Republic of Moldova

Journalists trained to inform people through statistics’ lens

Vadul lui Voda , May 21-22, 2011 -Almost 20 Moldovan journalists were trained during the workshop in the framework of the joint UN programme “Strengthening the national statistical system”. The workshop aimed to strengthen the capacities of the journalists from the print and electronic (TV, radio and on-line) media to explore, interpret and use the statistical data in their daily activity.

“The National Bureau of Statistics is eager to enhance the dialogue and collaboration with the media”, said Ala Paslariuc, Head of information dissemination and public relation unit of NBS.

The journalists have been trained by the professionals from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Radu Soviani, economic journalist with “The Money Channel TV”, Romania. A large spectrum of topics has been covered within the workshop, including the principles of statistics functioning, importance, relevance and content of the statistical data, interpretation of figures and surveys’ results by journalists, in a ‘humanized’ language, for better understanding by the public.
“For us, journalists, statistics is a science thought-out by the mathematicians so that data users can get answers from the figures”, stated Radu Soviani – the expert. “It is a basic tool for the journalists”, he added.

“I am happy to acknowledge that by the end of this training I got more tools for my daily activity and have a better understanding I have a better understanding of the economic and social phenomena through a better knowledge of statistics”, Elena Gudumac, journalist with TV Moldova 1, said. Alexei Batranu, journalist at Prime TV, said that “the acquired knowledge on the NBS’s databank, its functioning and the modality of searching certain data was probably the most valuable for each of the participants at the workshop. In practice we can select and extract data on our own, at any time and for free. It is an inexhaustible source of news”.

Regarding data communication to the public, the participants acknowledged that any national statistical office should always present “dry” data in an impartial and objective manner, while the interpretation and analysis of data should be exclusively undertaken by the data users, and not those who centralize these data.

The workshop has been carried out in Vadul lui Voda and is the first event of such type for journalists, organized at the initiative of the National Bureau of Statistics. It was basically focused on the practical aspect of training, combining knowledge from statistical and journalistic areas.
The event represents an activity developed in the framework of the Joint UN Project, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics and with the financial support of UNDP.

For Contact: Aurelia Spătaru, Project Manager, “Strengthening the National Statistical System”, tel: (373 22) 40.31.42, fax: (373 22) 21.08.68; E-mail: aurelia.spataru@undp.org.

More details on the “Strengthening the national statistical system” ...