The Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) will ask to challenge in court the amendments made to the Audiovisual Law of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia. It will also repeatedly notify the State Chancellery of the relevant actions of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, BCC chairman Dinu Ciocan said in the March 3 meeting of the Council, IPN reports.
According to a press release of the BCC, earlier this week the People’s Assembly adopted in two readings amendments to the local Audiovisual Law. In this connection, the Council will request the parliamentary commission on culture, education, research, youth and mass media to organize an extraordinary meeting to discuss the situation of the regional public broadcaster. Dinu Ciocan said that besides these actions, the Supervisory Board of the Regional Public Broadcaster “Gagauziya Radio Televizionu” also decided that the local public TV channel will enter technical redundancy for a period of three months.
The BCC also expressed its concern about the possible undermining of the democratic principles of functioning of the regional public broadcaster and about the situation of the journalists and employees of “Gagauziya Radio Televizionu”. Dinu Ciocan noted that the regional public broadcaster cannot stop work as the local consumers of information must have access to the public broadcaster and be further provided with information in an equidistant, objective and truthful way.
The Council considers the bill to amend the legislation on radio and television of Gagauzia contains a series of absolutely illegal provisions and these run counter to the national broadcasting legislation.
