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State vs. Public:
Public Service Broadcasting in Moldova

By Natalia Angheli


The State Company TeleRadio Moldova is a public institution and cannot be
privatized, reads Article 7 of Moldovan Law on Broadcasting. The state equals public
stipulation of the law has been a source of amusement to some and of bewilderment to others.
For the staff of TeleRadio Moldova, as well as for all those trying to create a genuinely public
service broadcasting in Moldova, this misnomer has generated numerous problems. Dire
financial straits, frequent changes of management, partisanship, unbalanced reporting, and the
lack of clearly-defined development strategy - these are some of the consequences of the states
unwillingness to relinquish control over the company. Under the law, this is the only public
broadcasting institution in the country. And yet TeleRadio Moldova does not have any real
autonomy in financing and decision-making, and continues to promote the interests of the state
rather than those of the general public.
Until the early 1990s, TeleRadio Moldova was one of the few sources of broadcast
information for Moldovans. The countrys independence opened possibilities for the creation of
a diverse information market. More than 150 broadcasting licenses have been issued to TV and
radio stations, largely private ones. Still, TeleRadio Moldova remains the only company with
nationwide television and radio penetration. Its broadcasts reach more than 95 percent of the
nation's households. For the village people, as well as for town people who have no access to
cable networks, TeleRadio Moldova is the main source of information.
The 1995 law defines public broadcaster as an institution created using mostly state
capital but with the participation of other capital, public or private. Six years after the law was
passed and TeleRadio Moldova was proclaimed a public broadcasting institution, the funding for
the company still comes exclusively from the state coffers, and advertising revenues remain
inadequate. Both the companys television branch, TV Moldova, and its radio branch, Radio
National, are constantly struggling with soaring debts and plummeting equipment and program
quality. For 2001, the company has received 27 million lei (ca. USD 2 million) from the state
budget, the amount which barely covers a third of its needs. Meanwhile, arrears for services
provided by Radiocomunicatii communications provider currently stand at 12 million lei (ca.
USD 952,000).
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According to Anatol Barbei, TV Moldova general director, the equipment used by the
company is so shabby that its depreciation rate has reached 90 percent. This years budget
allocations for new TV technologies are just 800,000 lei (ca USD 63,000). This is a trifling
amount in conditions when it costs some $1 million to refurbish just one TV studio (according
to the estimates made by TV Moldova specialists). A needs assessment study carried out by the
BBC Project Management Service for Radio National in 1998, evaluated the needs of the branch
in adequate technological renovation at USD 7.2 million.
Financial troubles forced the management of TeleRadio Moldova to slash its amount of
broadcasting in August 2000. For five months, the daily broadcasts of TV Moldova did not
exceed four hours. During that time Radio National was forced to take its Luceafarul channel
off the air, and reduce daily broadcasts on its Channel 1 to 18 hours (on some frequencies, radio
broadcasts were slashed to 8 hours). According to Vasile Gribincea, general director of Radio
National, the staff was totally demoralized. Low job security coupled with low salaries
(average salaries of the company employees are 450 lei, less than half of the nationally-
established subsistence minimum) did not add to the attractiveness of positions at TeleRadio
Moldova. Young journalists prefer to look for employment at private TV and radio stations, and
the aging staff remains a major problem for the company.
As of J anuary 1, 2001, the amount of broadcasting on TeleRadio Moldova has been
increased - largely by reducing the capacity of signal transmitters. TV Moldova now broadcasts
eight hours a day, and Radio National - 34 hours a day (Channel 1 and the renewed broadcasts
of Luceafarul.) However, the threat of massive layoffs is still looming, as the government keeps
urging the management of the company to slash the personnel by almost half.
But it is not only through direct financing that Moldovan authorities exercise control over
the broadcaster. The chariman of TeleRadio Moldova, as well as his deputies - general directors
of radio and television, are appointed by parliament. When the Broadcasting Law was adopted in
1995, a stipulation was made in Article 7 that these appointments were made upon consultation
with the Audio-Visual Coordinating Council (CCA) - the national broadcasting oversight body.
Three years later, the parliament amended the law and revoked this checks and balances
provision. Now it has an absolute authority over the appointment and dismissal of the
broadcasters senior management. None of the companys directors has served the full five-year
term stipulated by law - they have been sacked at the average rate of one a year. These frequent
changes have reflected all the political fluctuations in the legislature and all the squabbles among
the branches of power. The news coverage on TeleRadio Moldova has been a sensitive
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barometer for the shifts in the countrys top political echelons, and it has become customary for
parliamentarians to call their appointees with direct orders of what to cover and how. Needless
to say, that it has seriously affected the credibility of TeleRadio Moldova broadcasts. The
companys managers have frequently complained that they have neither the authority nor the
time to effect real change at TeleRadio Moldova.
Im only now beginning to get an idea about how TV Moldova should be run, but Im
not even sure Ill be here after the elections, said Barbei, who had been appointed general
director of TV Moldova in J une 2000. Early general elections in Moldova are scheduled for 25
February, and various opinion polls forecast the victory of Communists.
The Audio-Visual Council, which is supposed to act as a watchdog for public interests
in the field of radio and television (Article 31 of the Broadcasting Law), has proved largely
ineffective in promoting the principles of public service broadcasting. Under the law, CCA is
charged with elaborating the concept for the development of the nations broadcasting.
Comprised of nine members (three appointed by parliament, three by the government, and three
by the president), the council is supposed to coordinate the activities of both private and public
broadcasters. Unfortunately, it has resigned itself to the role of passive onlooker, especially after
Parliament stripped it of any role in the appointment and dismissal of the TeleRadio Moldova
managers. According to the company directors, CCA has largely limited its role to approving
TeleRadio Moldova program listings and monitoring its coverage of election campaigns.
Three laws have been drafted in an attempt to change TeleRadio Moldova from an
amorphous institution into a strong and viable enterprise - two by Moldovan MPs and one by
CCA representatives. All three pledge to strengthen the status of a public broadcasting
institution and grant it more autonomy. Both the draft prepared by MP Stefan Secareanu and that
elaborated by his colleague Vasile Spinei propose to include representatives of civil society in
the administrative council of the public broadcaster. However, both drafts retain parliaments
control over the company by preserving its right to appoint members of the administrative
council and its chairman.
A better system of checks and balances is offered in the draft elaborated by CCA.
Under the proposed law, the Council coordinates the activity of the broadcaster and appoints
part of its administrative council, while parliament elects the other part. The companys
chairman is elected by the administrative council. A special clause in the draft would protect the
companys management from being arbitrarily sacked; dismissal is allowed only by court order
for violations stipulated in the law.
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All three drafts stipulate subscription fees for owners of TV and radio sets, sponsorship
contributions, advertising revenues, and allocations from the state budget as the main sources of
funding for the company. However, in the case of a deep economic crisis the public is unlikely
to support the idea of additional fees. Many media professionals agree that a more publically
acceptable way of supplementing the funding of the public broadcaster might be the allocation
of a certain percentage of the utility fees (e.g. electricity) to its needs.
None of these drafts has been examined by parliament and the most recent developments
do not inspire much optimism either. The leader of the Communist Party, one of the strong
favorites in the forthcoming general elections, has repeatedly snubbed the representatives of the
news media and threatened with reprisals if he comes to power. A parliament with a communist
majority will not be likely to relinquish its control over the countrys main broadcaster.
Despite bleak political forecasts, various Moldovan journalists groups are continuously
working to implement the project of public service broadcasting in Moldova. One of these, the
Association of Electronic Media (APEL) proposes a package rather than a piecemeal
approach - a package of three laws that would include a new broadcasting law, a law on national
public broadcasters, and a law on regional public broadcasters. This would create a
comprehensive system of public broadcasting in Moldova. The association plans to finalize
work on these laws in 2001. Meanwhile, an amendment to the existing Broadcasting Law
diversifying TeleRadio Moldovas funding sources could help solve some of the companys
immediate problems.
With concerted actions of journalists groups and through awareness-raising campaigns
carried out for the general public, it will be finally possible for Moldovan citizens to have a
broadcaster that would truly serve them.

Natalia Angheli, PhD is a senior consultant at the Independent J ournalism Center,
Chisinau.Media Online 2001. All rights reserved.