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Moldova Might Kick Independent TV Station Off The Air

December 11, 2008
Moldova's most popular independent TV station says the country's media authority is using "unfounded" arguments to refuse to extend its license into 2009.

ProTV, a Moldovan subsidiary of one of Romania's news channels, said the CCA media authority has accused it of failing to comply with Moldovan media standards by not broadcasting news bulletins for the deaf, airing too many commercials, and for refusing to stop rebroadcasting news originating in Romania.

CCA member Cornel Mihalache told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service that ProTV's license will not be automatically extended when it expires on December 23. But he said the station will be allowed to compete for a new license.

ProTV has lately been criticized by Moldova's ruling Communist Party for alleged bias toward the opposition and Romania.

Ties between Romania and Moldova are strained.
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by: MaGioZal from: São Paulo - SP, Brazil
December 14, 2008 16:42
This move reminds me the move made before by Hugo Chávez to close one of the main TV stations of Venezuela under similar excuses. Curiously, both Chávez and Voronin have very friendly relaions with Russia, which years ago closed or bought all TV stations that were not aligned with the Kremlin.

And the tensions between Moldova and Romania are similar to the tensions between Venezuela and Colombia recently.

Are the Communist Party of Moldova trying to control the media to revert the prospects of losing the power in the next elections? Well, time will tell...
     
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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.
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