RTR Moldova’s Request Regarding Sanctions for Failure to Provide Correct Information about the War in Ukraine Rejected by the Court

Chisinau Court, Riscani District, issued a new decision: the Broadcasting Council won the case regarding the coverage of the war in Ukraine and the security crisis in the region. This time, it is about RTR Moldova which was fined 5000 lei and had six public warnings in March last year. According to the decision of the court of initial jurisdiction of June 13, the TV channel’s complaint was rejected as ungrounded. A day earlier, a similar decision was issued in the case of NTV Moldova.

The monitoring was focused on the newscasts of February 24-27, 2022, and the control results revealed multiple breaches by both TV channels. As to RTR Moldova, there was a lack of rigor and accuracy, as well as balance, and also facts mixed with opinions in the newscasts regarding the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation during the monitoring period. RTR Moldova also resorted to omission in the programs broadcast during the monitoring period.

Thus, the TV channel covered the situation in Ukraine in a biased way and did not contribute to free formation of the audience’s opinions.

“Multiple findings from the BC monitoring reports, implicitly application of sanctions for the lack of correct information while covering national events, as well as the war in Ukraine” were among the  arguments invoked by the Commission for Exceptional Situations on December 16, 2022, when it decided upon suspending the broadcasting licenses held by six TV channels, including NTV Moldova and RTR Moldova, during the state of emergency.

The decision of Chisinau Court can be appealed against at Chisinau Court of Appeal.