Moldovan journalist Viorica Tătaru targeted by smear campaign

New York, April 2, 2026—Moldovan authorities must swiftly investigate the online smear campaign against Viorica Tătaru, a journalist with independent broadcaster TV8, and ensure that journalists in Moldova can report freely and without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Following Tătaru’s coverage of a March 21 gathering in memory of Ludmila Vartic, a kindergarten teacher who died on March 3 after apparently enduring years of domestic violence, a false rumor began circulating online, claiming that Tătaru was related to Vartic’s husband’s purported mistress. “This information is untrue,” Tătaru told CPJ, adding that the post containing this claim had been shared “hundreds of times.” 

“After this false information about me was spread, a wave of insults and messages aimed at damaging my reputation began,” she said. “I received numerous aggressive and offensive messages, particularly in private messages and comments. Some of them were intended to intimidate me and put me under pressure.”

“Moldovan authorities must conduct a prompt investigation into the smear campaign targeting Moldovan journalist Viorica Tătaru, and hold those responsible to account,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Members of the press should not be harassed or threatened because of their work. Inaction in such cases only fuels a climate of impunity surrounding online attacks against the media.”

Tătaru told CPJ that she had filed a police report for slander on March 25, after the attacks had become systematic. Even though the author of the original post has since published a retraction on Facebook, the journalist continues to receive messages “containing accusations and insults.”

“Such [smear] campaigns are particularly dangerous when they are built around tragic and sensitive cases,” Tătaru said. “Manipulating such topics to discredit journalists undermines not only individual reputations but also trust in public-interest information as a whole.” 

“We emphasize that, in a democratic society, disagreement with journalistic work cannot in any way justify the use of threats, insults, slander, or other acts of harassment,” a statement signed by eight Moldovan media organizations said on March 24.  

Tătaru was detained along with camera operator Andrei Captarenco in January 2024 while covering a protest in Tiraspol, the largest city in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, and was previously threatened in connection with her work. 

In recent years, hostility toward journalists in Moldova has increased in the context of highly polarized presidential and parliamentary elections. An October 2025 CPJ fact-finding mission found that online harassment, in particular, was on the rise amid an underregulated digital environment.

CPJ emailed the general police inspectorate, Moldova’s national police, for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.