Ro
En
Рy03 October 2017
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Non-governmental media organizations have lately seen a clearly hostile and intolerant attitude of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) to any critical opinion regarding its work. Thus, in the latest press release posted on its website, the BCC tries to intimidate the signatories of a statement regarding the decision to postpone the cession of the broadcasting license for the TV8 television station.
We consider that the BCC’s attempts to justify the decision to postpone the cession by “ensuring democratic standards and the principle of safeguarding public interest in the broadcasting field” do not resist criticism, given that:
examining or mediating disputes of an economic nature are not within the competence of the broadcasting regulator;
the interest for providing Moldovan citizens with pluralist information is superior to the economic interest of media owners or third parties.
At the same time, we firmly reject any assertions or allusions regarding the so-called “camouflaged partisan commitments of a predominantly political nature,” of which media NGOs are being accused in the BCC’s press release. We qualify these attacks as an attempt to intimidate media NGOs for their criticism of the decisions adopted at the latest meetings by the majority of the BCC members, when they applied double standards to different broadcasters.
We remind the chairman and members of the BCC that the law compels them to defend the public interest in the field of audiovisual communication, and not the economic interest of media owners or third parties. Given the right to freedom of expression, we reiterate that we will continue to take attitude whenever we consider that certain actions are likely to prejudice the development of the media on democratic principles.
Electronic Press Association APEL
Association of Independent Press
Independent Journalism Center
Journalistic Investigations Center of Moldova
Association of Independent TV Journalists of Moldova
Press Freedom Committee
“Acces-Info” Center
We consider that the BCC’s attempts to justify the decision to postpone the cession by “ensuring democratic standards and the principle of safeguarding public interest in the broadcasting field” do not resist criticism, given that:
examining or mediating disputes of an economic nature are not within the competence of the broadcasting regulator;
the interest for providing Moldovan citizens with pluralist information is superior to the economic interest of media owners or third parties.
At the same time, we firmly reject any assertions or allusions regarding the so-called “camouflaged partisan commitments of a predominantly political nature,” of which media NGOs are being accused in the BCC’s press release. We qualify these attacks as an attempt to intimidate media NGOs for their criticism of the decisions adopted at the latest meetings by the majority of the BCC members, when they applied double standards to different broadcasters.
We remind the chairman and members of the BCC that the law compels them to defend the public interest in the field of audiovisual communication, and not the economic interest of media owners or third parties. Given the right to freedom of expression, we reiterate that we will continue to take attitude whenever we consider that certain actions are likely to prejudice the development of the media on democratic principles.
Electronic Press Association APEL
Association of Independent Press
Independent Journalism Center
Journalistic Investigations Center of Moldova
Association of Independent TV Journalists of Moldova
Press Freedom Committee
“Acces-Info” Center
