The president of the Audiovisual Council said that since the start of the war in Ukraine, many media institutions in the Republic of Moldova have applied the ommision tactic, reflecting the events in the neighboring country only partially. Liliana Vițu-Eșanu noted that the Council imposes fines for the non-observance of the media legislation and all the punishment stages need to be covered for a TV channel to be suspended. The legislation should be amended and penalties should be made harsher for all the media outlets that misinform, IPN reports.
The president of the Audiovisual Council said that many media outlets since the start of the war have preferred to omit the events in Ukraine, broadcasting films or recreational programs instead of the old TV programs retransmitted from Russia. Later, by the decision of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, it was banned the retransmission of features, news and debate programs from Russia.
“Many TV channels use the technique of ommision as a form of manipulation of public opinion. If you do not inform the people about what is going on, it means you fail in the mission to inform the public and this is a violation of Article 13 on correct informing. In local newscasts, many TV channels had misinformed since the start of the war and were therefore fined. If we fine and warn and the same practice continues, we can no longer speak about bona fide reasons. We now can only monitor and penalize,” Liliana Vițu-Eșanu stated in the program “Secrets of the Power” on JurnalTV channel.
She noted that the legislation enables to gradually impose penalties on TV channels that misinform. Before being suspended, the media outlets are fined.
“Public warning is the first stage. The imposition of fines of 5,000 to 10,000 lei is the second stage. We impose fines before suspension and the license is ultimately revoked. There are a number of steps and the Audiovisual Council takes them and implements the law. The legislation should be amended. On the parliamentary platform, they are working on a number of amendments, including to the Code of Media Services. We consider the penalties need to be made harsher,” said Liliana Vițu-Eșanu.
In accordance with the decision of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, during the state of emergency it is banned broadcasting features and news programs from states that didn’t ratify the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. Russia didn’t ratify this convention.
