The suspension of U.S. financial assistance programs, though officially temporary, has sparked uncertainty among independent newsrooms in Moldova, many of which rely heavily on grants to sustain their operations. Several media managers view Washington’s decision as a resilience test, while media experts emphasize the need for continuous diversification of funding sources.
President Donald Trump’s executive order on January 20, which halted U.S. development aid for 90 days, has had immediate effects on Moldovan newsrooms. Several media outlets in Chișinău have published editorials explaining the consequences of this decision and the strategies they are implementing to adapt, as some of them rely on grants for up to 70% of their funding.
The team at Newsmaker.md has outlined a cost-optimization plan. “Our reserve fund, accumulated over several years, allows us to cover salaries and operational costs for the next three months, albeit with adjustments: salary reductions, cutting translation services, and limiting travel,” the newsroom stated, clarifying that there will be no layoffs or changes to their editorial content.
For Moldova.org, the U.S. aid suspension has resulted in the immediate loss of two major funding sources. Director Oxana Greadcenco detailed efforts in recent years to diversify revenue streams, from reader donations to commercial services and magazine sales. “We managed to enter the new year with enough savings to cover salaries for January and February. It’s a challenging period, but we believe in ourselves and in our supporters who value independent journalism,” she wrote.
Similarly, for Ziarul de Gardă, the abrupt loss of 40% of salary funding is a major challenge. Director Alina Radu reflected on lessons learned over 20 years and the steps they are taking: “We will fully pay January salaries on time, we are actively seeking new partners to secure funding for the coming months, and we already have some promising leads. We will not stop investigations, news reporting, or feature articles.”
TV Stations in “Emergency Mode”
Independent TV stations in Moldova are also scrambling to find solutions for the funding shortfall that hit “overnight.” For TV8, the U.S. funding suspension accounts for about 25% of their total grants. If the situation remains unchanged, the station foresees risks such as budget cuts or the suspension of programs monitoring judicial reforms and anti-corruption efforts.
“We have developed an action plan, but it’s too early to discuss results. We hope that within the 90-day period, we’ll have more clarity on the U.S. commitment to supporting press freedom and human rights in Moldova,” explained Mariana Rață, co-founder of TV8. She added that they are seeking alternative donors and exploring how much of their budget could be covered by advertising revenue. However, she emphasized that no independent TV station in Moldova can currently be financially sustainable without external funding while still complying with local content regulations.
“We would have expected the Moldovan government to assess the impact as well. Media and civil society are in a crisis situation. We expect the state to think about us too and to do something – for example, to give us a tax holiday – because it is not only the task of the governments of other states, but it is primarily the obligation of the state in which this media operates to ensure that there is an independent press. I am sorry that Prime Minister Recean said in a previous press conference that the decision from Washington does not affect the Republic of Moldova, because it is not true. Many Moldovan institutions have been and are seriously affected,” Rață stressed.
For the regional station Elita TV in Rezina, the funding cut means a 40% reduction in support for their flagship program “Așa cum este”, the loss of two to three interns who were expected to join the team, and a shortfall in advertising revenue for the next two months. “We gather our forces and implement all necessary measures to minimize expenses. Luckily we have a project that covers our utilities until March 2025, not the salaries of the production team. We, the core team, and the news editor continue to operate regardless of whether we have salaries or not. We do not know how we will cover salaries as of January 1, but in the discontinued projects we had production costs planned through July 2025. Now we are operating under a “state of emergency” and for the time being we have not stopped broadcasting, but we are analyzing all possible scenarios, waiting for final decisions on other projects in which we are participating, after which we will make a final decision on adjusting the program schedule. Everyone knows that the fines of the Broadcasting Council are heavy for those who do not comply exactly with the Broadcasting Program Concept, declared to the CA,” said producer Angela Zaharova.
An Economic Lifeline for Media Under Threat
The financial sustainability of Moldovan media has always been a challenge, as repeatedly highlighted by various research studies. “Efforts to diversify revenue through subscriptions, advertising, private contributions, and reader donations have not yet been effective in securing financial independence for newsrooms. While grants are not a long-term solution for media development, they remain vital, particularly in a market distorted by opaque funding from political and business interests,” noted the most recent Memorandum on the Freedom of the Press.
“When the market is small, poor, and the piece that works is distorted by political gamesmanship or other interests, the grant seems like a good, “clean”, honestly manageable solution. As such, it is not project-based journalism that is to blame, but the fact that what should have been a complementary source of commercial revenue has become the real oxygen balloon for many independent press operations. The dysfunctional market, the unbalanced market, advertising that exclusively pursues audience figures, not product quality, ending up supporting propaganda, sensationalism and clickbait,” explained Ioana Avădani, president of Romania’s Center for Independent Journalism.
She warned that dependence on a single donor is the most critical issue and must be avoided. “The key lesson here is the need to better explain the circulation of money in society, in order to make as many people as possible understand that this measure does not only affect journalists and NGOs, but every citizen of Moldova, whose standard of living is supported and raised with the financial assistance of the United States. That regardless of who manages the programs and regardless of their nature, the ultimate beneficiary of the financial assistance is the citizen, and the role of the press is that the good, like the money that facilitates it, is always monitored and exposed to public scrutiny,” she emphasized.
Ion Bunduchi, executive director of the Electronic Press Association, offered two key takeaways for journalists: “Save for a rainy day” and always have a “Plan B.” “The sustainability of the press, ideally, should be the concern of the press itself, of press managers. If we go to the state to make us sustainable, it might first ask us to demonstrate that we are useful and necessary to the people, and possibly stumble in demonstrating something. I feel and understand the shock when someone turns your plan upside down. It remains for each of us to understand who is to blame: someone or the plan. Perhaps, the shock makes us more managerial, calculating and forward-thinking or, on the contrary, it makes us do what we do best, because challenges are no longer a matter of chance. They have become a way of life” he concluded.