeholder functioning of the Civil Society". consultation/public debate; Stage 3: Drafting or revision; Stage 4: Approval (legislative or regulatory); and Stage 5: Full and effective implementation. 3.2: Number of cases Outcome, Refers to number of cases of media Press Council Tracking the 0 20 32 51 83 resolved in compliance with violations successfully resolved through the Press reports registered # of decisions of self-regulatory Council resolved cases mechanisms.

3.3. Number of watchdog Output. Watchdog activities are defined as an Project records IJC, FH narrative 0 TBD 1417 5518 69 activities implemented by analysis and interventions on behalf of the civil reports CSOs receiving USG society aimed to serve as a guardian or protector assistance against waste, loss, or illegal practices. Relevant activities under MEDIA-M may include: strategic litigations, participation in parliamentary working group on improvement of audiovisual legislation, work of legal and regulatory task forces formed out of the annual policy forum, education and awareness campaigns around fundamental freedoms, public consultation practices and other.

Objective 4: Nurture organizational capacity of local media institutions for transition to direct local award (Cross-cutting objective) 4.1: Level of organizational Outcome, Refers to the score achieved on the SATT/OSS Organizational TBD +0.2 N/A for this N/A for N/A for capacity development SATT/OSS19 indices by CSOs receiving OD training assessment capacity upon period this this period among Activity-supported from MEDIA-M. reports assessment first period CSOs conducted by assessm evaluators ent 4.2: Number of Activity- Outcome, Mock audit will assess capability of select Audit Reports Mock audits 0 0 0 0 0 assisted CSOs that are media CSOs receiving OD training from MEDIA-M to “international audit ready” manage direct USG funding

17 The international conference Moldovan MAP (Media, Audiences and Pluralism) (1), IJC Legislative Bulletin (1), IJC Statements (8), Legal consultations (4) 18 Participation in Parliamentary working groups (16), legal consultations/strategic litigation (10), IJC statements (11), IJC legislative bulletins (3), IJC Media Monitoring Reports (2), IJC published case studies (12), Media Policy Forum (1) 19 Seat at the Table (SATT) and Organizational Systems and Standards (OSS) Indices

VIII. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1. KPs Grant Activity Schedule

Attachment 2. Draft mentoring plan for KPs

Attachment 3. Draft Curricula for High School

Attachment 4. Draft Strategy for increasing the visibility of the Press Council

Attachment 5. Press Council 2018 Needs Assessment

Attachment 6. Policy Brief 01 Fake News - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 7. Policy Brief 02 Seize the Press - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 8. Policy Brief 03 Media Pluralism - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 9. Policy Brief 04 Information Resilience - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 10. Freedom of the Press, Moldova 2017 - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 11. IJC Methodology Recommendations

Attachment 12. Press Council Study Visit to Estonia Agenda

Attachment 13. Activities of Working Group Subgroups

Attachment 14. IJC Advocacy Statements

Attachment 15. Media Policy Forum Agenda - EN, RO, RU

Attachment 16 - LHR Strategic Litigation Cases

Attachment 17. MEDIA-M Advocacy Initiatives - Call for Applications

Attachment 18. Call for Expression of Interest for media NGOs

Attachment 19. MEDIA-M Media Support CSOs Partners short description