After a number of consumers of mass media programs filed notifications, the Press Council of Moldova launched its own inquiry into the broadcasting of features containing morbid details of crimes and of suicidal techniques and of a feature that violates the rights of minors in the program “Guard Unit” on Canal 3 TV channel and on the website www.canal3.md.  It afterward requested the Broadcasting Coordination Council to penalize this channel, IPN reports.

The Press Council established that the features “Awakening, woman stabs partner” and “Woman finds partner strangled in bathroom”, broadcast on June 19, including during prime time, violate the provisions of the Journalist’s Deontological Code of Moldova, which bans the provision of morbid details of crimes, accidents and natural disasters or of suicidal techniques.

Also, the feature “Minor with over 20 criminal cases started against him – terror of Buiucani district”, broadcast on June 16, violates the deontological norms that oblige the journalists and media outlets to protect the identity of minors involved in such events as accidents, offenses, family disputes and cases of suicide and the principles of presumption of innocence.

The Press Council asked the owners and editors of Canal 3 to adjust the editorial policy of the program “Guard Unit” to the principles of professional journalistic deontology and to exclude the cases of violation of children’s rights and presentation of morbid details of crimes. It also requested the Ministry of the Interior not to provide images of the crime scene to the media outlets until the investigation is completed and court decisions are passed to ensure the protection of minors.

The Broadcasting Coordination Council was asked to determine if the mentioned features broadcast by Canal 3 meet the legal provisions, including of the Broadcasting Code, the Broadcasters’ Code of Conduct and the law on protection of children against the negative impact of information, and to impose the appropriate penalties.