BCC gives warnings to six TV channels

Six television channels – Moldova 1, NIT, Pro TV, EU TV, TV7 and N4 – were warned by the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) over non-observance of the pluralism of opinion in newscasts. During their news bulletins, they will have to broadcast the Council’s warning that contains a message about the conditions of observing the pluralism of opinion and of providing airtime and objective information, Info-Prim Neo reports. The warnings were issued after the BCC compiled a report on the monitoring of the mentioned TV channels carried out since the start of the electoral campaign. Dinu Ciocan, head of the BCC’s Monitoring Division, said that the number of electoral news items has increased compared with the previous campaign. But a large part of the news stories did not contain the second or third source. “We noticed that our broadcasters favor some of the election runners, though the electoral legislation bans this,” said the BCC president Gheorghe Gorincioi. He reiterated the necessity of organizing a roundtable meeting with the broadcasters and reminding them of their obligations, not only during the electoral campaign. “What is the import of this monitoring if only certain statistical data were approved? At the BCC’s meting it was implied that the Council has turned into a state body,” expert-jurist in mass media Eugeniu Rabca said after the meeting. “I think we do not need this company that is financed with millions of lei from the state budget, but does not fulfill its obligations.”