TV posts suspended under decision by Moldova's Commission for Emergency Situations, infringe principles of correct informing, says leadership of Audiovisual Council

Chisinau, 19 December /MOLDPRES/ - Those six TV stations, the work of which was suspended based on a decision by the Commission for Emergency Situations (CSE), have constantly infringed the Audiovisual Code and the principles of the correct informing. The head of the Audiovisual Council (CA), Liliana Vitu, made statements to this effect at a news conference today.    

According to the CA leadership, both the institution and more media NGOs have repeatedly recorded the violation of the Audiovisual Code. ‘’This year, these stations have received dozens of sanctions for diverse infringements, among which the lack of a correct informing in the coverage of the national events, as well as the propagation of the war and aggression against Ukraine. Thus, the journalistic standards were seriously violated. Also, they found out that the TV stations had informed the citizens hypocritically. At the same time, the volume of local content, these stations should produce, was not observed,’’ Liliana Vitu said.       

Also, the CA head noted that four out of the six TV stations had changed their owner/end beneficiary without the agreement of the Audiovisual Council. ‘’It is about private people and legal entities subjected to international sanctions. Thus, the stations were under the control of these persons, who were favoured during the broadcasting. This is not a fight against the Russian language, but protection of the national information space. Also, it is about the prevention of the risk of misinforming through the spread of forged information or attempts of manipulating the public opinion,’’ Liliana Vitu stressed.       

In the end of the last week, CSE suspended the broadcasting licence, for the period of the emergency state, of six TV audiovisual media services. It is about: Primul în Moldova (First in Moldova), RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, Orhei TV.