Tiraspol Times frontpage

Moldova jams out Pridnestrovie TV and radio from the airwaves

Stepping up the information war, Moldova has installed new equipment which interferes with Pridnestrovie-based broadcasts. Pridnestrovie's government protested the move in letters to Moldova, the OSCE and the two countries which will oversee and guarantee Pridnestrovie's legal status. No jamming takes place in Pridnestrovie against Moldovan radio or TV signals.

By Karen Ryan, 05/May/2008

PMR President Igor Smirnov listens as Communications Minister Vladimir Belyayev explains Moldova's new jamming strategy

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Throughout the length of the Dniester river, Moldova has placed a series of jamming devices which interfere with the radio- and TV signals that broadcasters in Pridnestrovie distribute to their customers.

The new jamming equipment was installed and turned on in the last week of April, Information and Telecommunications minister Vladimir Belyayev told Pridnestrovie's President Igor Smirnov during an emergency meeting at the offices of the unrecognized country's presidential administration in Tiraspol.

Established as the latest step in an "information war," Moldova's strategy is to interfere with the broadcasts from both public and private radio and TV stations in Pridnestrovie (also known as Transnistria or Transdniester). The worst hit TV station is a local community channel in Bender, Pridnestrovie's second largest city, which broadcasts with limited strength and whose equipment is located in close proximity to the new interference and blackout equipment that Moldova installed.

To protest this move, Pridnestrovie's Ministry of Information and Tele-communications sent letters of complaint to its counterpart in Moldova. The OSCE was also notified, as well as Russia and Ukraine which are designated as the two "guarantor"-countries for Pridnestrovie's eventual Permanent Status settlement with Moldova.

It is believed that the new Moldovan jamming serves a double purpose: On one hand, it prevents Moldova's citizens from finding out what is going on in Pridnestrovie straight from the source, and from hearing Pridnestrovie's viewpoint in the long running conflict between the two sides. On the other hand, and as an extra bonus, it also interferes with the broadcasting capability in Pridnestrovie domestically, and prevents a number of PMR households from picking up Pridnestrovie-based free-to-air TV and radio channels easily. It is the latter result that Pridnestrovie's government is now complaining to Moldova about.

No jamming in Pridnestrovie

Pridnestrovie does not jam or otherwise interfere with TV- or radio signals from Moldova in any way. Moldovan TV and radio, as well as Deutsche Welle and a number of other foreign stations, can freely be picked up in the PMR.

Some of these channels, including BBC, have been re-broadcast locally by Pridnestrovie-based cable TV stations. Since November 2007, Moldova's NIT TV channel has also been broadcast freely in Pridnestrovie despite the fact that NIT TV is a channel which is politically aligned with Moldova's government and in favor of letting Moldova rule over Pridnestrovie inside a single Moldovan-dominated state.

Moldovan newspapers are also available and sold openly in Pridnestrovie with no censorship whatsoever. The opposite is not the case.

Moldova originally signed an agreement in 2001 which allowed for newspapers from Moldova to be available to Pridnestrovie and newspapers from Pridnestrovie to be available in Moldova. However, only Pridnestrovie has kept the agreement. In 2005, Moldova broke the agreement and unilaterally banned the import and distribution of all newspapers and magazines from Pridnestrovie. Today, PMR news media is currently banned in Moldova and not a single newspaper from Pridnestrovie can be found legally anywhere in Moldova.

See also:
» Transdniestria to show Moldova TV freely, but Moldova won't reciprocate
» Pridnestrovie's newspapers banned in Moldova