Gagauz Autonomous Region
TV Gagauzia and GRT FM are part of the Public Institution Gagauziya Radio Televizionu Public Company (GRT).
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 a monitoring report on the implementation of the Audiovisual Code, ten media and human rights associations claimed that the process of liquidating the State Company "Teleradio-Gagauzia" and creating the Regional Public Broadcasting Institution "Teleradio-Gagauzia" Company took place in conditions of non-transparency, lack of cooperation with civil society, with deviations from the provisions of the Audiovisual Code and local legislation in the field. Local experts also emphasized that the Law adopted in 2007 was parallel to the Audiovisual Code from Chisinau and created the risk that, in the absence of synergies in the reform of local and national legislation in the audiovisual field, contradictions could arise between the two. At the same time, the fact that the People's Assembly of Gagauzia allocated itself powers to form the GRT Supervisory Council had a negative impact on the Company's activity. The leadership of the People's Assembly intervened in the company's management, which caused a management crisis at GRT, starting in 2013.
In March 2016, the People's Assembly of Gagauzia adopted a new Law "On Television and Broadcasting," under which the public company "Gagauziya Radio Televizionu" operates today as the public broadcaster in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauz Yeri.
According to this law, the governing body of the Company is the Supervisory Council, which is superior to GRT. The Supervisory Council is an independent autonomous body, representing Gagauzia's society, which exercises supervision and control over the Company's activities. The Council has nine members, appointed by the People's Assembly of Gagauzia, for a single four-year term. These are representatives of civil society from Gagauzia, specialized in various fields of activity.
The Council approves the GRT Company statute, its operational and organizational regulations, develops strategies aimed at preserving the ethnic, historical-cultural, and linguistic identity of the Gagauz people, publishes Company evaluation reports, and at the proposal of the Company's executive director, appoints and dismisses their deputies - the television editor-in-chief and radio editor-in-chief. The Council also organizes the competition for the position of company general director.
The Company is led by an executive director, appointed by the Supervisory Council following a competition. The executive director is appointed for a 4-year term. The operation of the Gagauz public media service provider is ensured by the executive director and their deputies. They develop the draft budget, and the Supervisory Council approves it, after which the document is sent for examination to the Executive Committee of Gagauzia, and subsequently to the People's Assembly of Gagauzia for adoption.
Experts from the Public Association Piligrim-Demo noted in 2016 that through the adoption of the local Audiovisual Law, practically all company management competencies were transferred to the GRT Supervisory Council, thus violating the balance of power between management and the company's supervisory council, and the People's Assembly of Gagauzia obtained the right to remove Council members without any explanation, thus undermining the independence of the GRT Company
