The activity of the Audiovisual Council (AC) in the presidential elections and the constitutional referendum of 2024 has registered progress, compared to the local elections of 2023, according to a monitoring report prepared and presented, on November 28, this year, by the Association of Electronic Press (APEL).
During the electoral campaign, the AC publicly presented six weekly reports monitoring the coverage of the elections (four in the first round and two in the second round of voting), two thematic control reports and two final ones, an activity in accordance with the requirements of the electoral legislation. It is worth noting that the reports were prepared based on a new methodology, and the AC monitors were trained in advance on how to apply it. As a result, the monitoring reports in 2024 were of better quality than those in 2023.
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.
