The Civil Platform “Truth and Justice” has presented its own bill on amending the Code of Television and Radio Broadcasting. Platform leaders said at a news conference in Infotag on Wednesday that their creation is aimed at “a real bettering of things in this sector, and not at defending the interests of the oligarchs”.

 

“We decided that we must draft our own bill because what the deputies have drafted was actually their fulfillment of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc’s political order. The last week’s legislative initiative by a group of Liberal Democratic and Democratic lawmakers was aimed not at defending the Moldovan information area, but at protection of the interests of Plahotniuc and the [5] television channels he owns”, stated journalist Vasile Nastase, a Platform leader.

 

In his words, the Platform’s bill is aimed at ensuring Moldova’s information security and putting an end to Russian propaganda on Moldovan television channels; ensuring of the pluralism of opinions; solving the question of selecting a meter company that will be analyzing objectively the television audience; taking measures to guarantee that Moldovan cable TV operators’ packages must consist of minimum 70% of channels broadcasting in the Romanian language.

 

“We are putting forward concrete proposals on how these measures can be realized. The bill proposed by the LDPM and DP parliamentarians last week would simply lead to the closure of more than a half of local TV companies. That was done in the interest of Plahotniuc’s TV channels, whereas we care about the interests of Moldova and its citizens. The adoption of our bill will shield the Moldovan society from the Russian propaganda and will ensure a real freedom to journalists and broadcasters”, stated journalist Angela Arama.

 

Lawyer Andrei Nastase said that the incumbent authorities apply the law selectively, and that the deputies-proposed bill is aimed precisely at such selectivity.

 

“The legislative initiative by MPs Tutu, Strelet and other is aimed concretely against channels JurnalTV, ProTV and TV7. At the same time, it does not affect other channels that are maintained with money stolen by the oligarchs from Moldovan banks”, stated Nastase.

 

Vasile Nastase said that the Platform’s legislative initiative stipulates also changing of the current order of appointing members to the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (ACC) and to the Supervisory Board of the Moldova-1 public television.

 

“The incumbent procedure of member selection, stipulated by the legislation in force, is not bad, but it does not work: currently, oligarchs Plahotniuc and Vlad Filat directly appoint their devoted representatives to these two regulatory bodies. This cannot be tolerated any longer. This shameful practice has to be changed. ACC members must stop being servants to the oligarchic regime”, stated Nastase.