Moldovan Prime Minister Opposes Ban On Russian Broadcasters, Urges For Media Freedom

Prime Minister of Moldova Ion Chicu on Monday opposed targeted censorship against Russian media and said that any media producing accurate information should have access to the Moldovan market

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2019) Prime Minister of Moldova Ion Chicu on Monday opposed targeted censorship against Russian media and said that any media producing accurate information should have access to the Moldovan market.

In June, the Moldovan parliament adopted a new code for television and radio broadcasts that upholds the ban on Russian news programs, which has been in place since 2017.

"I personally think that press must be free and that consumers of information must have access to any information, except for [information] that distorts the truth and promotes extremism and violence. All media that broadcast information in line with the deontological ethics should have access to the Moldovan market," Chicu said at a press conference, replying to a journalist who asked him whether the ban on foreign broadcast, particularly coming from Russia, might be reconsidered.

That limitations on Russian broadcasting in Moldova might be removed was previously mentioned by President Igor Dodon and Parliament Speaker Zinaida Greceanii.

In 2017, the Moldovan parliament adopted legislation dedicated to fighting "foreign propaganda." The bill banned any tv and radio broadcasts with analytical, military and political content from any country that had not ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. Entertainment content was exempt from the ban.

The convention entered into force in 1993 and has been ratified by 34 European countries so far. Aside from Russia, it has not been ratified by Georgia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden.