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The “Familia” TV station was shut down for promoting “traditional family values”, the Găgăuz and Russian media writes. In fact, the TV station was facing a series of legal issues.
NEWS: The Audiovisual Council did not extend the broadcast licenses of two TV stations – Primul in Moldova and Familia. The official explanation has to do with irregularities identified with these two media outlets.
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Familia did not approach political topics and never criticized the power. It simply promoted traditional values, shared by the majority of Moldovans.
With the coming to power of a known party, LGBT ideology is now being endorsed. Therefore, TV channels that promote “traditional family propaganda” are considered an obstacle to the LGBT community and are shut down.
And if anyone believed members of the LGBT community want a bigger place for themselves under the sun, it’s time they woke up. They want the whole sun for themselves and swallow the opposition, namely all of us, the majority of normal people. Soon, they will be the new normal category, not us, men who love their women and women who love their men”.
NARRATIVES: 1. Moldovan authorities are shutting down TV stations that promote traditional family values. 2. The government in Chișinău imposes “LGBT ideology” and censorship.
BACKGROUND: For years, the Republic of Moldova has been the most exposed country from Central and Eastern Europe to Russian propaganda, according to a 2018 expert study that monitored 14 states in terms of three indicators: the extent to which the population is exposed to disinformation and propaganda, measures taken to combat these phenomena and vulnerability to digital warfare.
Later, with the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova expressed support for this country. Its government pursues a number of reforms, and one of the country’s priorities is European integration. As a result, Moldova has become the target of a hybrid warfare waged by Russia, which central authorities have criticized.
Against this backdrop, the Republic of Moldova has intensified its efforts to secure its information space, while some of these measures had been introduced before the invasion of Ukraine.
In December 2022, the Committee for Exceptional Situations decided to revoke the broadcast license of six TV stations that promoted propaganda, although most of these were owned or connected to wanted politician Ilan Shor.
The decision was taken “with a view to protecting national information space and preventing the risk of disinformation by spreading false information or attempts at manipulating public opinion”, and was based on “the conclusions of repeated reports of the Audiovisual Council regarding violations of the Code of Audiovisual Media Services in the Republic of Moldova, including the application of sanctions for failing to provide accurate information with a view to properly reflecting events in Moldova was well as the war in Ukraine”.
An important theme of Russian propaganda is tied to sexual minorities and the existence of a so-called “LGBT agenda” meant to promote a set of values and ideology at odds with traditional values that focus on the family and the Church. Russia is described as a center that defends these values, while “Gayropa” promotes LGBT values, including in the education system. This type of discourse is designed to undermine democratic values and human rights, which underlie liberal democracies and which also observe the rights of sexual minorities: these democratic values are a threat to the Kremlin because they contradict Putin’s authoritarian regime.
Moldovan society is rather conservative, and the Church enjoys a great deal of societal trust. A large number of Moldovan citizens favor Eurasian integration. LGBT, therefore, is a rather sensitive topic in the Republic of Moldova, and has been used to further political agendas, to discredit pro-European forces. The president herself, Maia Sandu, was the target of smear campaigns, particularly ahead of elections, standing accused of sympathizing with the LGBT minority and even being a member of this community.
PURPOSE: To promote the idea that the Republic of Moldova is ruled by an authoritarian regime. To associate Moldova’s European integration with sensitive topics and decisions that don’t enjoy society-wide support (in our case, providing sexual minorities with additional rights) in order to confuse supporters of European integration and reduce their numbers. The narrative also seeks to strike a balance with Russia, where “traditional values” are defended.
WHY THE NARRATIVE ARE FALSE: The Audiovisual Council in Chișinău did not issue a broadcast licence for the “Familia” (Family) TV station, which appears to be linked to the wanted oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, due the large number of violations of related regulations. “Over 2022-2023, REAL RADIO LLC, the founder of the Familia TV station, was handed ten fines totaling 157,000 lei for breaching provisions regulating the production of local programmes, a 7,000-lei fine for failure to comply with the General Regulations on media services and two public warnings, including for failing to observe regulations concerning cultural accountability”, the Audiovisual Council notes. Moreover, the Council also identified irregularities linked to the management of the station and information accuracy. The allegations regarding the introduction of censorship in the Republic of Moldova are widely circulated by Russian propaganda, which likes to quote one decision of the Committee for Exceptional Situations of December 2022, whereby the broadcast licenses of six television stations were revoked in the wake of manipulation accusations. In the last couple of years, Moldova’s climbed 60 positions in the press freedom index and is now ranked 28th in the world. Veridica has debunked several narratives of Russian propaganda linked to the introduction of censorship in the Republic of Moldova.
Moldovan authorities have taken several measures against propaganda and disinformation in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although these measures did not specifically target the media in Russia or any other country. The law bans the broadcast of certain categories of TV shows and refers to a number of states that did not ratify the European Convention on Cross-border Television. The Information and Security Service also blocked Romanian and Russian-language websites (including rubaltic.ru, which published several articles containing fake news and disinformation, which Veridica also debunked, e.n.), just as the Audiovisual Council issued warnings and fined both Romanian and Russian-language TV stations.
The installation of a dictatorship in the Republic of Moldova is another Russian propaganda narrative that uses the same terminology to refer to the entire Western world and suggest that Russia is a genuine democracy. The Republic of Moldova was ranked 69 in a standing of 167 countries taking part in the democracy index in 2022, published in February this year by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a British research and analysis company. The democracy index in the Republic of Moldova stood at 6.23 in 2022, a slight increase compared to the previous year. This was also Moldova’s highest ranking in the last seven years.
“Overall, as regards the political criteria, Moldova has a solid foundation in place to reach the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities”, the European Commission also noted in its opinion on the EU membership application of the Republic of Moldova, submitted and accepted in June 2022.
It is unclear what type of “LGBT ideology” the Moldovan government seeks to impose. No laws have been changed in this respect, and although the EU demands the observance of the rights of the LGBT minority, it has never imposed a specific agenda (for instance, in spite of certain false narratives picked up by the media in Russia and the Republic of Moldova, Brussels has never made the legalization of same-sex marriages a prerequisite to EU accession).
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