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Liliana Vitu-Esanu’s candidacy was nominated by four Board members (the required minimum is three), the first one being Eugeniu Ribca. He also nominated Aneta Gonta for the post of vice president of the institution. Aneta Gonta also intended to nominate Eugeniu Ribca as vice president of the BC, but he refused.
At the meeting, Liliana Vitu-Esanu declared that she would like to restore the public’s trust in the authority. “First of all, the confidence that this institution can apply the Code correctly can contribute to developing the local press, in particular, creating the premises for developing the press in the Republic of Moldova. Besides, it could protect the information space and take steps to gradually eliminate the existing distortions, gaps, and problems in advertising, audience measurement, and transparency of ownership. I believe that, first of all, we need to draft an action plan: each member has to say what their priorities are, because we are from different spheres and have different visions. Another action is to focus on reconsidering and adjusting the auxiliary legislation dated 2019. I would like the BC to reaffirm itself as a partner of the media institutions,” she declared.
Aneta Gonta mentioned she would draw attention to the micromanagement of the institution and emphasized that the BC would be the guarantor of the public interest in the broadcasting sphere. “For me, media education is crucial; I believe it’s the key, and instead of banning certain content from being broadcast, we could educate the public so that they could detect propaganda or fakes. It certainly takes enormous effort, and this is where I rely on that article in the Code – cooperation with civil society: it has a great potential. I would also rely on cooperation with the academic circles; I guess it would be important to cooperate with them in the sphere of media education. Another important and unpleasant issue I’d like to mention is the poor quality of the Romanian language in the broadcasting contents; it would be important to return to monitoring this aspect,” Aneta Gonta said.
Liliana Vitu-Esanu was nominated for the post of member of the BC by the Government. According to her CV, since 2018, she has been the communication and media coordinator at the Swiss Cooperation Office in the Republic of Moldova. For about a year, she was the director of the “Supporting Public Broadcasting” project at Internews Kyrgyzstan. From June 2013 to February 2015, she was the spokesperson of Iurie Leanca, then Prime Minister. Previously, she was the strategic development director at the Independent Journalism Center and the News and Debate Department Director at Moldova 1.
She also held the posts of a program coordinator at the International Republican Institute of Moldova, a communications coordinator at the Eurasia Foundation, and a press and public relations officer at the British Embassy in Chisinau. Previously, she was a BBC World Service correspondent in Moldova and an expert on Moldova at the Economist Intelligence Unit (UK). In 1998, she attended the BBC School in Bucharest. She has a licentiate degree in Journalism and Communication Sciences and a master’s degree in Modern European Studies from London Metropolitan University.
Liliana Vitu is married to Mircea Esanu, Director of the Public Services Agency.
Aneta Gonta was nominated by civil society organizations. She is a media researcher, a media education coach, and a journalist. She has cooperated with the Independent Press Association (IPA), the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), the Media Program at the Soros Foundation-Moldova, Agora Francophone, etc.
In 2019-2020, she was the director of the School of Advanced Journalism. Since 2018, she has been holding the post of vice-president of the Moldova section of the Francophone Press Union. For 14 years, she was a lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at Moldova State University. She has been involved as an expert in several projects on monitoring online media and TV content, the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, at the IJC, the IPA, and the Soros Foundation-Moldova.
Aneta Gonta works at her doctor’s degree dissertation in Political Science, holds a master’s degree in Journalism and Communication Sciences, and a licentiate degree in International Relations.
BC MANAGEMENT ATTRIBUTIONS
According to the Broadcasting Media Services Code, the BC shall be governed by a president and a vice-president elected by secret ballot by at least five council members. The BC President shall convene and chair its meetings, sign decisions and other acts issued by the authority, be in charge of managing the budget allocations, appoint and dismiss the staff of the authority, present the annual activity report to the Parliament, act on behalf of the Broadcasting Council in relations with the public authorities, legal entities, and in international relations, and represent the Republic of Moldova in international organizations on issues related to broadcasting media services.
The president and vice-president of the BC may be dismissed by secret ballot, upon suggestion of three members, and with the vote of at least five members of the Broadcasting Council.
The new BC composition was appointed by the Parliament on December 3, after the previous one was totally dismissed after the rejection of the 2020 activity report as a result of several amendments to the legislation.
