Audience urge CCA to settle the conflict concerning “Antena C” and “Euro TV”

A group of 27 listeners and viewers of “Antena C” radio station and “Euro TV Chisinau” channel urge the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (CCA) to protect their rights that were violated by the Chisinau Municipal Council’s decision on liquidating the stations by selling them out. The statement, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, says that the CMC decisions were “adopted obsequiously and illegally at the recommendation of CCA”. According to the source, the two stations are popular among the listeners and viewers in the municipality and across country. The stations were created with the resources of the municipal budget, and besides the important information they were airing, they were also informing about the way the public funds are administrated. Starting December 16, 2006, the air transmission of “Antena C” was disrupted and “Euro TV Chisinau” is not presenting anymore social, economic, and political news concerning Chisinau. The signers of the statement consider this fact a violation of their constitutional rights, committed on purpose in late 2006, when the public municipal authorities had to present a report about the activity in 2006 and approve the budget for the next year. It was on purpose, because the authorities are not too enthusiastic about showing the way the public funds are spent, so that the civil society would not interfere in their “plans” coordinated with the “government”. According to the signers, such a strategy will have serious consequences and will be sanctioned by the civil society. In this case, the capital city of Moldova could be left not only without a mayor, but also without a municipal council as a result of the local elections that will take place this spring, the signers consider. By means of the statement, the petitioners request authorities to settle this conflict amiably, so that these stations could be again present in Chisinau residents’ homes. In case this request will be refused, the representatives of the radio listeners and TV viewers reserve themselves the right to seek justice in court, and meanwhile they will support the two stations through protests.