Audiovisual Council Prohibited the Opening of Moldova 3 Channel in Russian Language

Audiovisual Council at a meeting on April 16 adopted an opinion on the draft law on the creation of a nationwide public TV channel in Russian, thus criticizing the initiative. Grigore Chitanu explained at the meeting that the proposed changes contradict the norms of the Audiovisual Media Services Code, which also provides for the “promotion of the Romanian language,” zdg.md reported. According to the latest data of Audiovisual Council, a 13% decrease in the number of local programs in Romanian language was recorded. In addition, the offer of visual media services provided to the consumer by media service distributors includes 407 visual media services that are not under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova, of which only 101 are in Romanian, while more than half - 269 - are in Russian. “We believe that linguistic diversity in terms of visual media services provided to the beneficiary is ensured,” the council stated. The parliamentary majority intends to launch a Russian-language TV channel to be run by the public company Teleradio-Moldova in the pre-election year. PAS deputies Eugeniu Sinchevici and Natalia Davidovici, who registered the bill, explained its necessity by “disinformation and propaganda in Russian, which comes from unofficial and little-known sources”. Following this statement, a number of public figures criticized the initiative. “Betrayal maybe..., but let us know it too”, “You have to be away from home to have such ideas”, “Any MP who votes for this nonsense can be considered a Russian minion and a useful idiot for the Kremlin” - these are some of the public reactions to the initiative. According to the 2024 census, 49.2% of the population named “Moldovan” as their mother tongue, while 31.3% named Romanian as their mother tongue. Other languages listed as mother tongue include Russian - 11.1%, followed by Gagauz - 3.8%, Ukrainian - 2.9% and Bulgarian - 1.2%.