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The Broadcasting Council Issued Moldova 1 a Warning For Its Coverage of Power Transition Events of June 2019

02 July 2019
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At the meeting of 2 July 2019, members of the Broadcasting Council (BC) publicly warned ‘Teleradio-Moldova’ Public Company for its coverage of events that took place on 8–9 June this year, in journalistic materials broadcast on this TV channel. The sanction was applied following the monitoring of Moldova 1 public broadcaster, on the basis of notification of the BC member Olga Gututui.

Thus, according to the monitoring report, the public TV channel violated the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code on ensuring accurate information of viewers. More specifically, during the news and debate programs the editorial office did not ensure compliance with the requirements on impartiality, balance and promotion of the free formation of opinions by presenting the main points of view in opposition.
 
The monitoring confirmed that the statement of the former Chairman of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc was made public in a newscast broadcast on Moldova 1. He rated the actions of political actors PSRM and ACUM as a coup d’etat. This coverage lacked the position of all stakeholders involved. Note that on the next day the news was rerun.

In its letter to the BC, management of the TV channel explained that it reacted promptly and objectively covered the events of those days. The management of ‘Teleradio-Moldova’ Company added that it intended to produce shows with all political leaders and actors.
 
Dina Perciun, head of the News and Debates Department at Moldova 1, explained that authors of the monitoring did not take into account the structure of the newscast, because the news about those events appeared consecutively, while the former PD leader’s statement appeared in another news item, after other events were broadcast, such as forming the Government and Parliament’s leadership.
 
Note that on 10 June this year Olga Gututui requested to monitor the programs of Moldova 1 public broadcaster during 8 and 9 June as regards the coverage of the country’s political events.
See also: Criticism of the Public TV Channel About How it Covered the Country’s Political Events: ‘What a great concert on Moldova 1!’. The answer of the administration: ‘This is not a natural disaster!’