The Director General of the EBU wrote a letter to the Chair of the Parliamentary Media Committee

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Posted by: trm.md

News / Social

04 Nov. 2021 / 09:35

The Director General of the EBU wrote a letter to the Chair of the Parliamentary Media Committee

The Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Noel Curran, sent an open letter to the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport and the Media, Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei, referring to the draft law amending the Code audiovisual media services.

We reproduce the entire contents of the letter.

"Dear Mrs. Nicolăescu-Onofrei,

On behalf of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the association of public service broadcasters, please allow me to congratulate you on your new position as chair of the committee and I wish you a successful term.

I am writing to express the concern of the EBU regarding the proposed law amending the Code of Audiovisual Media Services (No. 174/2018), which, in our opinion, has the potential to lead to the political subordination of the governing and supervisory bodies of TRM and direct interference in its editorial policy. We are also concerned about the exceptionally short time provided for public debate on these important changes to the legal framework and the apparent lack of appropriate consultation.

The independent and reliable public broadcaster has a particularly important role to play in societies in transition. To fulfill this function, it should be empowered through governing structures to function independently of political pressure and interference. Credibility and trust will only be achieved through independence and balanced reporting of important developments in a country.

We consider that the proposed amendments to directly involve Parliament in the appointment and dismissal (for broad and indefinite reasons) of the Director-General is a step backwards in ensuring the autonomy and independence of TRM. In addition, a new power of Parliament to dismiss the entire supervisory body (Supervisory and Development Board) each year by rejecting the annual activity report would inevitably put TRM under even more political pressure.

Council of Europe Recommendation No (2012) 1 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the governance of the public broadcaster states that: "Securing and defending independence is a key role of any public service governance framework and the center of all relevant Council of Europe standards”. In addition, the European Court of Human Rights, in a case directly concerning the governance of TRM, argued that states have a positive obligation to implement a legal framework that ensures the independence of the public broadcaster from political interference and control (Manole aO v. Moldova, No. 13936/02).

Please respectfully allow adequate time for public consultation on the proposed amendments and to take due account of our concerns expressed above.

We remain at your disposal to discuss these issues in detail and to share examples of good practice in Europe.

Noel Curran,
CEO"

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