The Commission for Exceptional Situations Decides to Suspend the Licenses of 6 TV Channels
The Commission for Exceptional Situations decided to suspend the broadcasting licenses of Primul in Moldova, Accent TV, TV6, Orhei TV, NTV Moldova, and RTR Moldova for the term of the state of emergency. A respective order was issued in the evening of December 16.
According to the published order, the decision to suspend the broadcasting licenses of the six TV channels was taken “in order to protect the national information space and to prevent the risk of disinformation by spreading fake information or attempts to manipulate public opinion, based on the list of individuals and legal persons subject to international sanctions provided in Appendix No 1 to the Provision of the Commission for Emergency Situations No 45/2022, and the information available as a result of their control of some media service providers.”
Besides, the decision mentions “multiple statements from the monitoring reports of the Broadcasting Council regarding the breaches of the Code of Audiovisual Media Services of the Republic of Moldova, implicitly application of sanctions for the lack of correct information while covering the national events, and also the war in Ukraine.”
The document also indicates that the Radiocomunicatii enterprise and the audiovisual media service distributors “shall cease broadcasting and, respectively, distributing the audiovisual media services included in this order.”
“After almost 300 days of war in Ukraine, the propaganda in the Republic of Moldova has not ceased, it has actually intensified. In the situation where not only an energy war but also an information war is being waged against our country, we have a responsibility and even an obligation to protect our citizens and the country. The decision made today is aimed at securing the information space in the country, eliminating manipulation and propaganda, as well as corrupt and particularly dangerous elements, especially in the complicated period of time we are currently going through,” Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita briefly explained in a post on her Facebook page after the decision was taken.
