Media of Transnistria - Transnistrian Propaganda - Tiraspol Times (tiraspoltimes.com)

Tiraspol Times (tiraspoltimes.com)

• Archived link

Tiraspol Times was a short lived (2006–2008) English language news provider focused on Transnistria. It published an online newspaper, a free news feed service, and, according to its own site, a weekly colour magazine and a print newspaper in tabloid format available at "select locations" in Transnistria, but not abroad and with no subscription available. It professed to be "committed to the truth." and whose content was largely dedicated to effusive praise of the government or endorsing independence.

Online texts by the Tiraspol Times were licensed as freely distributable. Articles from it have been reprinted by UNPO and by the United Nations' Global Action on Aging, as well as various news organizations.

Tiraspol Times has been criticised as being strongly biased in favour of the Transnistrian authorities and Transnistrian independence. A report in the Economist described it as part of a concerted online campaign to promote Transnistria through expertly produced websites, saying that its background and funding were largely undisclosed.

The Radio Free Europe claims that its content was "largely dedicated to effusive praise of the government or endorsing independence"., while the Economist associates them with ICDISS, which it alleges is an astroturfing attempt. Economist also names Tiraspol Times an online magazine produced "expertly, but mysteriously, in support of the authorities".

The site published few ads and its funding sources are not known. Edward Lucas, a journalist for Economist, suggested it could have received its funding either from the government, from Vladimir Antyufeyev's State Security Committee or from one of the Transnistrian companies.

Tom de Waal, a London-based journalist and author, was outraged to see an article under his name appear on the "Tiraspol Times" website. "I've certainly never been to Pridnestrovie, Transdneister, or Moldova, and I am certainly not arguing, as is written under my name, that Pridnestrovie has a better case for independence than Kosovo," de Waal says.