Political news and talk shows are among the most important products offered to media consumers. The interest for politics is very high, as confirmed by this kind of topics presented in the newsletters, as well as by the nature of the daily discussions between citizens. What is happening on the political arena of the Republic of Moldova? What are manipulation and political propaganda? How do we reflect fairly and equidistantly the election campaigns and how do we discover false information? Do we have a sufficiently developed political journalism in the Republic of Moldova? There are only a few of the themes discussed during the Journalism on political affairs and foreign affairs course, delivered this year at SAJ by the journalist Anatolie Golea, founder of the Infotag Press Agency and moderator of the „Пятница с Анатолием Голя” show at RTR Moldova TV Channel.

The course began with an introduction to political journalism. The students found out what are the basic characteristics of the political system, how to build a political message and how journalists can communicate effectively with the press services of the political structures from our country. The discussions continued with topics related to political party funding and cases where a politician holds several TV stations, and journalists fall prey to manipulation and propaganda.

The course also reflected international and European political journalism. The young people were acquainted with some elements of diplomacy, as well as with documents of major importance regarding the relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union.

Finally, the students learned about the peculiarities of the political talk shows and analyzed some of them, broadcasted at the country’s TV stations during the electoral campaign, trying to detect cases of violation of the journalist’s Code of Ethics and the ways spreading fake news.

According to the instructor, Journalism on Political and Foreign Affairs Topics is “a course for those who want to know more about Moldovan politics, a course that helps you understand why we do not have political elites and how to contribute to their formation.”

The students, in their turn, understood how important the correctness and responsibility in the exercise of the journalist’s job are. Corina Seremet, for example, told us that a journalist should first plead for fairness and avoid any distortion of reality. “Often, the journalist deviates from the objective line, showing deformed reality according to the interests of certain groups. It's unacceptable,” said Corina.

In the coming days, the SAJ students will attend the Economic Journalism course.