The Independent Journalism Center, the Media Guard Association, the Electronic Press Association, the Journalistic Investigations Center and RISE Moldova call on the authorities to make public all the facts and circumstances based on which the Commission for Exceptional Situations decided to impose restrictions on particular media service providers so as to eliminate mistaken and tendentious interpretations and to shed light on the issue. The media NGOs made such a request through a joint public declaration, IPN reports.
According to the declaration, the suspension of the license as a restrictive measure taken by the CES can be accepted if there are serious, convincing, justified and appropriately substantiated reasons. At the moment, the assessment of the proportionality of interference and legitimacy of the pursued goal is impossible due to the absence of explicit, clear and detailed information that would confirm the control exerted over the six TV channels by a person who was put on the international sanctions list. Also, the CES decision does not provide exact information about the sanctions imposed earlier by the Audiovisual Council on each of the involved media service providers.
The signatory NGOs underline the necessity of taking urgent measures to ensure information security in the Republic of Moldova, which is exposed to real dangers generated by the subversive actions of an aggressor state and of private individuals and organizations. The restrictive measures should be based on convincing arguments, clear evidences and should be implemented in a way that would exclude doubts about the legality and proportionality of interference.
The media NGOs reiterated that transparency in the field of mass media is enshrined in the law as a principle and the public has the legitimate right to know information about the owners-beneficiaries of the media service providers that are within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova.
On December 16, 2022, the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES) suspended the broadcast licenses of Primul în Moldova, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, and Orhei TV. It took such a decision after the Audiovisual Council found a lack of correct information in the coverage of national events, but also of the war in Ukraine. The Commission also said that these TV channels are controlled by private individuals and/or legal entities that were subject to international sanctions.
