Media Audience in the Republic of Moldova

The survey was conducted by the Independent Sociology and Information Service OPINIA at the request of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) with financial support from the Swedish

International Development Cooperation Agency via the Swedish Embassy in Chișinău

December 2017

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Table of Contents

Contributions………………………………………………………………………………………………….3

Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Executive summary……………………………………………………………………………………………5

General media preferences ……………………………………………………………………………..….7

Print press ......................................................................................................................................... 13

Radio .................................................................................................................................................. 18

Television ......................................................................................................................................... 29

Internet..............................….................. ………………………………………………...........................41

Influence of the media ..................................................................................................................... 51

Annexes Sample Demographic correlations of the survey

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Contributions

All the data from this survey belong to the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in the Republic of

Moldova. The survey was conducted by the Independent Sociology and Information Service OPINIA

at the request of the IJC and complies with the standards stipulated by the International Code on

Market, Opinion and Social Research of ICC/ESOMAR (www.esomar.org/index.php/codes-

guidelines.html).

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Methodology

Goal: Moldovans were surveyed to identify their preferences for print press, radio, TV or online

resources in order to identify their most frequently consulted information sources and their

perceptions of the credibility of those sources.

Sample: The survey was conducted from 7 to 24 October 2017 on a sample of 1200 respondents

aged 15 years + living in households.

Type: multistage, stratified, non-probabilistic

Representativeness: The sample was representative of the demographic structure of the population

(ethnicity, gender, region and age of the population 15+ both urban and rural). The survey was

carried out in 68 communities on 170 secondary sampling units with a maximum of 7 interviews per

unit.

Control share: 25%

Research technique: Respondents were interviewed directly (“face-to-face”) in their homes in

Romanian or Russian depending on their preference. All the interviews were conducted in line with

the sampling plan.

Tools: Standardized sociological questionnaire consisting of thematic blocks of questions. In line

with sociological research rules, OPINIA pretested the questionnaire for qualitative improvement from

1 to 4 October 2017.

Data collection: Data were collected by interviewers from OPINIA and were processed using SPSS

software that was also used to analyze the statistics.

Error margin: +/-3%

Response rate: 72.2%

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Executive summary

Television was the most important source of information for Moldovans. The Internet was also

popular while radio and print press were consulted less frequently.

In general, Moldovans used media to search for information about health and healthcare,

weather forecasts, human rights, fights against corruption, politics, government activity, the

economy and finance. The respondents had less interest in science, technology and IT.

In newspapers, people read about topical issues, politics and ads. In magazines, the most

popular subjects were celebrities, topical issues and leisure activities.

The most frequently read newspapers were Timpul, Комсомольская Правда, Ziarul de Gardă,

Jurnal de Chisinau, Makler and Аргументы и Факты. The most popular magazines were

Aquarelle, VIP Magazin and Sănătatea.

On the radio, Moldovans preferred to listen to entertainment and/or music programs,

newscasts and programs on healthy lifestyles. The least popular were documentaries, political

talk-shows and programs for children.

People listened to the radio in the morning while getting ready for work, while travelling to work

and during the first hours at work. As the day progressed, the audience decreased.

The most popular radio stations were Radio Moldova and Radio Noroc, both with national

coverage, as well as the regional station Jurnal FM.

Seven out of 10 Moldovans watched TV programs every day; for most respondents, television

was their most important source of information. The most frequently watched types of

programs were news bulletins and fictional films followed by serialized shows,

entertainment/music and documentary films.

Prime TV had the largest audience; the audiences of Jurnal TV, Moldova 1, RTR Moldova and

ProTV Chișinău were also significant.

Most (68%) Moldovans watched the news on two, three or more TV stations.

The Internet was generally used to get weather forecasts, films, music and for information

about social subjects, but politics, celebrities.

Overall, social networks were heavily favored with the Russian platform Odnoklassniki in first

place ahead of American Facebook.

For news online, respondents accessed point.md most frequently followed by protv.md and

noi.md.

Many respondents agreed that their opinions could be influenced by information in the media

and recognized that a news item signed or distributed by a famous journalist made them trust it

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more. Furthermore, 82% considered that much of the news distributed by Moldovan media

outlets was intended to manipulate the public.

A total of 77% of respondents wanted to know who owned media institutions and their sources

of funding and 64% considered that if they did know it would be easier for them to filter, judge

and understand the information disseminated. Nonetheless, 68% considered that if the TV or

radio station offered qualitative products, it did not matter who the owner was or how it was

funded.

In all, 87% believed that they needed to check information from several media sources if they

wanted to be adequately informed.

The number of respondents fully satisfied with the information provided by the media was 9%;

59% said they were somewhat satisfied and 32% said they were either somewhat dissatisfied

or very dissatisfied.

In terms of the credibility of media sources, Ziarul de Gardă ranked first in the print press

category, Radio Moldova Actualități was first on radio, Prime TV was the most credible

television station and www.point.md ranked first among online sources.

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General media preferences

Television was the predominant source for current information for 42.8% of respondents; however,

the popularity of the Internet as a source of information was 18.8%. Print media were the least

important source of information (Figure 1).

Figure 1. What is the most important source of information for you? %

Television was also the source that 67.8% of the participants used daily or on most weekdays to get

information followed by the Internet which was accessed every day by 61.3% of respondents. Radio

was used less frequently at 18.2% while newspapers (2.0%) and magazines (1.6%) were used only

occasionally for information (Figure 2).

Figure 2. How often do you use the following sources to be informed? %

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Moldovans used television most frequently not just to be informed (71.3%) but also to be entertained

(55.5%) while the Internet was used by 49.5% of respondents to learn something new and by 40.1%

for entertainment. Radio was a distant third choice (Figure 3).

.

Figure 3. What kind of media do you use for: %

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Most respondents said that the news was very important (38%) or somewhat important (46.5%) to

them (Figure 4).

Figure 4. How important is the news for you? %

As for topics (Figure 5), 84.5% were very or somewhat interested in health and healthcare. In second

place was weather at 82.4% followed by human rights (75.5%), economic and financial problems

(64.5%), fights against corruption and relations with Russia (64.3%), the European Union and

European integration (60.8%), government activities (59.4%), and political subjects (56.5%).The

respondents indicated less interest in science, technology and IT (41.4%).

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Figure 5. What kind of information do you seek most frequently in the media? %

Almost 70% of those interviewed dedicated at least five minutes daily to watching TV, and another

17.3% dedicated the same amount to online TV products. Social networks were accessed every day

by 60.7% of respondents; 61.5% of them used the networks to converse with relatives or friends

(Figure 6).

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Figure 6. Which of the following activities took at least 5 minutes of your time yesterday, irrespective of whether this was the only thing you were doing or you were doing other things at the same time? %

Conclusion

The main source of information and entertainment for Moldovans was television (43%) with the

Internet in second place (19%). Social networks hold an important place in this regard. Print press

was in last place at 3%. Respondents’ interest in health and healthcare prevailed over their interest in

economic and financial issues, fights against corruption, government activities and politics.

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Print press

Overall, just 23.3% of respondents used newspapers and/or magazines as information sources; the

numbers were higher in urban areas than in rural ones (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Do you read newspapers and/or magazines? %

A total of 26.9% of participants said they read newspapers several times a week, but 25.1% said they

did so just two or three times a month. As for magazines, 43% said they read them less than once

every two months (Figure 8).

Figure 8. How frequently do you read newspapers? Magazines? %

Almost 49% of those who read print press bought it from kiosks while 41.6% borrowed it from friends.

Subscriptions were preferred by 25.1% of respondents (Figure 9).

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Figure 9. How do you access the newspapers or magazines you read? %

Most Moldovans read newspapers/magazines at home (58.1%/50.4%) or at work (25.4%/22.3%).

Figure 10. Where do you usually read newspapers/magazines? %

Respondents preferred topical issues (45.9%), politics (28.7%) and ads (27.2%). In magazines, the

most popular subjects were celebrities (28.7%), topical issues (24.7%) and leisure time activities

(15.8%). People showed less interest in articles about or for children (12.2%) and in those about

economics (8.6%) (Figure 11).

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Figure 11. What kind of information do you prefer to read in newspapers? Magazines? %

As shown in Figure 12, the most frequently read newspapers were Timpul (20.1%), Комсомольская

Правда (19.7%), Ziarul de Gardă (13.3%), Jurnal de Chisinau (12.9%), Makler (7.2%) and

Аргументы и Факты (6.5%).

Figure 12. Name three newspapers you usually read: %

Figure 13 shows the most preferred magazines: Aquarelle (9.3%), VIP Magazin (6.1%) and Sănătate

(3.9%).

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Figure 13. Name three magazines you usually read: %

Over 40% of respondents said that interesting content was their main criterion for choosing a

newspaper/magazine. Topicality was less important at 28.3% while 14.7% read them because they

trusted what was published and considered them unbiased. Criteria like price (6.5%) or the reputation

of the newspaper/magazine (2.2%) were less important (Figure 14).

Figure 14. Name 3 criteria you apply to choose a specific newspaper or magazine: %

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Conclusion

Moldovans used print press less frequently than other information sources. Those who read

newspapers/magazines usually bought them in kiosks and preferred to read them at home. Readers

were mainly interested in topical subjects, politics and ads; however, a publication that specializes in

investigations ranked first among newspapers in both urban and rural areas.

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Radio

Approximately one third of the population listened to the radio at least weekly with slightly larger

audiences in rural areas (Figure 15).

Figure 15. Except for today, when was the last time that you listened to the radio? %

Listening times varied from less than 30 minutes a day (21.8%), to 30 minutes to 1 hour (30.6%), to 3

hours a day (28.0%), or to 4 to 6 hours (6.9%) on work days. Listening times on weekends varied.

(Figure 16).

Figure 16. How much time do you usually listen to the radio on a work day? On a day off and/or a weekend? %

Respondents accessed radio signals with a variety devices. While most used a traditional radio, many

used car radios and the Internet, including on mobile telephones (Figure 17).

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Figure 17. How do you access radio signals? %

Figure 18 shows that radio was mainly listened to at home (59%), at work (18.1%) and in the car

(15.8%).

Figure 18. Where do you listen to the radio? %

Of those who listened to the radio, 87.3% preferred entertainment and/or music programs, 72.9%

listened to the news and 51.5% listened to programs about healthy lifestyles. The least popular were

documentary programs (16.7%), political talk-shows (21.6%) and programs for children (26.4%)

(Figure 19).

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Figure 19. What kind of radio programs do you listen to? %

People listened mainly in the morning while getting ready for work (30.9%), while travelling to work

(26.1%) and during the first hours of work (21.0%) and at lunchtime (28.8%). The audience

decreased progressively by the end of the working day.

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Figure 20. What time did you start and what time did you finish listening to the radio? If you listened to the radio several times a day, what were the intervals for each session?

Of the five radio stations in Figure 21 that were listened to by more than 10% of respondents, three

have national coverage and thus potentially larger audiences. The data also showed, however, that

many information consumers preferred local news, local music and Romanian music. In general,

listeners preferred news (47.0%) then entertainment programs (39.6%) and to a much smaller extent,

analytical programs (7%) and radio debates (4.7%).

Figure 21. Name three the radio stations that are the most frequently listened to in your family. What kind of programs do you listen to most frequently?

Public station Radio Moldova and Radio Noroc with national coverage and Jurnal FM with regional

coverage were the top three in stations listened to on the day before the survey (Figure 22).

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Figure 22. What radio stations did you listen to YESTERDAY, irrespective of whether this was the only thing you were doing or whether you were doing other things at the same time? %

The public station’s general program Radio Moldova Actualități was the most efficient in helping

people to understand the social-political and economic situation in the country (30.9%); events that

took place abroad (28.2%); healthy lifestyles (27.9%); and education, employment and business

development opportunities (26.4%). Stations in second place in every category were far behind

(Figure 23).

Figure 23. Which of the radio stations you listen to helps you to better understand: %

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The presenters on Radio Moldova Actualități were appreciated the most by the respondents. In

addition, the public station was thought to offer the best news and talk-shows as well as the most

diversified programming (Figure 24).

Figure 24. In your opinion, which radio stations correspond best to the following statements? %

Figure 25 shows that most listeners seldom or very seldom (59.6%) discussed, commented on or

distributed the information they received on radio.

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Figure 25. How often do you discuss, comment or distribute the information you hear on the radio?

Furthermore, if they did pass on information, they either only sometimes indicated or did not indicate

the station or program that had served as their source of information (72.2%) (Figure 26).

Figure 26. When you discuss, comment or distribute the information you hear on radio, do you indicate the radio station and/or program where you learned the information? %

In all, 43.4% of respondents said they listened to the news bulletins broadcast by the one radio

station they listened to on a work day while 25% indicated they checked two stations and 14%

indicated they listened to three or more stations (Figure 27).

Figure 27. On a work day, how many radio stations do you access to hear news bulletins? %

Most of those who listened to more than one radio station declared that there were variations in the

way the news was presented (Figure 28).

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Figure 28. How often is the same information presented differently by different radio stations? %

The most popular programs on respondents’ preferred stations were newscasts except on Kiss FM

and Hit FM where entertainment programs prevailed (Figure 29).

Figure 29. Correlation between the radio station that is most frequently listened to in the household with the type of program:

Over 40% said any interesting, dynamic and attractive program would draw them to a station. Music

selection was in second place at 29%, and local or regional content was third at 22.6% (Figure 30).

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Figure 30. What are the criteria you apply to listen to a specific radio station? %

The quality/attractiveness of programs was the main criterion (19.3%) for choosing a radio program

whether it was informative-analytical or entertaining. At the same time, the respondents looked at the

usefulness of the information imparted (13.5%) and at the presenters’ performance (12.1%) (Figure

31).

Figure 31. What are the criteria you apply when choosing a specific media product (news, debate programs, analytical programs, entertainment programs)? %

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Conclusion

Radio was listened to most often on the way to or from work or during early working hours. Music

programs were the most preferred (87%), but a significant number of people listened to newscasts

(73%). More and more radio listeners used modern technology to access signals such as the Internet

(33%), including mobile devices (29%), instead of traditional radio receivers. Public station Radio

Moldova and its general program Radio Moldova Actualități ranked first in listeners’ preferences.

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Television

Most participants in the survey (77.3%) watched TV every day. It was the source of information Moldovans

used most frequently (Figure 32).

Figure 32. Except for today, when was the last time that you watched TV? %

Television had the greatest audience in the evening between 21.00 and 22.00 (58.1%); Moldovans

watched between the hours of 11:00 and 12:00 (10.5%) to the smallest extent (Figure 33).

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Figure 33. What time did you start and finish watching TV? If you watched the TV several times during the day, can you tell us the intervals for each viewing? %

On a work day, 38.4% of respondents said they watched TV between 30 minutes and 1 hour while on

the weekend, 43.4% watched from 1 to 3 hours and 26.7% watched from 4 to 6 hours (Figure 34).

Figure 34. How long do you usually watch TV programs on a work day? A day off and/or weekend? %

Two-thirds of participants received TV signals via cable, 19.0% got theirs via IPTV and 15.2% did so

via satellite (Figure 35).

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Figure 35. Your TV receives its signal via:

At 78%, home was the preferred environment for watching TV programs (Figure 36).

Figure 36. Distribution of answers to the question: Where do you usually watch TV? %

Nearly 82% of respondents watched news programs on TV. Fictional films (81%), serialized programs

(serials) (64%), entertainment/music programs (63%) and documentaries (61%) followed in

popularity. Programs about healthy lifestyles (60%) and talk-shows on economic, social or political

subjects (56%) were somewhat less popular and cartoons, programs for children and sports

programs were the least popular (Figure 37).

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Figure 37. What kind of TV programs do you usually watch? %

Regarding viewers’ preferences for stations, Prime TV ranked first at 40%; it is a private station with

programming based on rebroadcasts of Russian TV station Pervîi Kanal. It was followed by Jurnal TV

and ProTV Chișinău at 21% and 20%, respectively. Moldova 1 was fourth at 18%. Notably, only one

TV station in the top three (Prime) has national coverage while the top 10 stations included 4 of the 5

with national coverage (Figure 38).

Figure 38. What television stations did you watch YESTERDAY, irrespective of whether this was the only thing you were doing or whether you were doing other at the same time? %

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Prime TV was also the most frequently watched station at 46.7% with Jurnal TV second at 25.8% and

Moldova 1 third at 25.5%. RTR Moldova that rebroadcasts programs from the Russian Federation

and Pro TV Chișinău that rebroadcasts those from Romania closely followed at 21.3% and 21%,

respectively. THT Exclusiv that also rebroadcasts Russian programming and Publika TV with entirely

local programming and national coverage were at 18.7% and 18.6%, respectively (Figure 39).

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Figure 39. Name the 3 TV stations that are most frequently watched by your family.

Most participants said that Prime TV was also the station that helped them to better understand the

social-political situation in the country; events that take place abroad; healthy lifestyles and education,

employment, business development and other types of opportunities. Second and third places were

shared by Jurnal TV, Moldova 1 and Pro TV Chișinău (Figure 40).

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Figure 40. Which of the TV stations you watch help you better understand? %

The respondents slightly favored the presenters on Prime TV (20.2%) and thought that this station

also had the most diversified programming (13.9%). In terms of news credibility and the quality of talk

shows, however, Jurnal TV outranked it. (Figure 41).

Figure 41. In your opinion, which TV stations correspond best to the following statements?

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When asked about their criteria for choosing a specific TV station, respondents mentioned their area

of interest (5.1%), the usefulness and quality of information presented (3.8%) and the need for

relaxation (2.4%). When asked to list their criteria for choosing a specific TV program they mentioned

the capacity of the program to attract them (15.3%); credibility and fairness (11.3%); usefulness

(7.4%); competent, professional presenters (7.3%) and topicality (5.9%) (Figure 42).

Figure 42. What criteria you apply when choosing a specific media product (news, debate programs, analytical programs, entertainment programs)? %

Over one third of respondents said that they discussed, commented on or distributed information

gleaned from TV often (5.1%) or quite often (30.6%) in contrast to those who did so seldom (29.2%),

very seldom (18.6%) or never (16.5%) (Figure 43).

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Figure 43. How often do you discuss, comment or distribute the information you learn on TV? %

Respondents who did discuss or comment on information they learned on TV only sometimes

indicated (34%), infrequently indicated (24.3%) or did not indicate (14%) the source station or

program (Figure 44).

Figure 44. When you discuss, comment or distribute the information you learn on TV, do you indicate the station and/or program where you learned the information? %

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Most participants in the survey declared they watched the news on two (37.4%), three (17.7%) or

more TV stations (13.1%) (Figure 45).

Figure 45. On one working day, how many TV stations do you access to watch the news bulletins? %

Respondents noted that always (8.3%), often (35.5%) or sometimes (45.8%) the same information

was presented differently by different TV stations (Figure 46).

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Figure 46. How often do you notice that the same information is presented differently by different TV stations? %

Conclusion

Television was the source of information Moldovans used most frequently as 7 out of 10 respondents

watched TV programs every day; the largest audience was in the evening during prime time (19:00–

22:00). The most frequently watched TV programs were newscasts, fictional films, serials,

entertainment/music programs and documentary films. Prime TV was the most frequently watched TV

station, but its news credibility was lower than that of Jurnal TV. Most Moldovans (68.2%) watched

the news on two, three or more TV stations.

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Internet

Navigating the Internet is common among both urban and rural respondents as Figure 47 shows.

Figure 47. Do you navigate the Internet? %

Furthermore, Internet users either mostly trusted or trusted to large extent the information it provides

(65.4%) while 34.3% of respondents trusted online information just somewhat or not at all (Figure 48).

Figure 48. Overall, how much do you trust the information on the Internet? %

Almost three fourths of the respondents (73%) accessed the Internet daily, and another 20%

accessed it at least once a week. The percentage of those who had accessed the global network only

once in the last 12 months was just 1.6% (Figure 49). Respondents who spent less than half an hour

or between 30 minutes and 1 hour on a work day on the Internet (59.5%) were less active on

weekends and holidays (55.1%) while those who spent 1 to 6 hours online on work days (31.6%)

were very active in their leisure time (62%) (Figure 50).

Figure 49. Except for today, when was the last time that you navigated the Internet? %

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Figure 50. How much time to you dedicate to Internet navigation on a working day? A day off and/or weekend? %

Most Internet users accessed the network on a desktop computer (67.6%) or on a mobile telephone

(66.9%) while access via advanced TV sets or satellite networks was limited to 7.2% (Figure 51).

Figure 51. In the last 7 days, which of the following devices did you use to access the Internet? %

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Though most users were connected via mobile phone, the percentage of those who accessed the

network at home (37.5%) was greater than that of those who accessed it at work or in an educational

institution (7.3%) (Figure 52).

Figure 52. Where do you access the Internet? %

Respondents used the Internet mainly for weather forecasts (79.2%); for films and music (76.7%);

and for information on social subjects (54.7%), politics (38.3%) and celebrities (41.1%) and events in

the lives of people like them (49.9%) (Figure 53).

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Figure 53. What kind of information do you search for on the Internet? %

The most commonly accessed websites indicated that respondents mostly used the Internet for

interpersonal communication on social networks (86.5%), to watch films (67.3%) or to listen to music

(66.2%) while the online portals of newspapers (15.0%), radio stations (20.1%) and TV stations

(30.4%); sports portals (30.3) and blogs (25.9%) were less popular (Figure 54).

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Figure 54. What kind of websites do you usually access? %

Point.md was the most frequently accessed news website at 19.5% followed by protv.md (13.6%) and

noi.md (12.7%) though protv.md was accessed more frequently in urban areas while noi.md was

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preferred in rural areas. The websites kp.md (9.6%), realitatea.md (8.9%), unimedia.info (8.8%),

diez.md (6.1%) and agora.md and deschide.md (4.7% each) followed. It is noteworthy that 6.8% of

respondents listed the social network Odnoklassniki as a news website.

Figure 55. What NEWS websites did you access YESTERDAY? %

The Russian social network Odnoklassniki was the most accessed site at 62.7% with Facebook in

second place at 39.1% followed by md.mail.ru at 6.8%, youtube.com at 4.7% google.com at 4.1%,

the ad site 999.md at 3.4% and instagram.md and perfecte.md (about and for women) at 2.1% each

(Figure 56).

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Figure 56. Not including news websites, what other websites did you access yesterday? %

As for frequency of access, overall the social networks were greatly preferred with the Russian

platform Odnoklassniki exceeding the American network Facebook. The most popular news portals

were point.md and protv.md (Figure 57).

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Figure 57. What websites do you access most frequently? %

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In all, 75.1% of the participants said they seldom, very seldom or never blocked the pages or

accounts of media institutions that disseminate information on social networks while 22.8% declared

that they did block them very or quite often (Figure 58).

Figure 58. How often do you block the pages or accounts of media institutions on social networks?

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Conclusion

The Internet is popular as both an information source and for entertainment. Information undoubtedly

occupies an important place, but it is exceeded by social networking, watching films and listening to

music. The level of users’ confidence in the information they get online is quite high; they are more

interested in social subjects than in politics. In addition, it should be noted that social networks are the

main online sources for accessing both information and entertainment.

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The influence of the media

A majority of respondents admitted that their opinions might be influenced by information in the media

(63.9%) but disagreed that ads determined their choices of products or services (55%). In addition,

64.1% recognized that news signed or disseminated by a famous journalist increased their trust in its

truthfulness while for 60.7% information presented by a public figure or by an artist they liked

automatically became more credible. A significant number of participants in the survey (82.4%)

considered that much of the news disseminated by the media aimed to manipulate public opinion.

This view was shared by both urban and rural residents.

In terms of media owners’ influence on the quality and truthfulness of journalistic products, 67.6% of

respondents said that if TV or radio stations offered qualitative products, it did not matter who the

owner was or how they were funded, but at the same time, 76.7% wanted the public to know who the

owner of each media institution is and their sources of funding.

In addition, 63.9% fully or partially agree that if they did know who the owners were it would be easier

for them to filter, judge and understand the information disseminated. Most respondents (86.1%)

believed that they needed to check information from several media sources if they wanted to be well

informed (Figure 59).

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Figure 59. To what extent do you agree with each of the following statements? %

The survey further revealed that the share of people fully satisfied with media performance was 8.8%

but that most respondents said they were somewhat satisfied with the information distributed (59.3%)

while one third said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied (31.9%) (Figure 60).

Figure 60. How satisfied are you with the information provided by the media in the Republic of Moldova?

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Ziarul de Gardă, Radio Moldova Actualități, Prime TV and www.point.md were considered the most

credible media sources among respondents as each scored the highest in its category (Figure 61).

Figure 61. In your opinion, what media sources are the most credible? %

Conclusion

The survey highlights both the respondents’ wishes to receive accurate and unbiased information and

also their confusion. In all, 86% said they should consult several media sources to be correctly

informed as most (82%) realized that many media institutions and their owners wanted to manipulate

them. Nevertheless, 68% did not care who owned or controlled these institutions as long as the

information and programming provided were qualitative. In contrast, 77% did want the public to know

the owners and their sources of funding, and 64% fully or partially agreed that if they did know it

would be easier for them to filter, judge and understand the information disseminated. Only 9%

completely trusted the media in Moldova while 59% were somewhat satisfied with its performance

and 32% were somewhat or very dissatisfied.