In July Moldova holds parliamentary elections. Political parties have begun to promote their image, contacting newsrooms and advertising agencies. ZdG refuses ads from politicians with criminal problems and will block Google ads with electoral content. We challenge Moldovan newsrooms to avoid polishing artificially the image of politicians with open criminal cases, even if their money is extremely necessary for the functioning of the media.

Advertising regulations of ZdG on pre-election and electoral advertising placed on ZdG platforms 

(print editions in Romanian and Russian languages, webpages, social media pages, video, and news channels)

Ziarul de Garda is a media institution dedicated to journalistic investigations, the fight against corruption, and advocacy for human rights. As a free information provider, ZdG constantly needs financial support for the realization of journalistic projects, however, the newsroom cannot accept obscure and suspicious sources of financing.

ZdG has the highest circulation among Romanian-language newspapers, and the online portal www.zdg.md is in the top ten most popular journalistic projects, with the Facebook page found among the most popular in the media space of Moldova.

During the pre-election and the election campaign, ZdG will continue to monitor political parties, their leaders, and the electoral candidates, especially in terms of integrity and transparency. Our reporters will be publishing investigations, analysis materials, reports, and news regarding the Moldovan politicians and their incomes, party financial reports. We will include documents and evidence that would address possible integrity or involvement issues in corruption cases. Our goal in this campaign is to inform voters about the electoral spectrum, to avoid as few unlawful politicians as possible reaching the Parliament.

For a good functioning of the editorial office, ZdG will accept electoral advertising from any political actor, which meets the following conditions:

ELECTION CAMPAIGN PERIOD

• Political party administrators do not have convictions or criminal cases (ZdG assumes to check the backgrounds of the president and the executive committee)
• the electoral contestant does not have on their electoral list representatives with law violation problems (the verifications will be made as far as possible, but a contract already concluded will be terminated when establishing the contrary evidence)
• the electoral contestant publishes financial sources and expenses for delivering advertising with a decent, ethical content.

The editorial staff of Ziarul de Garda accepts Google ads on www.zdg.md. To mention that in the pre-election and election period, politicians procure advertising from Google directly, or through intermediary companies, without making public reports on the financial sources paid to the giant Google. In order to avoid the appearance on ZdG of electoral advertisements paid for with corrupt money, ZdG will block, during the campaign, Google ads with electoral content. 

ZdG will accept advertising in the pre-election and election period from all electoral contestants who meet the conditions set out above, on our platforms.

This regulation will be sent to all electoral contestants together with ZdG’s advertising offer. If no party responds to ZdG’s offer, we will announce it and continue to look for other means of financial support. 

If you are not a political party or a politician, you can support ZdG’s investigative journalism through donations on Patreon. You can also subscribe to our newsletter for weekly review.