Call to BCC: The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections Calls for the Monitoring of Prime TV, Canal 2 and Publika TV

The signatories of the letter drew the attention of BCC members to the fact that three television broadcasters – Prime TV, Canal 2, Publika TV aired multiple electoral news, and some of them used the heading ‘Elections 2018’, although they stated they would not reflect the election campaign.

Thus, under Article 37(3) of the Broadcasting Code, the Coalition requested the BCC to initiate, as soon as possible, the monitoring of these television broadcasters during the election campaign in order to analyse how they comply with the legal provisions on fair coverage and on ensuring the plurality of opinions (Article 7, Broadcasting Code). The Coalition members asked the BCC to carry out this monitoring during 20 April 2018 - 20 May 2018.

The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, with the support of specialised organisations, monitors the behavior of 10 broadcasters during the election campaign for the new local elections of 20 May 2018: Moldova 1, Prime TV, Canal 2, Publika TV, NTV Moldova, RTR Moldova, Jurnal TV, Pro TV, TV 8 and Accent TV.

According to the second monitoring report, developed by the Independent Journalism Center, which covers the period between 28 April - 4 May 2018, most of the monitored television broadcasters continued to do political partisanship, by favoring or disadvantaging certain election candidates. Some of them had a tendentious behaviour and did not ensure the plurality of opinions.