Teleradio-Moldova’s supervisors talk pluralism on public televisions from Moldova and abroad

The president of the public company Teleradio-Moldova, Valentin Todercan, presented at Friday’s sitting of the Observers Council (OC) on June 19, a report compiled by internal monitors about the company’s conduct during the run-up ending in the April 5 elections. The document concludes that political actors had the following presence expressed in percentage points, in Moldova 1’s newscasts and electoral debates: the Communists Party, including president V. Voronin – 14.1%, government – 2.5%, and the opposition – 83.3%. On Radio Moldova: the Communists Party, including president V. Voronin – 6.5%, government – 5.2%, the opposition – 88.3%. According to the same communique, “Valentin Todercan was indignant that many media programs and news agencies, among them: Info-Prim Neo, cover especially the reports compiled by external monitoring services and ignore the data of the internal monitors of the company.” At the sitting, the Observers Council (OC) chairwoman, Mariana Slapac, presented an info note about the world experience in insuring political pluralism in the programs of public broadcasters. In debates, the OC members found “the imperfect character of the present regulations of this principle both in and out of the run-up races in Moldova.” Tudor Tataru, a OC member, can become Teleradio-Moldova’s second supervisor to moderate programs on the national television. His other four colleagues backed his idea to produce entertainment programs on Moldova 1. The communique about the OC’s sitting announces that “the OC members recommended the author to continue seeking extra-budget means to launch such a project.” Another OC member, Anatol Dubrovschi, has been moderating a program on historical issues for several years. According to a monitoring report compiled by APEL, an NGO dealing with media issues, in May, “Moldova 1 went on covering political actors by derogating from the legal norms. Moldova 1 displays an obvious support for the ruling party, the PCRM, and for the representatives of this political party. At the same time, it put in a negative context and disfavored the opposition parties from the parliament.” In a case study on how the OC respected the law during the previous electoral race, APEL finds that “the OC has neglected its role of a representative of the public interest and through its actions it displayed itself as an advocate of the Company.” On May 7, the European parliament adopted a resolution on the situation in Moldova, in which it condemned, among others, “broadcasting propaganda messages and blocking the opposition’s access to public media.”