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Corina Fusu, Liberal MP, argued that the bill drafted by her party provided effective instruments for countering foreign propaganda, which could impact the election results and influence the choice of the people regarding the option of getting closer to the European Union. The authors of the bill have proposed that local media broadcast only locally produced news and analytical programs, of which 80% - in Romanian. The bill also allows for broadcasting informative, political and analytical programs produced by the media of EU member states, the US and the states that have ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. "Security of the national information space is a priority for Moldova", said Mrs. Fusu.
Government has recently reviewed the bill.
The second bill discussed by the Committee on Media on Tuesday has not been reviewed by Government and the Competition Council, as requested earlier during the public discussions of the bill. Sergiu Sarbu, Democrat MP, who is one of the authors of the bill, assured the audience that the review would be finalized by the end of the day.
It should be reminded that the bill prepared jointly by the Liberal Democrats and Democrats has raised most concerns among the civil society and broadcasters. According to the bill, local media products should be broadcast at least 8 hours a day, during 6 AM and midnight, so that six hours of locally produced materials are broadcast during prime time. The authors of the bill argue that their proposals aim at protecting the country's information space and develop the local audiovisual media market.
Ion Ceban, Socialist MP, member of the Parliamentary Committee on Media, is of the opinion that the bill favors the media trust that includes Publika TV, Prime TV, Channel 2 and Channel 3 over other TV broadcasters that mostly broadcast programs produced abroad.
Corneliu Mihalache, Communist MP, stated that his faction refrained from developing an official opinion, but he personally supported the amendments regarding the local production of audiovisual programs.
Both bills were voted by the majority of the members of the Committee. They were submitted for consideration in the first reading at a plenary meeting of Parliament. MPs also said that all amendments and corrections regarding the bills would be discussed in more depth in the second reading.
