AC to the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia: GRT should not be used to promote political interests

The Audiovisual Council (AC) warns the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, founder of the regional public broadcaster Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT), about “GRT’s missteps in the parliamentary election campaign.” According to the press release of October 16, the authority recommends that the legislative body of the Gagauz autonomy take all necessary measures to ensure that the platforms of the Gagauzia TV station are not used for political purposes.

The AC found “behavior contrary to the status and mission of the regional public broadcaster TV Gagauzia” following an analysis of the final monitoring report on the coverage of the parliamentary election campaign in September 2025. The monitoring revealed political partisanship, lack of impartiality, and failure to comply with the principles of fairness, balance, and impartiality set out in the Electoral Code.

The Council representatives emphasize that the status of public provider requires a high level of responsibility and strict compliance with ethical standards. “This would mean that the representatives of the television station should refrain from any form of political partisanship in the exercise of their duties, no matter how close their ideological views may be to those of certain political parties with which they are associated,” the AC statement said.

Therefore, “the AC recommends that the legislative body of the Gagauz autonomy take all necessary measures to ensure that the employees of the regional public provider, who have been entrusted with the task of implementing the declared editorial policies, do not use the station’s platforms to promote – covertly or openly – political, commercial, or other interests, thereby damaging the image and credibility of the institution in particular, as well as the press in general.”

At the same time, the national audiovisual authority states that, for the violations committed during the four weeks of the election campaign, the regional public broadcaster GRT was sanctioned several times, with the total value of the fines exceeding 30,000 lei.

In this context, on October 15, the Press Council decided to exclude GRT from the Register of signatories to the Code of Ethics for Journalists in the Republic of Moldova, motivating its decision by repeated violations of the provisions of this code. Monitoring by the Independent Journalism Center during the election campaign also showed that the regional public broadcaster TV Gagauzia provided only summary coverage of the campaign, with limited access for candidates and significant omissions, while the programs broadcast were unbalanced and biased.