A group of journalists from several media outlets from across the country recently participated in a training session organised by the Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM), aimed at explaining topics related to justice reform and human rights. The workshop was a follow-up to a similar training held in May 2024, and provided a new opportunity to discuss and bring clarity on the theoretical and practical aspects of the rule of law.

The training agenda included presentations and case studies, in order to provide journalists with essential information about developments in the field of justice reform and the fight against corruption, the process of Moldova’s accession to the European Union, as well as the work of the European Court of Human Rights and the Equality Council.

Open discussions and concrete examples of how legal jargon might be explained to the wider public were part of the training’s practical component. Thus, media representatives were guided to navigate on specialised platforms, with some legal processes being explained to them, in order to develop their skills in transforming legal information into attractive media content.

The LRCM lawyers and journalists present at the training session also addressed the phenomenon known internationally as SLAPP, whereby politicians or other influential persons initiate lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists and media outlets. Previously, the LRCM published an analytical paper (English summary available here), in which it noted the extent of this phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova and analysed how uniform is the judicial practice with regard to cases brought against journalists.

At the end of the training, the LRCM team reminded the participants about the opportunity to ask for assistance in documenting more complex topics related to justice reform, rule of law or human rights. The envisaged assistance aims to help interested journalists to write clearly and concisely about the topics they select, so that they are familiar with legalese and can provide straightforward explanations of more complex information.