Teleradio-Moldova threatens national broadcasting regulator with legal action

The Broadcasting Coordination Council’s decision to reject the specifications for 2010 of the national public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) is illegal, represents abuse of power and will be appealed to court, the TRM president Valentin Todercan said at the meeting of the company’s Supervisory Board held late last week, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valentin Todercan accused the BCC president Gheorghe Gorincioi of violating the legislation and of joining the political harassment against the TRM. In a statement made public later, the administration of Teleradio-Moldova demands that Gheorghe Gorincioi be dismissed and that the competent bodies investigate the violations of the Broadcasting Code committed by the BCC. “We intend to sue the BCC for this rejection and for abuse of power. We will check the specifications once again and see what we can do. But they did not act in accordance with the law. This document was formulated in compliance with the Broadcasting Code. The rejection of the specifications is a politically motivated decision. It is not within Gorincioi’s competence to discuss the expenditure of a state-run company. He does not know what’s happening at the TRM as he has never been there. He only wants doors of hundreds of euros to be brought to him,” Valentin Todercan said. Tudor Tataru, a member of the Supervisory Board, said that they must discuss the problems in concert with representatives of the BCC and reach a compromise. The president of the Supervisory Board Mariana Slapac said that the specifications should be improved so that they do not arouse controversy. According to her, the BCC will submit an official document with their objections to Teleradio-Moldova so that the company makes the necessary changes and presents new specifications within 10 days. On September 17, the BCC described the specifications for 2010 of Teleradio-Moldova as baseless and rejected them, saying that they should contain new projects and ideas and that the budget should be reduced given the economic crisis in Moldova. According to national and international monitors, the national public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova has been biased in favor of the central authorities and the Communist party, including during the latest electoral campaigns.