TV Gagauzia

TV Gagauzia is the national public television station with nationwide coverage, being part of the Public Institution Gagauziya Radio Televizionu Public Company. Until 2007, television operated only 30 minutes per day and was available only in the Comrat municipality region. The situation changed after GRT received help from the Turkish Development and Cooperation Agency in 2007. In May 2022, the GRT Public Broadcasting Company stopped analog television broadcasting and was included in the national multiplex - digital terrestrial television, which today covers 98% of Moldova's territory. TV-Gagauzia broadcasts 24 hours a day and broadcasts 80% of its own content: 25% analytical programs, 20% cultural-educational programs, 14% music, 1% advertising, and 20% other genres.

The most important programs are: "News" - the main daily news bulletin, which appears in two languages, "De facto" - analysis and debate program, which appears in Romanian and other programs in Russian and Gagauz languages.

The history of television begins at the end of 1989, when local enthusiasts established the "TV Comrat" television studio in Comrat. As a result of reorganization processes in the late 90s, the television became regional and took the name "Gagauz TV". In 2000, with financial and technical support from the International Organization TIKA in Moldova, a radio association was established, and later, radio and television merged into a single media structure - the State Company "Teleradio Gagauzia". The company existed in this status for 7 years and was then transformed into a public one in accordance with the "Radio and Television Law" adopted in 2007 by the People's Assembly of Gagauzia. In March 2016, the People's Assembly of Gagauzia adopted a new Law "On Television and Broadcasting," under which TV-Gagauzia operates today. Several non-governmental organizations raised alarm then, mentioning that the draft law would violate national legislation and would generate limitation of freedom of expression in the region. Similarly, the draft law would contain many contradictions and would rebuild the Public Company on principles absolutely contrary to the public spirit of a broadcaster.

Eight years after adoption, experts found that the Law adopted in March 2016 does not have an integral and logically coherent structure. Among other things, a study from June 2024 mentioned that the law does not regulate the concept of propaganda and disinformation.

The editorial policy of the public television station in the Gagauz region has been influenced by the ruling political parties and leaders, with the television management or the Supervisory Council often being changed along with changes in governance.

The new management installed in 2022 promoted pro-Russian narratives and discredited Moldova's European integration. Several deputies of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia condemned the actions of the GRT Company's Supervisory Council chairman, Mihail Vlah, for supporting the former Shor party. He was accused of serving party interests and introducing censorship on television. The former GRT director, Ecaterina Jekova, and the former editor of the GRT website, Oxana Chihaial, also spoke about GRT management's subservience to the new power installed in Gagauzia and GRT's promotion of Moscow's propaganda narratives.

In recent years, GRT has been sanctioned several times by the Audiovisual Council, especially for spreading disinformation. At the same time, media NGOs have consistently expressed concern over the past year about ethical violations within the GRT company, condemning elements of censorship. Also scandalous was the television management's decision to broadcast programs from a TV station blocked by authorities, whose broadcasting license was not extended and which was affiliated with Ilan Shor. This decision was criticized by experts in the field, according to whom this situation is evidence that Ilan Shor controls the public broadcaster in the Gagauz region. The range of guests on TV-Gagauzia changed dramatically after Shor's control was established, say independent journalists from the region. People loyal to Shor began to be invited to shows, and politicians and deputies who expressed critical opinions about Shor and the Executive Committee of Gagauzia ceased to appear.