Experts ascertain irregularities in Teleradio-Gagauzia’ transformation into public broadcaster

The transformation of the state-owned company Teleradio-Gagauzia (TRG) into regional public broadcaster is carried out with deviations from the Broadcasting Code of the Republic of Moldova and from the legislation of the autonomous territorial unit, says a monitoring report on the implementation of the new broadcasting legislation drawn up by a number of mass media and human rights NGOs under the aegis of the Electronic Press Association APEL. In a press release, the NGOs say that after Gagauzia adopted the law on radio and television, which took effect on 27 July 2007 and which envisages the existence of the regional public broadcaster TRG in compliance with the Broadcasting Code, the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia on 20 July 2007 took a decision regarding the implementation of the law on radio and television, providing for the start of the process of liquidating the state-owned company Teleradio-Gagauzia. But, under the Broadcasting Code, the local public authorities that founded broadcasting institutions must issue decisions for reorganizing them; the liquidation procedure is stipulated neither in the Broadcasting Code nor in Gagauzia’s law on radio and television. By adopting the decision to liquidate the company instead of reorganizing it, the authorities in Comrat went against the Broadcasting Code, leaving room for abuses and non-employment of the journalists that are critical of the government, the press release says. The NGOs are also concerned about the fact that the process of liquidating TRG and of creating a regional public broadcaster is carried out in non-transparent conditions and not in cooperation with the civil society. Therefore, this brings into question the objectivity of the criteria of selecting candidates for the Supervisory Board of the public company and of designating the company’s administration. It also creates incertitude among the staff members as regards the observance of the right to practice the profession. The authors say that the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) as representative and guarantor of the public interest in broadcasting, authority responsible for the implementation and observance of the law, did not adequately react to the deviations from the legislation identified in the process of reorganizing the company and did not take measures to protect the public interest and the rights of the people working in the area. Under the Broadcasting Code, the BCC was to formulate recommendations over the ways of legalizing the state-run company Teleradio-Gagauzia so as not to admit its liquidation. The transformation through liquidation of the state-owned company Teleradio-Moldova in 2004, which ended in layoffs according to political criteria, serves as a relevant negative example. The mass media and human rights NGOs monitor the implementation of the Broadcasting Code that came into force on 18 August 2006, under the aegis of APEL. The project implementation team is composed of experts and consultants of the Association of Independent Journalists, the Independent Press Association, the Association of Independent TV journalists, Acces-Info Centre, the Independent Journalism Centre, the Committee for the Freedom of the Press, the Committee for the Defence of Human and Professional Rights, the Federation of Radio and Television Journalists, the Lawyers for Human Rights, the Union of Journalists of Moldova.