BC Publicly Warned Eight TV Channels Affiliated to Politicians Against the Violation of the Law on Coverage of the Election Campaign

At the meeting of 15 February, the members of the Broadcasting Council (BC) publicly warned eight TV channels against inappropriate coverage of the start of election campaign. Prime TV, Publika TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, Orhei TV and Central Television channels were sanctioned following the examination of the first monitoring report of BC. The authority monitored a total of 13 TV channels. The first report covered the period of 25 January - 3 February 2019.

Moldova 1, Jurnal TV and RTR Moldova were warned against smaller irregularities.
According to BC members, only two TV channels – TV8 and Pro TV Chisinau – had an irreproachable conduct.
The monitoring results revealed that, both by the allocated airtime and given positive connotation, Prime TV, Publika TV, Canal 2 and Canal 3 channels (affiliated to the leader of the Democratic Party) focused on the coverage of the campaign conducted by the Democratic Party.
Accent TV and NTV Moldova channels (affiliated to PSRM) allocated most of airtime to the Party of Socialists, giving a positive connotation to the news or programs about this party. Instead, the events and statements of the representatives of the ‘Sor’ Political Party were put predominantly into a negative context.

On the other side, Orhei TV and Central Television channels (affiliated to the ‘Sor” Party) allocated most of airtime to Ilan Sor and the party led by this politician and businessman. These two channels, in turn, covered the statements and events of the candidates of the ‘ACUM’ Election Bloc in a negative light.
At the same time, according to BC members, the eight channels did not provide the coverage of the main points of view of the opposition in some election-related topics, whereby the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code about ‘ensuring impartiality, balance and promotion of the free formation of opinions by presenting the main points of view in opposition, during a public debate about certain issues’ were violated.

Likewise, when presenting the opinion polls, Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, Pro TV, RTR Moldova TV channels failed to mention who ordered the polls, as well as the source of funding thereof.
Olga Gututui, one of BC members, said during the meeting that a part of the monitored TV channels can be compared with ‘communication departments of election staffs’. She urged the journalists of the eight TV channels to forget who their patrons are and to provide quality information to media consumers.

Meanwhile, Independent Journalism Center (IJC) and Association of Independent Press (API) have launched three monitoring reports so far (I, II, III) in relation to 12 TV channels and 16 portals and newspapers.