The launch of these new grants expands the International Fund’s investment in Moldova to ten media organizations as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in September. In 2024, Moldova was targeted with significant disinformation campaigns by Russia-backed actors designed to disrupt presidential elections, with similar efforts now underway before the upcoming vote. 

“These new grants advance  our strategic goal of supporting access to trustworthy information across all of Moldova,” said Nino Danelia, IFPIM Senior Adviser for Eastern Europe. “Our earlier grants were made to national independent media. Through these new grantees, we are strengthening independent regional and local media at a critical moment,” she said.

In the run-up to the 2024 presidential vote, independent media organizations successfully countered disinformation campaigns and they are credited with high levels of voter engagement, particularly among young voters. The four media organizations awarded new grants today are already active in countering disinformation efforts, debunking false narratives and providing their audiences with factual information about the electoral process. 

Nokta, a prominent local media outlet in southern Moldova is known for robust investigative reporting, talk shows and video op-eds. Primarily a digital news outlet, Nokta has become one of the widest-reaching outlets among domestic Russian-speaking audiences as well as communities abroad, through its web and social media platforms. 

TVN  publishes across web and social media, and through a broadcast arm, TV Nord,  reaching audiences in northern Moldova with investigative video journalism, social media, and explainers to promote transparency and counter disinformation.

Founded in 1993, Studio-L is the oldest regional television station in south-eastern Moldova, also covering local events and issues through its website and social media channels in a region heavily targeted by Russian-manufactured false narratives. 

SP (SP Media) serves audiences in northern Moldova in both Russian and Romanian through web and social media content as well as a weekly newspaper, with a particular focus on protecting individuals’ rights by reporting on legislation and changes to regulations. 

The funding is allocated to grant recipients for the coming two years, with grant amounts ranging from USD 75,000  to 187,000. IFPIM grants are provided as core funding, giving media organizations discretion over how to invest resources to improve their financial resilience and grow or better serve their audiences. Their strategic plans for use of grant support include covering personnel costs to maintain or increase newsroom production, improved technology and software tools, and expanded audiovisual content production, among other focus areas.

About IFPIM: Launched in 2022, the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is a bold, new multilateral initiative designed to support independent public interest media in low- and middle-income settings. IFPIM is an International Organization hosted by France and supported by 19 governments and philanthropic donors. The International Fund provides grants to media organizations and ecosystem-level interventions across four focus regions: Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe.

The International Fund’s mission is to ensure that people worldwide live in healthy information ecosystems, with access to journalism that provides their societies with information of public interest. To achieve this vision, the Fund aims to dramatically increase the financial resources available to support trustworthy, ethical, fact-based journalism, and to empower a resilient and independent media ecosystem that can work for democracy.

In addition, the International Fund’s mission is to foster a paradigm shift in how public interest media is resourced, with the goal of ensuring it is independent, inclusive and resilient.

To date, IFPIM has made 94 grants valued at USD 24.2 m to media organizations in 31 countries.

Media contact:
Rosie Vanek/ [email protected]