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Monthly Bulletin, September 2019
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The 2019-2020 Government Action Plan entered into force on Friday, September 13 after a decision was published in the Official Gazette. According to the document, by December 2019, the Public Services Agency (PSA) should abolish or reduce fees for journalist access to public information. Moreover, the Plan includes procedures to reform training programs for journalists, which provide necessary skills for all types of media. The new Plan also includes the amendment to the Audiovisual Media Services Code, which states that party leaders and members of their executive bodies are not able to profit from capital earned by the audiovisual media service companies. Finally, the Plan also foresees the development of regulations necessary for the establishment of a transparent and merit-based procedure of the selection of candidates for the positions on the Supervisory Board of the national media service provider, as well as the Broadcasting Council.
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The agreement signed between the Socialist Party and ACUM Bloc on September 16 includes provisions such as the demonopolization of the advertising market, adoption of the Law on Advertising, and broadcasting reforms. The document also refers to ensuring fair market conditions for all media stakeholders in Moldova, including by reforms of the Broadcasting Council. Moreover, the agreement proposes to reform and depoliticize NPAI Teleradio-Moldova, the currently state-owned national broadcaster for radio and TV. The Agreement also provides for the adoption of the Draft Law Amending the Criminal and Contravention Codes in order to combat hate acts. In addition, it indicated the need to produce a Draft Law on Cyber Security of Network and Information Systems. The politicians of PSRM and the ACUM Bloc also support the legislation necessary for declassifying the information regarding the beneficiaries of the capital amnesty. Currently, the media has no access to the information on individuals who have submitted declarations according to the Law on Voluntary Compliance and Tax Incentives (known as the Tax Amnesty Law). |
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Director of Sputnik Moldova News Agency, Vladimir Novosadiuc, has been accused of fraud and money laundering and according to law enforcement bodies, has been linked to Ilan Sor, the politician involved in the ‘stolen $1 billion euros’ from Moldovan Banks in 2014.. Novosadiuc confirmed to the Russian RIA Novosti that after being heard by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, he was released for 60 days. Novosadiuk however, was prohibited from leaving the country after his release. The journalist’s phone was confiscated during the searches of his home. Emil Gaitur, a spokesperson of the General Prosecutor’s Office, told Media-azi.md that the journalist was accused. Vladimir Novosadiuc and his wife Rita Tvik were members of the Social Bank Board, which belonged to Ilan Sor. They also were shareholders of another bank belonging to Ilan Sor – Unibank. Moreover, Rita Tvik fully owns the shares of the two Sor-affiliated TV channels – Orhei TV and Central Television. |
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On Friday, September 20, several key individuals were questioned by the Inquiry Committee for the clarification of the de facto and de jure circumstances regarding the Democratic Party’s attempted anti-constitutional coup d’état. Two press managers – the Director of Moldova 1 Ecaterina Stratan, and the Director-General of Moldpres State Information Agency Andrei Volentir – were among them. Stratan told Media-azi.md, a portal of the Independent Journalism Center, that she was asked by the committee if she was pressured to broadcast certain materials during the political events of June 8-9 which she replied that she was not. IIn July, the Broadcasting Council publicly warned the Moldova 1 public broadcaster of its failure to ensure the impartiality, balance, and plurality of opinions in its programs during those events. The Director of Moldpres, Volentir, mentioned that the questions he was asked mainly concerned the publication of official documents issued by the Presidency, Government, and Parliament.
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The names of a number of media companies affiliated with the former leader of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc will appear in the ‘Kroll II’ Report, according to statements made by MP Alexandru Slusari of the ACUM Bloc, during a press briefing organized at the Parliament on September 20. “Prime Management, OTIV Prime, Prime TV, and Gemenii are some of the companies mentioned in the Kroll II Report,” stated the Head of the Inquiry Committee investigating the stolen billion. In a press release, the General Media Group (GMG), which belongs to OTIV PRIME MEDIA B.V., claimed that Prime TV and Publika TV channels “have no direct or indirect connection with the companies mentioned by the MP Alexandru Slusari.” The press release mentioned that the company’s operations were transparent and that their association with the stolen money was part of a misinformation campaign. GMG warned that it would sue all those launching “unfounded attacks” and “acts of defamation” against the two TV channels.
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During the Broadcasting Council meeting held on September 5, Dorina Curnic announced her resignation on the grounds that the situation within the Council worsened, especially the Council’s “poor management” of the BC Chair, Dragos Vicol. Before resigning, Curnic also requested the resignation of the Council’s Chair, Dragos Vicol who she holds responsible for the Council’s degradation. She expressed her concern about the fate of some TV channels, fearing their termination. According to the law, in case of a vacancy, the BC Chair should submit a notification to the specialized Parliamentary Committee within five working days from the date the position became vacant. Note that on July 19, Prime Minister Maia Sandu made an unannounced visit to the BC to request all of its members to resign.
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The Telestar Media Company, which owns the broadcast licenses for Canal 2 and Canal 3 TV channels, announced its rejection of the national frequency allocation for the broadcast of Canal 2. According to Oleg Cristal, the General Director, this decision came as a result of pressures from unspecified state institutions, and journalists from the two TV channels. Cristal believes that with the rejection of Canal 2, the authorities would try to take over the national frequency in favor of another TV channel, “which promotes interests foreign to our country,” such as the Russian channel Pervii Canal. According to the same press release, Telestar Media recommended to the authorities that the national frequency of Canal 2 ‘should be returned to the Romanian Television Corporation, the previous owner of this frequency, in order to broadcast TVR Moldova in the Republic of Moldova’. Televiziunea Romana (Romanian Television) took note of the Telestar Media press release and announced that it would make all the official requests to recover the national frequency that would allow broadcasting TVR Moldova programs throughout the Republic of Moldova. Note that previously, Televiziunea Romana broadcast in the Republic of Moldova using the state frequency No 2. However, on 27 September 2007, the BCC granted this frequency to 2 Plus TV channel (the former name of Canal 2). |
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Prime Minister Maia Sandu stated via a Facebook post that she would support the Romanian public television in obtaining the broadcasting frequency needed in order to broadcast television nationally. Sandu stated that the Government received a letter from TVR, asking the Broadcasting Council (BC) for a broadcasting frequency that would allow TVR to broadcast at a national level. “We believe that all the interference of the former governments in the issues concerning the broadcasting frequency of TVR caused a great injustice, both to the Romanian public TV channel and to the Moldovan citizens and that the frequency, which was disrespectfully removed, must be returned to TVR. It is time to make justice and we will wholly support the Romanian public television to recover the frequency that will allow national coverage,” wrote Maia Sandu on Facebook.
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Media outlets will be able to rent out space in the House of Press and other Government buildings at lower prices. Secretary-General of the Government, Andrei Spinu, signed an order to initiate this plan on Monday, September 9, according to a press release issued by the institution. Spinu mentioned that “this will make it possible for us to have, eventually, a free media enjoying no obstacles”, during a meeting with the Government officials in charge of enforcing Spinu’s order. The General Division for Government buildings administration is to amend, within 30 days, the contracts previously concluded with the media outlets to decrease rent dues for media outlets. |
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Journalists will be granted free access to the database of the State Register of Legal Entities and of Individual Entrepreneurs and to Cadastru data. The media outlets, however, will have to be registered as operators of personal data in order to benefit from this right according to Andrei Spinu, the Secretary-General of the Government. Spinu added that the document was developed as a matter of emergency and hoped it would be submitted to Parliament soon. The draft law to this end was developed by the State Chancellery and provides for amendments to the Law on Press, Law on Cadastru of Immovable Assets, Law on Access to Information and Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. Periodicals, press agencies and media service providers, i.e. legal entities, are to benefit from these amendments.
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The election campaign for local general and new parliamentary elections in October 2019 will cost less after TV channels announced a decrease in fees for election advertisement. In comparison to the election campaign during the February 2019 elections, PRIME TV and Publika TV channels will charge 50% less for the October 2019 elections, dropping from 4,000 EUR a minute to 2,000 EUR per minute. The advertising fee set in the previous election campaign by the Canal 2 and Canal 3 TV channels, the official owner of which is Oleg Cristal, former political advisor of Vladimir Plahotniuc, was of 1,500 EUR per minute, however, for this year October campaign, Canal 2 set an advertising fee of 1,000 EUR, while Canal 3 –500 EUR per minute. The TV channels affiliated with the former mayor of Orhei, Ilan Sor (currently wanted internationally), also offered big discounts for the election advertising. Televiziunea Centrala charges now 500 EUR per minute of advertising, three times less than in the previous election campaign, while Orhei TV charges 500 EUR, two times less.
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The Broadcasting Council (BC) asked the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to express its opinion on whether public media service providers have the right to broadcast election advertising given that the broadcasting law, at the Section on the budget of the national public provider, does not stipulate revenues from election advertising. In its turn, CEC recommended the BC members to approve Teleradio-Moldova declarations. ‘Taking into account that public broadcasters are obliged by law to broadcast free-of-charge election advertising during certain elections, they are also obliged to equally broadcast paid election advertising to all the applicants’, states the letter of CEC to BC. At its meeting held on Friday, September 13, the BC decided to allow the public broadcaster to broadcast paid election advertising. Thus, Moldova 1 charges 900 EUR per minute of election advertising, Moldova 2 – 150 EUR, Radio Moldova News –60 EUR, and Radio Moldova Youth –25 EUR.
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The Executive Director of the national media service provider may be appointed in two months’ time, once the new law is published in the Official Gazette according to the Chair of the Teleradio-Moldova Supervisory Board (SB), Nicolae Spataru. The competition to elect the new Teleradio-Moldova Executive Director has been included on the SB agenda following the request of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Education, Research, Youth and Mass-Media to dismiss the current Chair of Teleradio-Moldova – Olga Bordeianu, and the Director of Moldova 1 – Ecaterina Stratan, after they were accused of money laundering, and encouraging political party affiliation with their respected broadcasting networks.
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According to the data of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), an increase in the total volume of sales and subscribers was registered on the market of paid TV services (cable networks, IPTV) in the first semester of 2019. Thus, compared to the same period of 2018, the volume of sales of paid TV services increased by MDL 3.8 million (5%), amounting to MDL 82.6 million, and the total number of subscribers increased by 10.2 thousand (3.1%) and reached 339.9 thousand. The number of subscribers also increased due to the increase in the subscriber base of the operators of IPTV networks, which expanded by 7.6% and reached 171.2 thousand. In the first half of this year, the largest providers of paid TV services, in terms of turnover, had the following market shares: Moldtelecom – 35%, Sun Communications – 16.4%, TV BOX – 14.8%. The cumulative share of the other providers was 33.8%.
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During a briefing held on September 19, the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Mass-Media, Adrian Lebedinschi, mentioned that March 1, 2020, would be the last day of analog technology TV signal broadcasting and that Moldova would make a switch entirely to broadcasting digitally. Lebedinschi added that solutions would include 18 TV channels in the first compound of digital broadcasting, as opposed to the current 15. The Committee continues to look for solutions that could reduce the fees to maintain the digital channels. According to the MP, only 6 TV channels currently broadcast through the digital terrestrial system. He stated that a total of 36 TV channels would be broadcast through digitally a Multiplex B (a second digital system) was also to be built. Note that in the previous years, broadcasters were not interested in switching to the digital signal because of the extremely high multiplex-digital access fees (about 5,600 EUR monthly per slot).
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