The BC Imposed Fines of Over 2 Million Lei for Non-Compliance with the Broadcasting Legislation in 2022

During the last year, the Broadcasting Council (BC) applied 447 sanctions to the media service providers and distributors for non-compliance with the legislation on broadcasting activity. These are 235 fines, in the total amount of 2 340 000 lei, and 212 public warnings, according to the BC’s annual activity report.

According to the source, the total number of warnings and fines imposed by the BC last year considerably increased compared to the previous years. Thus, in 2022, the audiovisual media service providers were warned almost five times more often, and the total amount of fines is almost three times larger than the average of the penultimate two years.

According to the information provided in the report, an important direction in the BC’s activity was controlling compliance with the provisions on providing correct information to citizens. Therefore, in 2022, the BC members examined 262 audiovisual content monitoring reports, and 95 sanctions were applied for relevant breaches, including 62 warnings and 33 fines totaling 320 000 lei.

The report emphasizes the BC members’ attention to the way armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as the security crisis in the region, were covered in the informative and analytical programs. The analysis reveals that some broadcasting channels avoided covering the evolution of the war in their newscasts, while the others covered the actions of the Russian army in a positive manner. As a result, the BC applied 55 sanctions, the total fines amounting to 213 000 lei.

Besides, to ensure fair competition, for the first time since the entry of the Code of Audiovisual Media Services into force, radio stations and TV channels were monitored in view of their compliance with the provisions on the proportion of local audiovisual programs. As a result, 120 sanctions amounting to almost one million lei were applied.

In 2022, also according to the report, the BC monitored 15 TV channels for compliance with the sound level requirements during broadcasts and advertising. 12 TV channels were sanctioned for breaches in this regard, the fines reaching a total of 71 000 lei.

The new composition of the BC started its mandate on December 16, 2021.