{"id":14631,"date":"2026-11-04T09:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T07:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/?p=14631"},"modified":"2026-11-04T16:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T14:29:36","slug":"grt-from-one-election-to-the-next-how-far-does-the-shadow-of-politics-extend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/grt-from-one-election-to-the-next-how-far-does-the-shadow-of-politics-extend\/","title":{"rendered":"GRT, from one election to the next. How far does the shadow of politics extend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Petru Garciu, freelance journalist<\/strong><\/p>\n

The activity of the regional public broadcaster Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT) can be described by the phrase \u201cfrom election to election.\u201d Regional elections, of course. This is because politicians in the autonomy quickly understood just how important it is to control the media landscape. Moreover, many of them do not tolerate criticism. As for news reports, these are expected to follow the finest traditions of the Soviet era: a leader visits a collective farm, while a journalist reports on milk production and how happy people are to live and work on the farm. Of course, these are all figurative examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

The question of who determines GRT\u2019s editorial policy \u2014 journalists or the regional authorities \u2014 remains relevant. After each election, the autonomy\u2019s new political elites have an opportunity to influence the broadcaster\u2019s activities through its Supervisory Board, whose members were appointed by a vote of the People\u2019s Assembly of Gagauzia (PAG). This gave local authorities a permanent instrument of influence over the broadcaster. In turn, the Supervisory Board elected by the assembly members appointed GRT\u2019s director and approved its editors-in-chief.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such a system fosters fear among GRT journalists: fear of becoming inconvenient, producing a report that displeases those in power, asking the wrong question and, ultimately, losing their jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, another risk has been added to these concerns \u2014 that of receiving yet another fine from the Broadcasting Council. During the period when GRT was headed by Vasilii Dermenji, who was associated with Ilan Shor\u2019s structures, the broadcaster was repeatedly fined, including for violating requirements concerning the accuracy and impartiality of information. In total, the broadcaster spent several hundred thousand Moldovan lei paying these fines.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October 2025, GRT was also<\/span> removed<\/span><\/a> from the Register of Signatories to the Journalists\u2019 Code of Ethics of the Republic of Moldova. The decision was prompted by systematic violations of professional standards, including one-sided coverage of events, political bias and the dissemination of inaccurate information.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the departure of the management associated with Shor\u2019s structures, GRT has been attempting to improve its practices. From my observations, positive changes are evident both in news coverage and in efforts to ensure impartiality in its programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, the actions of some journalists associated with the broadcaster continue to cast a shadow over its reputation. For example, Nina Dimoglo, the host of GRT\u2019s programme \u201c\u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0430\u044f \u0438\u0433\u0440\u0430\u201d (\u201cThe Big Game\u201d, translated from Russian, editor\u2019s note),<\/span> promotes<\/span><\/a> one of the candidates for the position of Bashkan, Fiodor Gagauz, on her Facebook page. Dimoglo herself also ran in the 2019 parliamentary elections on behalf of the Shor Party (declared unconstitutional in 2023, editor\u2019s note).<\/span><\/p>\n

COVERAGE OF THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN<\/b><\/p>\n

This year, two election campaigns are taking place simultaneously in Gagauzia: one to elect the Bashkan and another to elect members of the People\u2019s Assembly. GRT is organising debates between candidates for the PAG and has announced that it will also hold debates between candidates for Bashkan. From a logistical perspective, this is no easy task: 135 candidates have registered to contest the People\u2019s Assembly elections across 35 separate electoral constituencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

There have also been some awkward moments. During a debate between candidates in constituency No. 5 in Cead\u00eer-Lunga, one of the participants, Dmitri Chiseev, began criticising the regional authorities while presenting his electoral programme:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, Gagauzia has effectively lost three main pillars. First of all, the Bashkan of Gagauzia was removed from office this year by members of the People\u2019s Assembly\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDmitri, please, let us focus more on your platform and refrain from assessing the activities of the regional authorities. If you continue talking about what happened in Gagauzia\u2026 Please speak only about your platform and move straight to presenting it, otherwise we will have to switch off your microphone,\u201d the debate moderator interrupted him.<\/span><\/p>\n

AMENDMENTS TO THE AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA SERVICES CODE \u2014 AN OPPORTUNITY TO FREE GRT FROM POLITICAL INFLUENCE<\/b><\/p>\n

Amendments to the Audiovisual Media Services Code of the Republic of Moldova,<\/span> adopted<\/span><\/a> by Parliament in the third reading on 29 October,<\/span> aim<\/span><\/a>, among other things, to reduce political influence over the broadcaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span> new provisions<\/span><\/a> change the procedure for appointing GRT\u2019s leadership. Under the amendments, the next Supervisory Board, consisting of five members, will be selected through an open competition by the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Moldova, rather than by the People\u2019s Assembly of Gagauzia. The Supervisory Board will subsequently appoint the broadcaster\u2019s director for a seven-year term, with no possibility of reappointment for a second term. Meanwhile, the current Supervisory Board will continue to operate until the expiry of its mandate, at which point the mandate of the director appointed by that board will also end.<\/span><\/p>\n

GRT will continue to be funded from Gagauzia\u2019s budget. The law will enter into force six months after its publication, while a provision requiring the annual indexation of the budget subsidy allocated to the broadcaster in line with increases in consumer prices will apply from 1 September 2027. This applies strictly to the subsidy allocated from the autonomy\u2019s budget, not to all of GRT\u2019s revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Assembly of Gagauzia will be required to allocate the necessary funds in the budget. However, the prospect of losing its authority to appoint the Supervisory Board has sparked dissatisfaction among PAG representatives. Previously, Gheorghi Leiciu, then Deputy Chairperson of the PAG, stated during GRT\u2019s programme \u201c\u041e\u0431\u0441\u0443\u0436\u0434\u0430\u0435\u043c \u0432\u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0435\u201d (\u201cDiscussing Together\u201d, translated from Russian, editor\u2019s note) that problems could arise with the allocation of funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking about Gagauz television and a number of other changes. At the same time, Gagauzia, the PAG, must allocate tens of millions every year to maintain this television broadcaster. Do you think Gagauzia will allocate this money? Obviously not,\u201d Leiciu said at the time. He is currently running for a seat in the PAG.<\/span><\/p>\n

It remains to be seen what position the newly elected People\u2019s Assembly will adopt after the elections. Regardless of the election results, one thing seems clear: the willingness to fund GRT appears to depend on the extent to which the autonomy\u2019s local political elites retain control over the broadcaster\u2019s leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

The article was written within the project \u201cResilient Media, Informed Voters: Safeguarding Moldova\u2019s Elections from Disinformation\u201d, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moldova. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the donor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Petru Garciu, freelance journalist The activity of the regional public broadcaster Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT) can be described by the phrase \u201cfrom election to election.\u201d Regional elections, of course. This is because politicians in the autonomy quickly understood just how important it is to control the media landscape. Moreover, many of them do not tolerate …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7.jpeg",1280,853,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-300x200.jpeg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-768x512.jpeg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-1024x682.jpeg",1024,682,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7.jpeg",1280,853,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7.jpeg",1280,853,false],"jannah-image-small":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-220x150.jpeg",220,150,true],"jannah-image-large":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-390x220.jpeg",390,220,true],"jannah-image-post":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-780x470.jpeg",780,470,true],"awsm_team":["https:\/\/media-azi.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/acf8c9d9-df6b-46c9-ade4-fd0682ace6d7-500x500.jpeg",500,500,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Mihaela Ciobanu","author_link":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/author\/mciobanu\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Petru Garciu, freelance journalist The activity of the regional public broadcaster Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT) can be described by the phrase \u201cfrom election to election.\u201d Regional elections, of course. This is because politicians in the autonomy quickly understood just how important it is to control the media landscape. Moreover, many of them do not tolerate…","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14633,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14631\/revisions\/14633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-azi.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}