New York–based Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to restore Antena C to the air immediately

The New-York Based independent, non-profit organisation Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Moldovan authorities to restore Anten C to the air immediately. The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the suspension of the popular Chisinau-based public radio station Antena C. The station, which frequently aired reports critical of the government, has been off the air for more than a month, and local sources said they fear it is part of an official clampdown on news ahead of May elections, says CPJ, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. CPJ reports that broadcasting was interrupted at 3 p.m. on December 16, while the station was airing a report that criticised a new government plan to privatise Antena C and the television station Euro TV, local sources told CPJ. Antena C journalists had also recently protested the authorities’ decision to change the station’s management; Veceaslav Sitnic, former chief editor for the government radio station Radio Moldova, had been named the new director. Police arrived at the station at 2 a.m. the next day, claiming they had received a bomb threat targeting the premises, Antena C correspondent Lucia Culev told CPJ. Police searched the building and forced employees to leave, Culev said. CPJ says that Victor Badulescu, general director of the state regulator Radiocomunicatii, initially blamed the interruption on a technical malfunction, according to press reports. By January 10, with the station still off the air, Badulescu cited a new reason. He told Antena C staffers that a new contract between Radiocomunicatii and the station must be signed and approved by the Ministry of Information before the station could return to the air, Antena C said in a statement. CPJ states that authorities have not commented publicly on the suspension of Antena C’s broadcasts, and they did not return messages left by CPJ seeking comment. “Antena C is an important source of objective news for Moldovans, especially now as the election approaches,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The government’s vague and shifting explanations make it hard to see this as anything but a politically motivated effort to shut down an objective news source. We call on authorities to restore Antena C to the air immediately.” “While most stations are under government control, Antena C was covering all events in the country and they were not afraid to criticise the government or the municipality”, CPJ says, Info-Prim Neo reports.