Media Azi Cartoon: Officials as Guards of Information of Public Interest. Whose Interest, Actually?

In the Republic of Moldova, access to information of public interest is still “quarantined.” Many institutions have chosen to invoke the pandemic, personal data protection, or trade secrets.

This is once again confirmed by the responses from several newsrooms to a questionnaire at the Media Azi portal. According to the journalists who answered our questions, in the year when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, obtaining “imprisoned” data related to healthcare was their most complicated assignment, and the Ministry of Health was the key authority mentioned as one of most closed institutions in relations with the press. Moreover, the coronavirus was most often invoked as a reason for refusal to provide the information requested.

Journalists are alarmed by the fact that many officials act like vigilant guards and insistently control how much information of public interest reaches the citizens.

This information isolation undoubtedly does not comply with the public interest.