Teleradio's Board secretary admits 'modest' performance

The Supervisory Board (SB) of Teleradio-Moldova Company has registered progress in appointing its members in 2007, says SB secretary Anatol Dubrovschi, but admits that, at the same time, the progress has been modest. Dubrovschi made this statement on Thursday at a seminar organized by the Electronic Press Association APEL, with Council of Europe support. The goal of the event was to get relevant actors debate on how the SB can better safeguard the interests of information consumers and ensure that the public broadcaster observes them as well. Anatol Dubrovschi expressed his hope that the suggestions formulated at the seminar would be considered by the SB and Teleradio-Moldova administration, “which cooperates in order to strengthen our editorial policy”. “The contribution of the SB in defending the interests of the public is quite unnoticed”, says professor Victor Moraru, a university lecturer. “It is difficult to gauge the efficiency of the Supervisory Board and I regret that it has too few professionals” professor Moraru added. The seminar is said to be a feedback of the Moldovan civil society to the intention of the Council of Europe and the European Union to help Moldova redress its state of affairs in the media sector. David Fawcett, public policy adviser for BBC, was invited to present the model followed by the public broadcasting service in UK. He said that the British law regulates clearly the mechanism of protecting the independence of BBC's Board of Governors from the influence of the ruling party. Moreover, even if its members are appointed by the government and can be politically affiliated, they give up any affiliation once they are called to represent the interest of the public. Speaking to Info-Prim Neo's correspondent, APEL chairman Alexandru Dorogan said the reason for holding this seminar was to bring a contribution to stepping up reform at the public broadcaster. He attributed the special attention this broadcaster receives to the fact that it runs on taxpayers' money and “it concerns us all whether it does a good or a poor job”. The precarious condition of the press as well as the lack of independence in the judiciary and the way corruption is handled are subjects of constant criticism leveled against the Moldovan authorities by their Western partners.