Audiovisual Council imposed fines of 40 thousand lei for way of covering election campaign on TV, radio

Chisinau, Oct. 30 /MOLDPRES/- Audiovisual Council (CA) sanctioned six media service providers with fines of 30 thousand lei (about 1,500 euros) for deviations on covering election campaign, found in the sixth monitoring report, on 16 - 22 October.

According to CA, four media services, out of 42 TV and radio stations subject to control, did not comply with the provisions of Article 90 (1) of the Electoral Code and p.43 of the Regulation on covering elections by media institutions, approved by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), according to which in the news, electoral topics are included in the Elections section, highlighted by unique acoustic or visual signals at the beginning and end.

ITV station did not include four electoral topics in the Elections 2023 section within the News program. At PRO TV Chisinau, two electoral news broadcast in the main newsletter were not included in the section. Agro TV Moldova broadcast two topics featuring election contestants present at a debate, which were not highlighted by unique acoustic and visual signals. BAS FM reported on the first debates organized by the newsroom in which two candidates participated, in the main news bulletin, without the Elections section.

ATV did not ensure the accessibility of people with hearing impairments through synchronous titration of news bulletins or interpretation in mime-gestural language. 

R Live TV gave a program to which an electoral candidate was invited, and the topic was included in the Elections 2023 section marked only at the beginning. 

CA sanctioned the founder of Jurnal TV, ÎCS REFORMA ART SRL with 10 thousand lei for targeting an electoral candidate in a program that was not included in the declaration on coverage of general local elections, as provided by the Electoral Code in Article 90 (2).