The Audiovisual Council (CA) on Friday, December 23, fined TV stations REN Moldova, Cotidianul TV, Canal Regional, Orizont TV for not making enough local and/or Romanian language and/or prime-time programmes. The fines imposed on all TV stations amount to 109 thousand lei.

Between 2 and 8 December, the CA monitored REN Moldova, Cotidianul TV-CTV, Canal Regional, Orizont TV, Busuioc TV, Gurinel TV, Noroc TV, Tezaur TV, TVR Moldova and Vocea Basarabiei TV.

After reviewing the monitoring reports, four TV stations were fined at the 23 December CA meeting for not producing enough local and/or Romanian language and/or prime-time programmes. The stations were fined as follows: REN Moldova – 42 thousand lei, Cotidianul TV – 28 thousand lei, Canal Regional – 27 thousand lei, Orizont TV – 12 thousand lei.

According to a press release, the monitoring did not reveal any violations of the above-mentioned provisions by “Busuioc TV”, “Gurinel TV”, “Noroc TV”, “Tezaur TV”, “TVR Moldova” and “Vocea Basarabiei TV”.

Also at Friday’s meeting, the board members decided to initiate a check on compliance with the provisions of Article 13 – ensuring correct information in the main evening news bulletin for one week by REN TV.

On 16 December, the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) approved a decision to suspend the broadcasting licences of six Moldovan TV stations during the state of emergency. The stations in question are “First in Moldova”, “RTR Moldova”, “Accent TV”, “NTV Moldova”, “TV6” and “Orhei TV”.

According to the CSE provision, the decision was taken “in order to protect the national information space and prevent the risk of disinformation through the spread of false information or attempts to manipulate public opinion, based on the list of natural and legal persons subject to international sanctions and available information on their control over certain media service providers, as well as the multiple findings in the monitoring reports of the Audiovisual Council on violations of the Audiovisual Media Services Code of the Republic of Moldova, including the application of sanctions for the lack of correct information in the coverage of national events and the war in Ukraine”.

Subsequently, the Chairwoman of the CA, Liliana Vițu, stated that the decision of the CSE of 16 December 2022 on suspending the broadcasting licences of six TV stations during the state of emergency “is based on several cumulative factors, which relate both to compliance with the Audiovisual Media Services Code and to the field of national security”.