Privatisation of municipal electronic institutions and further unavoidable political influence will affect public interest – UJM

The Journalists’ Union of Moldova (UJM) follows the events related to the municipal broadcasting stations “Antena C” and “Euro TV Chisinau” with great concern. According to a statement of the Standing Bureau of UJM, cited by Info-Prim Neo, the most representative organisation of professional journalists from Moldova considers regrettable the fact that the new Audiovisual Code adopted by the Parliament this summer, instead of strengthening the public character of the two institutions, and has damaged the public interest that the institutions were grounded on. UJM states that the Parliament’s experience was taken over by the Audiovisual Coordinating Council which, despite the provisions of the Code, introduced the practice of issuing two months temporary licenses in the particular cases of the two institutions, and the Municipal Council decided to alien them, acting totally opposite to the interests of Chisinau’s inhabitants. “The aberrations about the liberalisation of the municipal press, which will as they say, triumph as a result of stations’ privatisation, are generating only contempt for the political parties behind this agreement. The disgraceful example of the so-called denationalisation of state-run newspapers, a totally non-transparent procedure did not change anything in their behaviour. It is obvious that this model of privatisation is also prepared in the case of “Antena C” and EURO TV”, which means cancelling the public control over them and offering them to the interested political actors”, is said in the statement. UJM warns that a possible denationalisation must be transparently carried out, on the grounds of a special law, which would comprise equal rules for everyone, including the state-owned media. At the same time, the Union shares the concerns of the two stations’ employees, and makes common cause with their protest and supports the requests included in the Statement sent to CMC. At the same time, UJM draws attention to all journalists, national and international public opinion that after the privatisation of the two stations, the citizens will lose an important segment of the public space and free debates which are on the way to disappear in Moldova. The Journalists’ Union asked the parliamentary parties, as well as the Municipal Council which can influence the destiny of the two media institutions and their staff, to display civic responsibility and respect for the public opinion, to give up the dubious agreements and to make a favourable decision, first of all, in the name of the public interest.