The media NGOs disapprove of the secrecy and haste by which the lawmakers drafted and registered a bill to amend the Broadcasting Code and the Law on the Freedom of Expression. Civil society ascertains with concern that the new bill contains stipulations that, if they are adopted, will seriously endanger the freedom of the media and the freedom of expression, IPN reports.
In a statement, the media NGOs say the attempts to improve a law by violating another law are inadmissible. In the given case, the provisions of the Law on Transparency in Decision-Making were ignored. Civic society shares lawmakers’ concerns about the real sovereignty of the national information area and about the respect for human dignity, but, given that the right to the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media could be violated, it warns that some of the provisions leave room for interpretation and abuse and could generate interminable court trials.
“Given the very sensitive issues addressed by the bill, we ask staging sufficient public debates so as to identify solutions that would give coherence and a profoundly democratic character to the future legal provisions. The public debate process should not be shammed by formally consulting inactive, politically affiliated media NGOs or NGOs that represent political interests,” reads the statement.
The statement was signed by the Electronic Press Association, the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Journalistic Investigations Center, the Association of Independent Telejournalists, the Center “Acces-Info”, the Partnership for Development Center, the Association “Promo-LEX”, the Youth Center “Piligrim-Demo”, the International Association of River Keepers “Eco-TIRAS”, the National Youth Center of Moldova, the National NGO Council of Moldova, the Open Government Institute, and East Europe Foundation.
According to the authors, one of the main goals of the bill is to protect the national broadcasting area and to ensure the information security of Moldova. The bill strengthens the Broadcasting Coordination Council’s powers to ensure the information security of the state by preventing deviations that can endanger the national security and Moldova’s existence. It also bans external propaganda by news and political programs, increases the share of national products and of products broadcast in the official language and bans the public broadcasters from airing commercial advertisements.
