BCC considers it did well in electoral year 2009

“I hope 2010 will not be worse than 2009,” Gheorghe Gorincioi, the chairman of the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC), said during the presentation of a report on the Council's work in 2009. He stressed that last year was difficult owing to the elections, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The ordinary and early legislative elections held in 2009 affected the work of the Broadcasting Coordination Council, which struggled to deal with the influence exercised on it by electoral opponents and broadcasters,” Gheorghe Gorincioi said. “The Monitoring Division had a hard year, but it coped with the difficulties and fulfilled its duties.” Gorincioi also said that in 2010 the given division will lay greater emphasis on monitoring the work of the broadcasters. New equipment will be installed at the Monitoring Centre this year. It will enable to monitor non-stop 15 television channels and 20 radio stations. A sum of 2.3 million was allocated from the broadcasting support fund for purchasing this equipment. “Unfortunately, in 2009 the Legal Division did not do so well. The BCC lost a number of legal cases. Certainly, many of these cases were influenced politically and economically,” Gorincioi said. According to the BCC member Carmelia Albu, the fact that the Council loses so many cases is suspicious. “It seems as if there is no interest. We must work on this and find a solution,” she said. In 2010, the Council will concentrate its efforts on the implementation of the Broadcasting Code's stipulations concerning pluralism. “Regretfully, not all the radio and television stations ensure pluralism in their programs. They are biased towards certain political forces, leaders and personalities,” Gheorghe Gorincioi said. The BCC's report will be submitted to the Parliament by February 1.