The protesters mobilized by the Platform “Dignity and Truth”, the Party of Socialists and the “Our Party” on January 22 picketed the building of the National Public Broadcaster “TeleRadio-Moldova”. In a discussion with the company’s administration, protesters’ leaders demanded that they should be offered by one hour of airtime every evening so as to make public the demands of the people who took to the streets. For his part, director of the public TV channel Moldova 1 Mircea Surdu said the issue will be examined in a meeting of the broadcaster’s Administration Board, IPN reports.
One of the leaders of the Platform “Dignity and Truth” Inga Grigoriu said it is not for the first time that she came to the National Public Broadcaster, together with other protesters, to ask for airtime to speak about the protests. “We need at least 15 minutes of airtime so that we could inform the people. We now mount common civic demonstrations because the wish derives from among the people,” she stated.
The Socialists’ leader Igor Dodon asked that the public TV channel should allot by one hour of airtime every evening, starting with today, so that protesters’ leaders could meet with representatives of the government at debates. “We want to tell the people about the developments. We want to correctly inform the people,” he stated.
Mircea Surdu replied that when the Government was voted in on January 20, the public TV channel broadcast live the events that took place in central Chisinau during eight hours, with a break of three minutes. “I do not understand why you came. We broadcast live those events during eight hours and took a break of three minutes because the cameraman was tired,” said the director of Moldova 1. He invited protesters’ leaders to take part in a special edition that was to start immediately after the discussions.
In the program, the leaders of the protesters Vasile Nastase, Igor Dodon and Renato Usatyi reiterated protesters’ demands and asked that Moldova 1 should broadcast live the next large-scale protest scheduled for January 24.
