Press Communique
During the Days of the Press Freedom in Moldova,
10 NGOs dealing with media and human rights, under the aegis of the APEL
Electronic Press Association, launch the first report in 2008 on monitoring the
application of the provisions of the Broadcasting Code.
It was for the first time that the news and
current affairs program monitors considered the programs of the Regional Public
Broadcasting Institution (RPBI) the company "Teleradio-Gagauzia". At
the same time, the monitors have considered the news and current affairs
programs broadcasted by Radio Moldova and Moldova 1 TV of the National Public
Broadcasting Institution (NPBI) the company "Teleradio-Moldova".
If the results of selective monitoring of the
news programs of Teleradio-Gagauzia are but a finding of the first monitoring, then
in the case of the national broadcaster, the found indices already offer
possibilities for comparison, analysis, conclusions in range with the results
of the previous monitoring sessions.
The results of monitoring the news and current
affairs programs of Teleradio-Moldova from 15 to 21 of April 2008 tell of the
fact that the national public broadcaster keeps on the tendency to align to
professional standards, more obvious in the case of the TV station, although a
series of indices point out they continue the obsolete practice of editing and
structuring the news programs, of mirroring events preponderantly through the
official viewpoint, of producing laudatory-triumphalist style TV and radio
reports, while the ratio of reports mirroring topics of major interest for the
wide public goes on being insignificant.
Supervising the mode in which the provisions of
the broadcasting law are implemented and respected is illustrated through two
case studies. The first study refers to the Broadcasting Council observing the
national and international norms in the case of the public notification
concerning the language of the program "Poveşti cu măşti” (Tales with
Masks), aired by NIT tv station. The second case study envisages the way in
which the Regulation on managing the Broadcasters Supporting Fund, endorsed by
the BCC, matches the spirit of the regulations in the national broadcasting
sector and represents the broadcasters’ interests.
***
The media- and human rights-dealing NGOs, under APEL’s aegis, are
monitoring the practical application of the provisions of the Broadcasting Code.
The project implementing team is made up of experts and consultants from the
civil society: the Association of Independent Lawyers, the Independent Press
Association, the Independent TV Journalists Association, the Acces-Info Center,
the Independent Journalism Center, the Press Freedom Committee, the Committee
for the Defense of Human and Professional Rights, the Lawyers for Human Rights,
the Journalists Union, OWH-Studio.
Through the project “Monitoring
the implementation of the Broadcasting Code”, financed by the Soros Foundation-Moldova,
one pursues to institute a mechanism of public control over the mode in which
the Moldovan Broadcasting Law is being applied.
Chişinău,
May 7, 2008 |