Moldova

[MD] Six Moldovan TV channels suspended

IRIS 2023-1:1/5

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

On 16 December 2022, the Commission for Emergency Situations (CSE), chaired by the Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, adopted a resolution that affected the audiovisual landscape of Moldova. The CSE was established in January 2022 to counteract the energy crisis in the country against the background of the state of emergency, introduced by the Parliament of Moldova. Its decisions are obligatory for public authorities, legal entities and individuals in the country.

The official statement says: “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, and based on the list of natural and legal persons subject to international sanctions, as well as the multiple findings of the Audiovisual Council regarding a lack of accurate information in the coverage of national events, but also of the war in Ukraine, the broadcasting license of six audiovisual media services will be suspended during the state of emergency”. Those services are the following TV channels: Primul in Moldova, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, and Orhei TV. They will keep their websites with news and other information.

Primul in Moldova retransmits the programming of Moscow’s "First Channel", RTR Moldova retransmits programmes of the Russian state broadcaster Rossiya TV, Accent TV retransmits Moscow’s entertainment channel “Pyatnitsa!”, NTV Moldova retransmits programmes of the Russian national NTV channel, TV6 retransmits programmes of TV6 Moscow, and Orhei TV retransmits programmes by “Tsentralnoe televidenie” owned by Moscow’s TVCenter company.

The resolution of the CSE resulted in protests by the channels as well as by the political opposition in Moldova.