The law on information security that bans news bulletins and features produced in countries that didn’t ratify the European Convention on Transfrontier Television was promulgated by President Maia Sandu. The head of the Audiovisual Council Liliana Vițu said the law will take effect next week and propaganda will be penalized harsher. This way, the media outlets that disinform will face gradual punishment in the form of fine up to the withdrawal of the right to broadcast advertisements, IPN reports.
Currently, the news, political and military programs produced in countries that didn’t ratify the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, including Russia, are banned by the decision of the Commission for Exceptional Situations. Together with the entry into force of the law on information security, these media products will no longer be found in broadcast schedules, even after the state of emergency is lifted. Liliana Vițu said the war in Ukraine makes the authorities take harsher measures with regard to foreign propaganda.
“In the second reading, it was considered only the amendment of the Code of Audiovisual Media Services and criticism was almost inexistent here. The law was promulgated and will be probably published in the Official Gazette next Friday and will this way take effect. It is introduced the notion of disinformation that implies much harsher penalties. A series of penalties are introduced for those that do not produce local content. The Audiovisual Council is authorized to suspend the right to broadcast advertisements. In case of disinformation, the broadcast license can be suspended for a period of up to seven days. This can also happen in the electoral period that is very important and when we see abundant disinformation,” Liliana Vițu stated in the program “Résumé with Ileana Pîrgaru” on RliveTV channel.
In 2021, the government decided to transfer the public broadcaster “Teleradio-Moldova” under the subordination of Parliament. The decision was intensely criticized by the parliamentary opposition that accused the ruling party of subduing the public TV channel. The head of the Audiovisual Council said that Teleradio-Moldova obeys the media legislation and cannot be accused of political bias.
“The public TV channel is constantly monitored. For now, we haven’t seen serious violations of the Code there. We monitored the public TV channel throughout December to see how it ensures balance as there were signals that the ruling party was present too much, while the opposition was absent. We monitored and ascertained that a balance was ensured,” stated Liliana Vițu.
In accordance with the law on information security, the programs produced by the EU, the U.S. and the countries that ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television will represent 50% of the foreign content broadcast by TV channels. The parliamentary opposition described the new provisions as censorship.
