Dragos Vicol, president of Moldova’s Audiovisual Council, CCA, the country’s chief media regulatory body, issued a decree ordering media in Moldova to refrain from printing or broadcasting ‘opinion’ and to convey only the position of authorities during a state of emergency imposed to aid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The order met with a storm of criticism from journalists and media associations.“Journalists will unilaterally renounce formulating their own opinion or other arbitrary opinions in reflecting on topics concerning the COVID-19 pandemic,” the order read. The following day, Vicol tried to defend the order, saying it referred only to “unqualified opinion”. The media, he told the TVR broadcaster, should get their information from the World Health Organisation, WHO-approved sites, the government and the health ministry, “not from persons who bear no responsibility.”
Covid-19Censorship and regulationPublication ban, take-down order or forced deletion, fine, administrative action