The experts affirm the Audiovisual in the Republic of Moldova is in a critical situation

The audiovisual in the Republic of Moldova is in a critical situation of stagnation and it is necessary to create a strategy for its development. This is the conclusion formulated by the participants at the international seminary “The national audiovisual: Adjusting the juridical framework to the European standards”, which started on April 25 in Chisinau. At the seminary audiovisual experts are participating, inclusively experts from the Council of Europe, MPs and representatives of the political parties, NGOs and mass media institutions. At the seminary is examined the current situation, the causes and the reasons of this situation, a big part of the discussions was based on the stipulations of the Audiovisual Code approved by the Parliament in first reading. Claus Neukurch the representative of the OSCE mission in Moldova reminded in this context about a report from 2004 of the OSCE Representative for the Freedom of Press, which states several key moments for the development of the mass-media from Moldova, inclusively the way the Council of Observers (CO) of the “Teleradio-Moldova” company, was created. Despite the fact CO includes also representatives of the civil society it does not represent all the points of view and gives the opportunity for political partisanship. The modality by which was chosen the structure of the Audiovisual Coordinating Council does not ensure its independence. OSCE welcomes the intention to create a new legislative framework for this area but waits until the reform will correspond to all standards. International expertises, at the moment do not give such a guarantee states Claus Neukurch that expressed the trust that in the Republic of Moldova exists a certain potential. Eugen Cibotaru, the representative of the Media Division of the Council of Europe said the theme of audiovisual settlement is extremely important and sensible comparing to the written press, because the broadcasting frequencies are a good that belongs to the whole society and must be distributed judicious. The audiovisual has a huge impact upon the public and it is very important it serves the society in general, not only a political or economical group. The Council of Europe paid a special attention to this subject and elaborated a series of standards and clear principles referring to the settlement and the strategies in this area. Moldova confronts with problems regarding the juridical framework and the politics from this area, declared Cibotaru, mentioning in this context that for the Council of Europe it does not matter how many parties will vote for the Code, the Council is interested only in the creation of qualitative texts. Constantin Marin, the dean of the Journalism and Communication Sciences faculty of State University from Moldova declared that the main problem of the Audiovisual in the Republic of Moldova is the lack of a development strategy. The project of the Code according to Constantin Marin does not state clearly these necessities, development principles, the way the frequencies are distributed etc. Many speakers paid a special attention to the future of the local audiovisual in the context of the Code’s project. According to them, many questions appear at the chapter that stipulates naming the CCA members, its independence, guarantees of stopping political involvement etc. The seminary will end on Wednesday, April 26 and the conclusions and the suggestions will be used for improving the project of the Audiovisual. The seminary is organized by the Association of Electronic Press from Moldova (APEL) with the support of the Council of Europe.