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The Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport, and Mass Media said that public hearings regarding the two draft laws and the recommendations made by international experts will take place next week.
Democrat MP Sergiu Sirbu, one of the authors of draft law no. 218 of May 22, 2015, presented by a group of MPs representing the Democratic Party (PDM) and the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), says that the exact date when MPs will return to examining these draft laws in the plenum has not yet been set. In his opinion, European experts’ recommendations will bring to an end certain “speculations” that have so far existed in society. “I hope that now the two draft laws will be fused so that in the second reading we can come up with a new common draft law,” Sergiu Sirbu said.
In his turn, Liberal Party MP Veaceslav Untila believes that the Council of Europe recommendations are based on relevant international experience and deserve careful examination.
As for the future of these draft laws, the MP says they are currently at the Commission for Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport, and Mass Media. “We will carefully examine both the CoE recommendations and what will follow, and then we will come up with a much clearer position,” Veaceslav Untila said.
We tried to find out the opinion of a media expert regarding this issue. Thus, APEL Executive Director Ion Bunduchi finds that the recommendations made by European experts are similar to the ones made by the representatives of local media NGOs. However, according to the expert, even if the two drafts become laws, they will still not solve the problem of information security.
“Moldova has never had a clear vision on the development of the local information space that would include its security. It wouldn’t be bad for authorities to proceed to developing such visions at least now,” Ion Bunduchi says.
The expert also believes that it would be better if these draft laws were rejected. “It would be wise to adopt a new Broadcasting Code instead of them, especially since a draft of it has already been agreed by foreign experts,” he added.
We shall remind that two legislative initiatives on modifying and supplementing the Broadcasting Code were registered in the Parliament: one signed by a group of Liberal Party MPs and the other signed by a group of MPs representing the PLDM and the PDM. After those draft laws provoked discussions in society, they were sent for expert examination to the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission, the “Freedom House” human rights organization, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Source of photo: independent.md
