BCC takes side of Moldova 1, NIT and N4

The Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) rejected a number of complaints submitted by the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) against TV stations Moldova 1, NIT and N4, on Friday, April 3, Info-Prim Neo reports. The AMN considers that these stations would have breeched article 47 of the Election Code, about electioneering, and point 17 from the Regulation on covering the elections adopted by the Central Election Commission (CEC), forbidding the dignitaries to make statements about their work during the electoral race. The AMN argues that Moldova 1, N4 and NIT would have aired reports in which the head of the state and other top officials appear at opening culture houses or economic entities. BCC member Valeriu Soltan has said the state dignitaries were not making any statements and did not give any interviews in the questioned reports, while Moldova 1's representative has explained president Vladimir Voronin appeared in those reports as the head of the state, not as an electoral competitor. The president is the first on the PCRM's list for the parliament. Finally, the majority of the BCC members voted to reject the AMN's complaints. In reports monitoring the TV stations from Chisinau during the race, the Electronic Press Association (APEL) finds those three stations favor the Communists Party in their newscasts and place the opposition parties in a negative context. Earlier, the BCC punished these and other TV stations for not insuring political pluralism, what made APEL expert Vasile State state for Info-Prim Neo that the BCC applied the same punishment for violations different in gravity. At the sitting, BCC member Ludmila Vasilache has asked to fine NIT for airing a distorted report about the Liberal Democrat Party (PLDM), but her proposal was voted only by herself.