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An Elusive Vote of BCC Chair Could Have Deprived BAS TV from Financial Support

20 November 2018
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During its meeting held on 19 November, the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) approved the funding from the Broadcasting Support Fund for 11 media outlets. As many as 14 broadcasters, including BAS TV, participated in the contest.

Initially, this television broadcaster was not chosen as a winner. However, following the review of video recordings, it was included in the list the next day.  Petru Macovei, the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Press (API), is the one who reported this case. ‘A project of BAS TV from Basarabeasca is put to vote (MDL 94,200); – minute 1:57:10 BCC Chair raises his hand, but when he sees that four other members also vote for (Cristina Duca, Dorina Curnic, Tatiana Buraga and Olga Gututui)... he quickly puts it down; – minute 1:57:12-:13 BCC Chair repeats three times that there are four votes for this project (which means that the project didn’t pass); – minute 1:57:14 BCC Chair again raises his hand (?)’, Macovei wrote on Facebook.

Later, the BCC reviewed the video recordings of its meeting and found that the Council’s members indeed offered five votes, hence, this audiovisual project was declared one of the contest winners. During the meeting, when Council’s members voted for the BAS TV project, BCC Chair Dragos Vicol initially raised his hand, elusively, and then put it down, although he said verbally that only four members voted for this project (an insufficient number to approve the project).

Ludmila Topal, Director of Canal Regional (BAS TV Editor-in-chief), mentioned for Media-azi.md that she was initially informed that the project was not approved and only the next day she was told the opposite. According to the journalist, if Petru Macovei did not report this problem, the regulator would probably not have reviewed its vote.
Ludmila Topal criticised the voting procedure during the BCC meeting for the failure to explain why a media project was supported or not.

 She also claims that this year, fewer local broadcasters received financial support because they were not admitted to the contest due to their failure to submit certain annexes.
Note that Flor TV (for the project of ‘Familie sănătoasă, societate sănătoasă’ [Healthy Family, Healthy Society] TV show) and ITV (for the project of ‘Moldova frumoasă’ [Beautiful Moldova] TV show), which received MDL 300,000 each; Gurinel TV (for the project of ‘Sunt părinte și îmi pasă’ [I’m a parent and I care] TV show) – MDL 250,000 are among the 11 media outlets that benefited from funding from the BCC Fund. The broadcasters Busuioc TV (for the project of ‘Cunoaște Moldova’ [Know Moldova] TV show) and NTS (for the project of ‘Prin ochii călătorului’ [Through the traveler’s eyes] TV show) received MDL 200,000 each. Flor FM (for the project of ‘Egalitate pentru toți’ [Equality for All] show), Romano Patrin FM (for the project of ‘Na dara’ show), and Love Radio (for the project of ‘Păstrați iubirea’ [Save the Love] show) received financial support in the amount of MDL 100,000, while Eco FM (for the project of ‘Între Da și Nu’ [Between Yes and No] show) received MDL 100,031. Albena received MDL 50,000 for the project of ‘Redescoperă Moldova’ [Rediscover Moldova] show. BAS TV received MDL 94,200 for ‘Salvat la timp de vicii’ [Saved in Time from Addictions] TV show.

Note that BCC rejected Albasat TV, Euro Nova, Media TV and Radio Media applications for financing of audiovisual projects on the grounds that these broadcasters failed to submit statements on the total support received from the Government in the last three years.