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BCC Is to Express its Position on Publika TV Show about Supposed Death Threats of the Employees of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Germany

09 November 2018
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MP Inna Supac (PCRM faction) requested the hearing of Dragos Vicol, Chair of the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) at the Parliament’s meeting, regarding the case when on 7 September this year Publika TV broadcast a material she considers as being fake news. The show spoke about supposed death threat of employees of the Embassy and Consulate of the Republic of Moldova in Berlin, in the context of the expulsion of Turkish teachers from the Republic of Moldova.

Supac has previously sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) on what happened at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Berlin on 7 September. Minister Tudor Ulianovschi answered her that in that day protests took place, but according to the information provided by Ambassador Oleg Serebrian none of the staff of the mission and members of their families did receive individual threats. ‘Oleg Serebrian, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Federal Republic of Germany, unilaterally decided to temporary suspend the activity of the diplomatic mission during the protests of that day’, Minister’s letter said.
In connection to this, Inna Supac wanted to find out from the BCC Chair what measures were taken against Publika TV and its owner Vlad Plahotniuc for broadcasting a false news.

On 8 November, Dragos Vicol declared during the Parliament’s meeting that he personally did not identify any false elements in the mentioned TV show and criticised the MP for not contacting the BCC first to see if the authority considers that this TV show has broadcast false information or not.
In her turn, Inna Supac added that according to her this coverage did not comply with the principles set in the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters.

Dragos Vicol said that on 5 November he requested Publika TV’s position in relation to the facts reported by MP Inna Supac and that he would subsequently present her BCC’s position too.
As regards the request to sanction the owner of Publika TV, Vlad Plahotniuc, the BCC Chair said that the authority did not have such prerogatives.

Publika TV has yet to come with a formal response to this end.