The agenda of the 10th edition of the Media Forum, which will take place on December 8 and 9, 2025, in Chisinau, includes six debates on topics of current interest to the Moldovan journalistic community, ranging from improving the legislative framework governing the field to strengthening the sustainability of media institutions. The debates will be attended by local and international experts, representatives of the authorities, journalists, and media managers.
The first debate of the Forum will analyze legislative priorities in the media field in the context of European integration. The main topics of discussion will be: how to implement the National Media Development Program for 2023–2026, what adjustments are needed to the Law on the Media Subsidy Fund, what are the key projects in the media field to be developed and adopted by the new Parliament in the process of accession to the European Union, etc. The debate will be moderated by Sergiu Niculiță, TV8 program director.
This will be followed by a debate on “The Development of Journalism in the Age of Tech Giants and Artificial Intelligence,” which will present the conclusions of a recent media policy document developed under the auspices of the OSCE. Entitled “Protecting press freedom in the era of Big Tech platforms and artificial intelligence,” the document details how tech giants influence the visibility of information of public interest, with an emphasis on the need for clear additional rules to protect press freedom in the digital environment. It also lists the measures needed to increase the safety of journalists in order to limit violence, attacks, and harassment in the online space. The study will be presented by Julia Haas, advisor to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, a renowned expert specializing in international relations and the intersection of technology, security, and human rights. Julia is a member of the Advisory Board of the Vienna Forum for Democracy and Human Rights and is a PhD candidate researching the impact of digital innovations on press freedom. The debate will be moderated by Jan Lublinski, Head of the Policy and Learning Department at DW Akademie (Germany).
The challenges faced by Moldovan newsrooms and journalists during the 2025 parliamentary election campaign and the contribution of the media to increasing citizens’ information resilience will be discussed by participants in the debate “Reflecting on elections in the context of malign external influences” on the first day of the Forum. The debate will be moderated by Victoria Dodon, editor-in-chief of the Mediacritica.md portal.
Mandatory pre-registration for participation in the Media Forum 2025 takes place on the official website of the event and will be open until November 30, 2025 inclusive. Those interested must fill out the form on the website and select the events they want to attend on the first and second days of the Forum. Following registration, the organizers will select approximately 150 participants, whose list will be published five days before the Forum.
The Media Forum in the Republic of Moldova is organized annually by the Press Council as the national self-regulatory authority for journalism, in partnership with the Independent Press Association (API), the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), and the Electronic Press Association (APEL).
The 2025 edition of the Forum is supported by the European Union, International Media Support (Denmark), the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (Germany), the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Soros Foundation Moldova, and DW Akademie (Germany).