The Audiovisual Council has sanctioned 16 television stations for irregularities in the coverage of the parliamentary elections on September 28. As a result of examining the fourth monitoring report, nine stations were fined a total of 69 thousand lei, while seven others received a public warning, IPN reports.
The violations targeted in the report refer to deviations from the editorial policy approved by the CA, the lack of classification of electoral materials in the special section, incorrect highlighting of information broadcasts or inadequate reflection of opinion polls. Also, according to the report, electoral advertising materials contrary to the law were broadcasted, and situations of discrimination in the broadcasted content were identified.
The largest fines were imposed on TVC21, fined with 15 thousand lei, and Jurnal TV – with 12 thousand lei. Other financially penalized channels are TV-Găgăuzia, Next TV, One TV, Canal Regional, Exclusiv-TV, Star TV, and Agro TV Moldova. Public warnings were given to Moldova 1, TVR Moldova, TV8, R Live TV, Cinema 1, Pro TV Chișinău, and Vocea Basarabiei.
The CA report covers the period from September 19th to 26th, the last week of the election campaign. During this interval, 22 television stations were monitored, with over 770 election-related materials being analyzed. According to the presented data, almost half of the topics broadcasted in the news bulletins had an electoral character, and some debates, spots or news were broadcasted with deviations from the legal norms.
