Political instability and social unrest plagued Moldova in 2002, with disenfranchised groups struggling against the country’s authoritarian president, Vladimir Voronin, and his ruling Communist Party. The country’s small and beleaguered nonstate media suffered from the feeble economy and official harassment, while state print and broadcast media endured heavy-handed censorship.

As 2002 began, the communists’ attempt to reinstate obligatory study of the Russian language prompted opposition protests in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau. Several media outlets rallied to defend the Romanian language and the cultural identity that the majority of Moldovans share with neighboring Romania. State media coverage of these protests was censored. In February, in response to severe censorship of the state broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TVM), hundreds of TVM journalists went on strike in solidarity with the anti-communist opposition. In retribution, a few journalists and staff members were dismissed or suspended from the station in March.

Months of intense opposition protests drove the Council of Europe to issue a resolution on April 24 condemning Moldova’s censorship of state media. The resolution called on Moldova to transform Teleradio-Moldova into a public entity. According to a new law that was drafted in response to the council’s resolution, a 15-person Supervisory Council, appointed by the president, Parliament, and the government, will manage the broadcaster. Although widely criticized for allowing the state to retain control over the outlet, the law took effect on August 15, ending the standoff between TVM journalists and management.

Trans-Dniester, a breakaway region in eastern Moldova, continued to make headlines. In early 2002, a newspaper there was forced to close, allegedly because its founder and chief financier, who is also the son of the region’s president, pulled out of the operation following the publication of articles that criticized the region’s authorities. At the same time, proposed amendments to the region’s Press Law threatened to make it easier to censor and harass journalists. The proposals would abandon a clause that prohibits censorship and would introduce registration and licensing procedures.

Civil conflict over Trans-Dniester erupted in 1991, when Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union and aligned itself with neighboring Romania, adopting Romania’s Latin-based alphabet and national anthem and even calling for unification with the country. Trans-Dniester’s Russian-speaking population has since achieved a large degree of autonomy, with its own money, president, and legislature. Moldova, however, still formally claims the territory as its own.

While political tension exists between Moldova and Trans-Dniester, correspondents from the Chisinau-based weekly Timpul and Adevarul Nistrean newspaper working in Trans-Dniester’s capital, Tiraspol, have taken steps to bridge the two sides of the conflict by discussing opportunities for professional cooperation.