Teleradio Board sacks directors of national radio and television

The Supervisory Board (SB) of the national broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova today discharged Adela Raileanu and Veaceslav Gheorghesencu from the posts of director of the Moldova 1 television channel and director of Radio Moldova, respectively, for alleged serious violations of the professional obligations, Info-Prim Neo reports. A day earlier, the SB dismissed Valentin Todercan from the post of Teleradio-Moldova director. The Board had serious objections as to the programs produced by the public radio station and TV channel, citing shortcomings revealed by monitoring reports by the Council of Europe. The Board also accused the administration of Teleradio-Moldova of showing bias towards the Communist Party. “The administration simply affiliated itself with the previous government”, said SB member Aurelia Peru-Balan. SB secretary Viorica Cucereanu expressed her dissatisfaction with the attitude of the former administration about the Romanian language. “You deliberately neglected the name of the Romanian language and censored all the discussions on this subject”. Tudor Tataru, another SB member, lamented the poor quality and the lack of appeal of the programs on the national television channel, criticizing the administration for being “politically engaged”. The newly elected SB chairman Eugen Ribca admitted that the situation at the national radio station was better, yet “grave enough”, suggesting that little was done to implement the recommendations of the Council of Europe. Veaceslav Gheorgesencu replied that he lacked the funds required for the recommended reform. He received the support of SB member Mariana Slapac, the Board's former chairwoman, who praised Gheorghesencu for being a professional. “No one doubts here the professional qualities of Mr Gheorghesencu, nevertheless he was part of the team and violated the broadcasting standards”, said Igor Munteanu, also an SB member. The Board decided that Adela Raileanu and Veaceslav Gheorghesenco will serve as caretakers until the vacancies are filled.