Media nongovernmental organizations condemn the lack of transparency and the violation of the legal procedures in the case of the amendment of the Broadcasting Code on February 26, describing these actions as an attempt to simulate reforms and to protect the private interests of some of the media outlet owners. In this connection, civil society calls on President Nicolae Timofti not to promulgate the law to amend the Broadcasting Code, IPN reports.
In a statement addressed to the head of state, civil society says that the bill to amend and supplement the Broadcasting Code was passed in two readings on Februaries 26, only nine days after it was registered as a legislative initiative by a group of Socialist MPs. The NGOs draw attention to the fact that the bill wasn’t accompanied by the Government’s appraisal, while the representatives of civil society that form part of the consultative group under the competent parliamentary commission weren’t informed about the examination of this bill within the commission. At practical level, the amendments will create conditions for continuing the monopolization of the media market.
The media NGOs are for diminishing media concentrations and during the last few years made different approaches in this respect. But the haste in which the bill was adopted, the lack of transparency in the examination process and the ambiguous provisions contained in the bill intensify the feeling of distrust in the sincerity of the government’s intention to limit media concentration.
Among the signatories of the statement are the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Electronic Press Association APEL, the Journalistic Investigations Center and the Center “Acces-Info”.
