Public interest topics, mandatory cases of sources disclosure, access to information, state secret, broadcasting licenses, defamation, information security of the company but also of the person, self-regulation in the Mass Media, the right to respect the private life – are some of the themes included in Media Law course. The students were initiated and guided by the jurist Tatiana Puiu.

Media Law has as study object the fundamental aspects of various legislative acts that concern the mass media and the specificity of their activity. For five days, the SAJ students have consulted and analyzed numerous laws and articles directly related to the profession of journalist. The lawyer Tatiana Puiu told the young people about the legal framework regulating the functioning of the media market in the Republic of Moldova and brought examples of good practices in the press from the European space. In the context, she explained the role and the position of the European Court of Human Rights concerning litigation between press institutions and media consumers in various countries.

The instructor believes that this course is useful for the SAJ current students. “The year 2018 is an important one for media law, because the Parliament is expected to adopt on the final reading a series of normative acts for this field: the new Audiovisual Media Services Code, the Law on Advertising, the amendments to the Law on Access to Information and Personal Data Protection”, said the trainer.

During the course, the students benefited from the presence of three special guests. Vytis Jurkonis, project director at Freedom House, Lithuania, spoke to young people about the human rights situation and the popularity of this topic in the Lithuanian press. Aistė Žilinskienė, director of the Media Online Association in the same country, invited students to a discussion on ethical rules in online journalism. The third guest was Sergiu Bozianu, president of the Privacy Research Association, who spoke about the origin, importance and respect of the right to private life – a subject that sparked polemics, questions and needed explanations from the guest.

According to the students, the meetings with experts were one of the strong points of the course. Marina Gorbatovschi, for example, mentioned that, due to the discussions with the guests, she has now a clear vision on the freedom of expression and the right to privacy in the context of the public interest. Now, at the SAJ, the Long Articles course, with Alina Radu, director of the publication “Ziarul de Gardă”, is being held.