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The Socialists Want a Public ‘Broadcasting Council’
PSRM, led by Zinaida Greceanii, the party that could occupy the most seats in the legislative body – 35, acknowledges in its electoral program, the media as the fourth state power. The group proposes that ‘all four branches of power – the legislative, executive, judiciary and the media – be complemented and balanced by a symmetric network of civil society institutions that would ensure their control and monitoring by the society.’
The PSRM also believes it is necessary to set up a public council with similar responsibilities to those of the broadcasting regulator. More specifically, they propose that this public council be composed of authority figures, who would oversee the observance of moral principles and norms by the media, in particular by TV stations.
The socialists also want to introduce by law the Internet providers’ accountability for the placement of content that violates the principles of social morality: pornography, promotion of narcotic drugs, xenophobia and extremism.
Besides, the PSRM has promised to propose and provide free access to parliamentary information in an open format, to make public the law-making procedures, to diversify the forms of citizens’ participation in the development and expert review of draft laws. Socialists also advocate for the adoption of laws on the provision of the right to media access for minority parliamentary parties and the opposition.
Note that NTV Moldova owner Corneliu Furculita, Exclusiv TV and NTV Moldova director Petru Burduja, and NTV Moldova director Adela Raileanu are among the PSRM candidates who entered the Parliament.
The Democratic Party’s Words, Not Actions
The Democratic Party, which ranked the second in the electoral race with 30 seats in the Parliament, has not included a single line concerning the media in its electoral manifesto, as the Democrats named the program that they presented to their voters.
This is because the leader of this formation, Vladimir Plahotniuc, officially owns two TV and two radio stations: Prime TV, Publika TV, FM Radio and Publika FM.
Moreover, the political advisor of the PDM leader, Oleg Cristal, is the owner of Canal 2 and Canal 3 TV stations affiliated with the democrats.
ACUM Wants to Take the Media Out of the Offshore
The ACUM Electoral Bloc, with 26 seats in the Parliament, has three main objectives for the media: actual media demonopolization, total independence of the NPAI Teleradio Moldova Company, and functionality and independence of the Broadcasting Council (BC).
Representatives of the ACUM Bloc have mentioned that the media in the Republic of Moldova is becoming ‘increasingly more toxic, harmful and monopolized’. Politicians believe that the degradation of the media landscape is aggravated by government abuses and favors granted to affiliated media outlets or close associates of those in power.
Furthermore, ACUM claims that the Republic of Moldova is the country most exposed, in Central and Eastern Europe, to Russian propaganda, and the most vulnerable, respectively. The formation refers, in this regard, to the results of the study conducted by the Foreign Policy Council ‘Ukrainian Prism’ and the Eurasian States in Transition Research Center (EAST Center).
The bloc also set as a goal to strengthen media independence and journalistic professionalism in line with the requirements of the EU-RM Association Agreement. At the same time, the formation representatives promised to revise the recently adopted Audiovisual Media Services Code in line with civil society proposals and development partners’ recommendations. Another promise from them is that public authorities and institutions will offer journalists free access to information of public interest.
The ACUM Bloc also wants to prohibit companies residing in ‘suspicious jurisdictions’ (offshore companies) or failing to disclose their beneficial owners from managing media outlets. In addition, politicians claim they will liberalize the advertising market to ensure the conditions for sustainable development of independent media.
The bloc representatives also claim they intend to collaborate with the governments of the neighboring countries and European institutions to combat pro-Kremlin propaganda
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Sor and the Lustration Law Against Journalists
The Sor political party, headed by Ilan Sor, who has obtained seven seats in the Parliament, like the Democratic Party, paid no attention to the media in its electoral program. Note that Orhei TV and Televiziunea Centrala TV stations are managed by Dumitru Chitoroagă, a candidate of Sor Party, and are owned by Rita Tvic, author of the biography of Ilan Sor’s father, Miron Sor.
A few months prior to the election campaign, during a protest organized by Sor Political Party, the party leader declared that once he came to power, he would apply a potential lustration law in relation to inconvenient journalists (whom he vaguely identified as ‘paid to write abject material about people’). However, this promise was not included in the party’s political program.
After several media organizations and journalists showed their indignation about the politician’s statements and filed complaints with the Prosecutor’s Office, law enforcement officials declared that the acts committed by the politician were not regarded as a criminal offense by the criminal law.
