The activity of the Audiovisual Council (AC) during the 2024 presidential elections and constitutional referendum showed notable improvements compared to the 2023 local elections, according to a monitoring report presented on November 28 by the Association of Electronic Press (APEL).
During the election campaign, the AC publicly released six weekly monitoring reports on election coverage (four during the first round and two during the runoff), along with two thematic control reports and two final reports. This activity was carried out in compliance with the requirements of the electoral legislation.
Notably, the reports were based on a new methodology, and AC monitors received prior training on its application. As a result, the 2024 monitoring reports were of higher quality than those from 2023, stated Vasile State, one of the study’s authors, during a roundtable discussion.
At the same time, as in the 2023 local elections, the activity of the AC was affected, in the 2024 elections, by the need to examine a large number of non-participation notifications and editorial policy statements, many of which were of questionable quality, as well as their approval in several public meetings. Despite all the facilitation organized by the AC, some of the media services providers did not understand either the rigors of the electoral legislation or how to complete the Declaration. This is the reason why the CA, in three meetings, had to examine requests for approval of notifications and statements, and in six others – for their modification.
The reports on electoral topics presented in the AC meetings contained sufficient and pertinent data, analyses, information to be able to debate them and approve predictable decisions in accordance with legal requirements. However, some reports have attested certain deficiencies related to the uneven understanding of certain legal norms.
The AC during the monitored period ensured practically full transparency of its activity. The initiatives of some members of the Board of Directors who have completed the area of concern in the elections of a regulatory authority that acts responsibly and in good faith are to be welcomed. The two initiatives, promoted on social networks, regarding correct information and warning of the risk of increasing cases of hate speech in elections, in which the AC acted as a social institute in the interest of the general public consuming information, are also to be welcomed.
More details in the Monitoring Report on the Activity of the AC in 2024, developed within the project “Strategic Development and Strengthening of the Legal Regulatory Framework for Independent Media in Moldova” with financial support from the IMS (International Media Support), within the New Democracy Fund (NDF) launched in 2021 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark to support civil society efforts to consolidate democratic development in the states of the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
