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Monthly Bulletin, November 2019
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On November 4 and 5, the Press Council organized the 5th Moldovan Media Forum in Chisinau, in partnership with the Association of Independent Press (API), Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) and Electronic Press Association (APEL). Limited access to information, concentration and the dominant positions on the media market, as well as the recent trends towards the redistribution of spheres of influence in the media landscape were among the key topics discussed. The event was attended by journalists, media managers, representatives of the civil society and of the academia, diplomats, government officials, members of parliament, and media experts from Moldova and abroad. Her Excellency Anna Lyberg, Ambassador of Sweden in Chisinau, and Scott Hocklander, Head of USAID Mission to the Republic of Moldova, had messages of support for the Media-M program that has been implemented for five years now in Moldova. The forum was also attended by former PM Maia Sandu who described the media situation in Moldova as “dramatic.” At the Forum, Sandu also stated that she had three priorities: to support free media, to strengthen the independence of media outlets, and to strengthen the capacities of advertising and media to protect the information space from external and internal interferences.
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Media NGOs found that the Activity Program of the newly formed Chicu Government does not include a chapter on the media. Chicu’s new program only includes a single vague provision relating to media activity, which is included in the Justice section, “to review the legal framework in order to strengthen the fundamental human freedoms, including freedom of expression and nonadmission of unjustified limitation of access to information.” As a result, a number of media NGOs called on Chicu Government to include a chapter dedicated to the media and identify solutions for the issues mentioned in the Resolutions of the 2019 Media Forum: imperfect legal framework, concentration of ownership, abusive dominant positions on the advertising market, limited access to information, lack of tax incentives for the development of media outlets, journalists’ limited access to databases, political subordination of ‘Teleradio-Moldova’ Public Company, etc. The signatories of the call requested the Government draw up and promote draft laws necessary to develop independent media outlets in the Republic of Moldova and to ensure the development and broad public consultation of a medium- and long-term strategy and action plan implement the National Concept on Media Development. |
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Chiril Motpan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security, Defense and Public Order, stated during a press conference held at the parliament on November 22 that the phones of a number of journalists and civil society representatives in the Republic of Moldova were wiretapped by Democratic party, and the representatives of the law enforcement bodies or paramilitary structures. According to Motpan, the wiretaps were carried out by the Security and Intelligence Service and the Police Inspectorate led by Gheorghe Cavcaliuc at the time. Motpan provided the journalists a list of wiretapped individuals. In addition to supporters of PPDA, a political party the MP represents, the list includes a number of representatives of civil society and journalists including Nadine Gogu, Executive Director of IJC, Petru Macovei, Executive Director of AIP, Cornelia Cozonac, Director of CIJM, Alina Radu, Director of Ziarul de Garda, journalists from TV 8 – Natalia Morari, Mariana Rata and Angela Gonta; journalists from Jurnal TV – Anatolie Durbala, Constantin Cheianu, Vasile Nastase (now MP), Val Butnaru, Vladimir Berghii, Alina Cujba; journalists Ion Preasca from RISE Moldova and Valentina Ursu from Radio Free Europe, and more. According to Vladislav Gribincea, the Head of the Legal Resources Center in Moldova (who was also wiretapped), statistics over the past few years show that the number of court orders to wiretap phone calls in Moldova has been continuously increasing.
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According to a press release on their website on November 25, the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) rejected the public statements about its alleged involvement in the wiretapping of certain media representatives, civic activists, opinion leaders and politicians. The reaction occurred after Chiril Motpan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Security, presented a list of individuals who would have been wiretapped by the Moldovan special services last week. Earlier, Alexandru Jizdan, former Minister of Internal Affairs, and Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, Deputy Head of the General Police Inspectorate, rejected Motpan’s accusations. The SIS press release labelled the statements of MP Motpan as “denigration attempts,” that negatively affect the image and the credibility of the institution.
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After the statements made by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security, Defense and Public Order, Chiril Motpan, regarding the wiretaps of a number of experts, journalists and activists from different fields, media NGOs called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to confirm or refute this information. Also, the declaration signatories – Independent Journalism Center, Association of Independent Press, Association of Electronic Press, Center for Investigative Journalism, Press Freedom Committee, Association of Independent TV Journalists, and RISE Moldova – called on the General Prosecutor’s Office, which announced that it took note of these statements, to conduct an objective investigation of the wiretappings and to act transparently. Lastly, the NGOs referred to the Supreme Law which stipulates that the “respect and protection of the individual shall constitute the foremost duty of the State,” and the Constitution which states, “the State shall respect and protect individuals’ private and family life.” Under the Constitution the Republic of Moldova committed to ensure the privacy of telephone conversations and other legal means of communication.
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A number of reporters, photojournalists and translators from Moldpres State News Agency were notified in advance about their dismissal due to the institution’s restructuring. Moldpres Founder, represented by the State Chancellery, and Moldpres Council, consisting of five members from different structures of the Government, decided to reduce the staffing of the agency from 70 to 47. The decision was approved by the former Secretary General of the State Chancellery, Andrei Spinu, on November 11, in order to “make the institution more efficient.” Thus, the new list of posts did not find room for a number of individuals from the News, Photo and Translation Departments. Mihai Vengher and Andrei Mardari, two photographers recognized as the best in the field, expressed their indignation on the social media, stating that they ended up being unemployed. As a result, Moldpres employees sent a petition to President Dodon. In return, President Igor Dodon requested the current Chicu Government to intervene in order to solve this situation.
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PRIME TV channel, which belongs to the former leader of the Democratic Party, Vladimir Plahotniuc, renounced the national frequency in analog format. Lia Gutu, Head of the General Directorate for Licensing, Authorization, and Monitoring of the Broadcasting Council (BC) also confirmed this. Until November 1, PRIME TV was the only TV channel that rebroadcast the content of “Pervii Kanal” from Moscow. Currently, this right is also owned by Accent TV, affiliated with the Socialist Party (PSRM), that changed their name to “Primul in Moldova.” Previously, media and advertising experts said that the appearance of the “Primul in Moldova” channel would change the balance of forces in the media and strengthen the socialists’ position within the media. |
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During its meeting on November 4, the Broadcasting Council (BC) approved the broadcasting license of Telesistem TV SR company for nine years. The Telesistem TV SRL Company operates under the Accent TV channel, which is affiliated with the Socialist Party (PSRM). Note that recently, the BC approved the request of “Telesistem TV SRL” to rename the Accent TV channel to “ Primul in Moldova.” Thus, starting with November 4, Accent TV resumed its activity. Stanislav Vijga, manager of Telesistem TV SRL, explained that Accent TV would broadcast its old programs and that „Primul in Moldova” would have its separate programs it would broadcast. Olga Gututui, the BC member who voted against the licensing, asked why Accent TV first renamed “Primul in Moldova” and then requested another license. She drew the attention of the BC members that this case was a concentration of the media under the political influence. The decision was taken with six votes in favor and one vote against. Vijga stated that a request for another license was due to an increase in finances with the opportunity to rebroadcast the content of Pervii Canal from Russia. |
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Media NGOs published a declaration expressing their concern about the fostering of the concentration of media ownership in Moldova by the adoption by the Broadcasting Council (BC) of two recent decisions that facilitate the consolidation of the PSRM-affiliated media holding. The first occurring on October 21, 2019, when the BC accepted the request of Telesistem SRL, which manages Accent TV channel, to rename the channel to “Primul in Moldova.” During the BC’s meeting on November 4 2019, the BC granted Accent TV channel a broadcast license for nine years. As a result, Telesistem SRL became the beneficiary of two distinct TV channels. Second, given that NTV Moldova, which rebroadcast the Russian NTV channel, and Exclusiv TV, which rebroadcast TNT, are also affiliated with PSRM, the media NGOs warned of the danger of the concentration of media ownership and asked the BC to review the Accent TV’s file so as to ensure the right of citizens to accurate, impartial and good-faith information. |
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On November 6, during the Secretele Puterii program from Jurnal TV, the President of the Republic of Moldova and unofficial leader of the socialists, Igor Dodon, commented on the statements made by former Prime Minister Maia Sandu. Dodon responded to Sandu’s comments regarding the strengthening of a new media holding company, which is affiliated to the Socialist Party (PSRM). Dodon mentioned that he was not interested in the establishment of “holding companies and monopolies.” The President also commented on the recently obtained right of Accent TV channel (renamed to “Primul in Moldova”) to rebroadcast the content of the Russian Pervii Kanal TV channel. Igor Dodon argued that this decision had to be analyzed in relation to State Duma’s declaration “against the oligarchic regime in the Republic of Moldova, where Plahotniuc’s name was also mentioned. ”With regards to the current membership of the Broadcasting Council (BC), whose resignation was requested by former Prime Minister Maia Sandu, Dodon stated that resignation of BC members was against the law.
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On November 14, The Supervisory Board (SB) of Teleradio-Moldova reelected the current President of the TRM, Olga Bordeianu, as Executive Director of Teleradio-Moldova Company, for a seven-year term, with the vote of seven out of the eight SB members. Bordeianu’s opponents, Ion Terguta, received one vote, while Cornelia Stefoglu – none. According to Terguta, the contest was not conducted fairly as the candidates competed on unequal terms, especially because Bordeaianu presented statistics gathered in her time in office, who only she had access to. Media researcher Victor Gotisan believes that the SB chose the most “appropriate” time to vote rapidly and with no transparency, a typical TRM procedure. Moreover, Gotisan stated that TRM has previously ignored the suggestions of certain MPs, which would have forced the election of a new Supervisory Board. Given that the Director was elected by the SB old membership, Gotisan believes that “TRM is likely to become another media outlet subordinated to those in power and PSRM, which strengthens its positions on the Moldovan media market.”
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Olga Gututui and Corneliu Mihalache, members of the Broadcasting Council (BC), left the BC meeting of November 6, as a protest against the actions of the Chair Dragos Vicol, who decided to fine them 1,000 MDL (about 50 EUR) for absences at two BC meetings, which were not deliberative, due to the lack of sufficient member attendance. Both BC members declared during the meeting that Chair Vicol’s decision was abusive and intimidating. Olga Gututui stated, “I regret that BC degrades like that and, in fact, its Chair finds different methods to intimidate and pressure the members,” before leaving the room. Corneliu Mihalache was shocked at the Chair’s order, “the law states that all BC members have equal rights – we are not your or BC employees. We are public dignitaries, employed by the Parliament. Hence, I wanted to ask you on what grounds did you fine us?” Mihalache asked the Council members to include the dismissal of the BC Chair, Dragos Vicol, on the meeting’s agenda, and the launching for the election of a new Chair and Deputy Chair of the Council. Unfortunately, his proposal gathered three votes in favor and three against, prompting him to also leave the room. Dragos Vicol continued the meeting and argued that his order to deduct MDL 1,000 from the two BC members’ salaries was justified according to the Audiovisual Media Services Code. Former BC member Veronica Cojocaru resigned on October 15, as she believed the Chair poorly managed the Council’s work. Prior to that, like Cojoraru, Dorina Curnic also resigned from her BC member position as the workings of the Council were against her personal beliefs.
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A member of the Broadcasting Council, Olga Gututui, resigned on November 15 on the grounds that she was disappointed with the workings of the BC, following a fine of 1,000 MDL administered by Chair Dragos Vicol. The former member of the BC believes that the decisions of this institution are taken beyond the walls of the regulator and argues that “there is no explanation for why the Council, a guarantor of public interest in the broadcasting area, has turned into a guarantor of political interests.” Note that this was the third resignation from office at the BC over the last three months. Former BC member Veronica Cojocaru resigned on October 15, as she believed the Chair poorly managed the Council’s work. Prior to that, Dorina Curnic also resigned from her BC member position as the workings of the Council were against her personal beliefs.
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The Fifth Monitoring Report, prepared by the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) from October 21 to November 2 of 2019 was released on Tuesday, November 5. The report found that only four out of ten monitored TV channels behaved neutrally during the second round of elections: Moldova 1 public broadcaster, Pro TV, TV 8 and Jurnal TV. The other six either failed to ensure the pluralism of opinion, favored or disfavored the candidates in the election race for the position of Mayor of Chisinau. Thus, according to IJC Report, half of the broadcasters had an unfair and biased behavior in relation to the election candidates during the second round of elections. As part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, the IJC monitored ten broadcasters from September 20 to November 2: Prime TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, RTR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Accent TV, Pro TV, TV 8, RTR Moldova and Central Television. IJC publicly presented five monitoring reports, which it sent weekly to the Broadcasting Council, asking it to sanction the TV channels that failed to comply with the applicable law.
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The Broadcasting Council (BC) sanctioned Moldova 1 public broadcaster with a fine of 10,000 MDL (about 500 EUR) for violating the law on the coverage of the election campaign, and publicly warned Moldova 2, Canal 2 and PRIME TV channels. The fines followed the review of the BC monitoring report on media coverage of the election campaign from October 10 to October 20. Thus, with five votes in favor and two against, Moldova 1 public broadcaster was fined for repeated violations of the Audiovisual Media Services Code, particularly on “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.” PRIME TV channel was also publicly warned twice during the same meeting. In one case, the channel was warned for violating the obligation to inform “about a true fact or event, and the information to be verified and presented impartially and in good faith.” In another case, PRIME TV and Canal 2 failed to ensure the right of access to broadcasting media services for persons with vision or hearing impairments.
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