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The signatories of the appeal - civil society representatives, journalists, media experts, civic activists who attended the Press Club meeting on February 19 – requested that the MPs "honor their legal obligations and commitments and put on their agenda the review and discussion of the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Broadcasting Code".
The honor guest of the meeting, Petru Macovei, the Head of the Association of Independent Press, stressed that the adoption in the second reading of the draft Law was very important, as media ownership transparency is one of the biggest problems in the media sector of our country. "The bill introduces for the first time the concept of final beneficiary, which will make it possible to learn who is behind each media outlet. However, media ownership transparency should be considered along the measures that would limit concentration of media ownership, so as to prevent broadcasters from monopolizing the media market", the expert said. Petru Macovei mentioned the example of Georgia, where there is a law that prescribes the media owners to declare not only who the owners are, but also where the invested money comes from. In his opinion, it is a very important element that would allow for finding out how it is possible that there are so many TV channels on such small an advertising market as Moldova's.
"If we have so many TV channels in such a tiny market, it is not business profit they are striving at. What are the true purposes of supporting these media outlets then? Sure it comes down to promoting certain interests, be they political or economic. We have witnessed more than once how the media promoted the interests of specific economic groups", stated the API Director.
Ion Bunduchi, the Director of APEL (The Electronic Press Association from Moldova), who also attended the meeting of the Press Club, also explained why the monopolization of the media market is dangerous. "Monopolization means returning to the Soviet experience, when there was a monopoly over the media – that of the Communist Party. It stands in stark conflict with what we call a free market of ideas. A prosperous country is the country where there is free exchange of ideas and each citizen chooses what suits him best", said Ion Bunduchi.
The media expert also stated repeatedly that "today, just as it used to be in Soviet times, TV channels have in mind the ideological impact rather than any other one, as they are supported financially by parties. Still, one must remember that 'there is nothing more boring than party media products".
On the matter of amending and supplementing draft Law 240, implying also the including of a provision compelling the TV and radio channels to provide information about beneficial owners to the Coordinating Council for Broadcasting, Angela Zaharova, owner of Elite TV Channel (Rezina Town) was wondering "why small broadcasters who can barely survive in the media market must submit such reports (on founders, investments, grants, etc.) to the Coordinating Council for Broadcasting, while large media, which collect substantial profit from advertising in a monopoly media market segment are free to disregard these requirements". According to the media manager, if at least the data requested now by the Coordinating Council for Broadcasting would be provided it would result in a clearer picture of the true owners of media institutions.
It should be specified that the draft Law 240 on Amending and Supplementing the Broadcasting Code has been in the focus of attention of journalists, civil society activists, media experts and media consumers for over two years now; they demand that the Parliament adopts the proposed amendments and supplements, complying with the deadline set by law, bearing in mind the need to align national legislation to the EU law. A similar appeal on the same matter was submitted to Parliament in September 2014.
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The article was published within the Advocacy Campaigns Aimed at Improving Transparency of Media Ownership, Access to Information and promotion of EU values and integration project, implemented by the IJC, which is, in its turn, part of the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project, implemented by FHI 360.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
