The head of the Audiovisual Council Liliana Vițu said the decision to suspend the broadcast licenses of the six TV channels is based on multiple violations of the audiovisual legislation identified by members of the Audiovisual Council during the monitoring. For their part, representatives of civil society consider the decision as justified, by late as Ukraine banned Russian propaganda when the war broke out, IPN reports.
The Council’s head said the Security and Intelligence Service raised the given issue at the meeting of the Commission for Exceptional Situations. The balance was inclined in favor of the decision to suspend the broadcast licenses by the Audiovisual Council’s monitoring reports.
“We produced monitoring reports in October and also in November. They all showed that these channels violated the law, Article 13, which is they didn’t ensure correct informing. The legal ownership regime was also violated as the owners were replaced without the consent of the AC, in breach of the legislation. As to the question why the CES not the Audiovisual Council took such a decision, I can say that it was a combination of elements and the violation of the audiovisual legislation is one of these elements. The presence on the international sanctions list is another element that appeared later. The issue in the meeting of the CES was raised by the Security and Intelligence Service. I referred only to the findings of the monitoring reports,” Liliana Vițu stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
Petru Macovei, executive director of the Association of Independent Press, welcomed the CES’s decision, saying the securing of the information space is essential in the context of the war in Ukraine. On Tuesday, a number of media NGOs issued a declaration by which they called on the authorities to make public all the facts and circumstances based on which the Commission for Exceptional Situations decided to impose restrictions on particular media service providers.
“The decision is justified but late. What would have happened if Ukraine hadn’t banned the Russian propaganda channels? Yes, the news and feature programs were banned in our country, but propaganda penetrates through other ways, including soap operas and recreational programs. I’m surprised to see that some of the colleagues from civil society do not take into account the context in which this decision was taken. There is a war that affects directly the Republic of Moldova. Our country has been the target of pro-Kremlin propaganda not from today,” stated Petru Macovei.
On December 16, the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES) suspended the broadcast licenses of Primul în Moldova, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, and Orhei TV. It took such a decision after the Audiovisual Council found a lack of correct information in the coverage of national events, but also of the war in Ukraine. The Commission also said that these TV channels are controlled by private individuals and/or legal entities that were subject to international sanctions.
