Publika TV channel was fined 10,000 lei by the Broadcasting Coordination Council following a complaint submitted by the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention to the Press Council over the provision of information that can help reveal the identity of particular child victims in a program, IPN reports.
According to the Press Council, in the program there was presented the situation of three children victims of violence, one of whom was alleged the victim of sexual abuse. There were given the real names of the parents, the real surnames of the children, the place of residence of the children, including of the girl who was allegedly sexually abused. These data can help to easy identify the victims and these could be later labeled or stigmatized.
The Press Council ascertained the violation of the deontological provisions concerning the protection of children and victims of abuses, recommending the TV channels to reedit the text and modify the video content of the program or to remove the given edition of the program from the website if this is not possible from technical viewpoint.
Given the gravity of the violation and the lack of a response from the TV channel to the relevant notification, the Press Council informed the Broadcasting Coordination Council about this case. After examining the program, the Council fined the channel 10,000 lei.
