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During the presentation of the report, the BC President Ala Ursu-Antoci invoked the uneven assessment by the courts of the sanctions applied by the BC to several televisions, mainly during electoral campaigns. “In 2020, all decisions of the BC, with small exceptions, which went through all stages of examination in judicial procedure, were maintained and deemed legal. At the same time, it should be noted that some decisions were overturned by the courts because the law is imperfect and leaves room for interpretation. There were cases when, out of two similar decisions of the BC, one was annulled and the other was left in force,” said Ala Ursu-Antoci.
The BC president also spoke about the legal issues concerning the activity of broadcasters from the Gagauz autonomy and the Transnistrian region: “The broadcaster on the left bank of the Dniester operates in the absence of coordination with the relevant institution from Moldova. These actions disrupt the program services of media service providers by providing the signal through unauthorized frequencies that are electromagnetically incompatible with those issued by the BC on a competitive basis and create unfair competition with providers on the right bank of the Dniester.”
According to Ala Ursu-Antoci, this year the BC will focus on identifying the economic agents from ATU Gagauzia that operate without permissive documents issued by the Council in Chisinau.
POLITICAL ADVERTISING ON TV AND RADIO, TO THE ATTENTION OF POLICIANS
During discussions, Maria Ciobanu, MP from the faction of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party (DA), mentioned that some media service providers initially obtain the approval of the license with one name, and later change that name and broadcast content from abroad, precisely from the Russian Federation. The remark was made in the context of the recent decision on approval of changing the Cryptbox radio station name to Record. The BC representatives replied that the procedure is legal, and the station’s administration did not change the editorial concept, but only the name.
The MP Adela Răileanu from the Party of Socialists asked what actions were taken by the BC in the fight against the phenomenon of political advertising. The former BC President Dragoș Vicol, who held this position until December last year, mentioned that the issue of political advertising was addressed, including by the civil society, and one of the solutions could be the approval of internal rules to regulate this phenomenon. At the same time, in his opinion, the best solution would be to approve the draft law on advertising, voted in first reading in the Parliament two years ago, which would clearly define political advertising. “Of course, everyone is aware that there are multiple elements of a political nature when some materials report about works in various localities, especially in rural areas, in connection with the activity of a certain party. Indeed, these rules are to be made, but we need them to be functional,” Vicol explained.
AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT AND ELECTION OF MEMBERS TO TRM’s SB
Adela Răileanu also mentioned the problem of the presence on the market of a single TV audience measurement, especially given that authorities cannot verify the correctness of the data collected by the company. The BC representatives said that the only company that carries out audience measurement invokes trade secret and refuses to provide data.
The topic of election of new members to the Supervisory Board of Teleradio-Moldova sparked heated discussion. The MP Lilian Carp from the Action and Solidarity Party asked why PSRM supporters became members of the SB, and Dumitru Roibu was elected at the expense of the candidate Nicu Scorpan, who allegedly has more experience. The BC president and the former head of the cabinet of the PSRM faction in the Parliament replied that Dumitru Roibu’s performance was better than the one of other competitors. “All candidates met all the conditions required by law,” said Ala Ursu-Antoci.
The language used by some TV stations also came to the attention of some parliamentarians. “Absolutely all the shows, when you just want to watch them – you see an extraordinarily illiterate language. The writing that sometimes accompanies news reports is full of mistakes…,” commented Monica Babuc from the Democratic Party. Maria Ciobanu also mentioned the licentious vocabulary used in some television shows. “Unfortunately, what we don’t like brings numbers and sales. That’s the problem – we are turning television into TikTok,” commented Adela Răileanu.
The vice-chairman of the parliamentary commission, Vasile Năstase (DA), noted that this activity report of the BC “is a step forward” because it addresses more key issues in the field compared to last year. In conclusion, most MPs found it satisfactory.
