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The BCC Rejects Maia Sandu’s Accusations

07 September 2017
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În Moldova
Dragos Vicol, the president of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC), believes that the accusations of Maia Sandu, president of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), against his institution have a “tendentious politicking undertone” and that they attempt at its “apolitical status.”

At the beginning of August, PAS addressed the BCC in connection with a material that appeared on Publika TV station on July 27, which contained altered images from a press conference of PAS. In its reply, the BCC reminded the PAS president about her right to reply and informed her that the BCC requested the TV station to present its position about the program in question.
On her personal Facebook page, Maia Sandu wrote: “A cynical and hypocritical document that clearly shows that the institution responsible for compliance with the Broadcasting Code, paid from citizens’ money, doesn’t know the law and doesn’t abide by it. According to the law (paragraph (2) of article 39), the BCC must be the guarantor and representative of public interest, but in reality it is the guarantor and representative of Publika’s interest.”

Media Azi contacted Dragos Vicol, asking him to comment on these accusations.
“I find that ungrounded accusations against the BCC have intensified lately and that they bear a blatantly concerted character with a politicking tone. I reiterate that by definition the BCC is an apolitical collegial institution and it is solely guided by the Broadcasting Code when it analyzes concrete situations and facts reported by the citizens or institutions that address us,” the BCC president told us.
“The BCC’s response to appeal no. 50/1 of August 08, 2017, is articulated in strict accordance with the Broadcasting Code. At the same time, we consider Miss Maia Sandu’s invectives have a tendentious politicking undertone and are formulated in a vehemently gregarious spirit, totally ignorant of democratic norms and attempting to the inalienable apolitical status of the institution I represent,” added Dragos Vicol.

After airing the material with altered images of PAS, Publika TV came up with explanations. According to the station, the host of the show, Cristian Tabara, apologized at the end of the broadcast, claiming he was “misled” by a satire website. “We seem to have been fooled, trapped, and I have to admit that it happened. The photo we showed turned out to be a fake. We were fooled, so I withdraw my claims about her, and it seems that the reference I made to jurnal.md was in fact a link to a satire and humor site and it tricked me,” journalist Cristian Tabara explained.