Gagauzia Radio Televizionu (GRT)

GRT is the regional public broadcaster of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia and one of the principal institutional producers of television and radio programming in the Gagauz language, a Turkic tongue spoken by Gagauz communities in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Alongside its own programming it rebroadcasts selected content from Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT. Its governance is the subject of a contested bill that passed first reading in the Moldovan Parliament on 25 August 2026.

Media assets

Television: TV Gagauzia

Radio: GRT FM

Ownership and governance

GRT operates under the 2016 Broadcast Act of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, alongside Moldova’s Audiovisual Media Services Code.

GRT’s Observers Council has nine members, appointed by the People’s Assembly for single four-year terms. It exercises extensive authority over statutes, strategic direction, organisation, senior appointments and budgeting. Local experts have repeatedly noted that appointments and dismissals align closely with the People’s Assembly’s political composition.

Director Vasile Dermenji resigned in November 2025. Zinaida Popa was identified as interim director in August 2026, and State Media Monitor could not confirm that a permanent director had been appointed by September.

Bill no. 291/2026, introduced by the PAS deputies Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei, Marcela Adam and Virgiliu Pâslariuc and registered on 31 July 2026, would insert a dedicated chapter on the regional public media services provider into the Audiovisual Media Services Code. Parliament approved it in first reading on 25 August 2026. It is not enacted law.

Under the bill, a five-member regional Supervisory Council would replace the present nine-member Observers Council, with members chosen by the national Audiovisual Council rather than appointed by the People’s Assembly. Candidates would have to be of integrity and hold professional qualifications in fields including journalism, culture, the creative industries and ethnic minority integration policies. That Council would designate the GRT director through public competition, for a seven-year term with no right to a second mandate, requiring higher education and at least five years’ experience. A regional Managerial Committee would also be constituted. Funding would continue from the budget of the Gagauz autonomy.

The structure mirrors the reform applied to the national broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova, whose Supervisory Council appointments passed from Parliament to the Audiovisual Council on 21 August 2025. The bill is contested by three institutions.

GRT maintained that it had not been involved in the consultation process and subsequently submitted a negative opinion.

The People’s Assembly has demanded complete removal of the relevant provision. Its opinion argues that the Assembly would retain no powers over forming, appointing or revoking GRT’s leadership despite being the institution’s founder and funding it through the autonomy’s budget.

The Government’s formal opinion identified unresolved questions concerning the provider’s legal form, founder, property, continuity with the present institution, interim management, appointments and budget supervision. The reform is therefore not a settled governance model.

The language requirement remains unsettled. The first-reading text did not require the director to know Gagauz, notwithstanding that requirement in the current regional legislation, while making knowledge of the state language obligatory. The Government subsequently recommended requiring proficiency in both Romanian and Gagauz, leaving the final provision open.

Source of funding and budget

GRT receives subsidies from the budget of the Gagauz autonomy and may earn its own revenue. The pending bill would leave the funding source unchanged.

GRT has published activity reports containing budget-execution information, although the figures are not separated cleanly between its television and radio operations.

Turkey’s development agency TİKA has supported specific programming projects. That establishes project-based content support rather than recurring operational funding.

Editorial independence

GRT is protected in law by Moldova’s Audiovisual Media Services Code, which guarantees editorial autonomy. Practice has diverged sharply, and the regulatory record is extensive.

The Audiovisual Council has sanctioned GRT repeatedly. In April 2024 it was fined MDL 60,000 for disinformation, hate speech and failures relating to information security. In March 2025 it was fined MDL 85,000 for promoting political actors, imbalance and bad-faith reporting. During the 2025 election campaign it received two further fines of MDL 30,000 and a one-day advertising suspension. In October 2025 the Press Council expelled GRT from the signatories to the Journalistic Code of Ethics.

Journalists have alleged that management removed a report challenging a politically promoted gas scheme, and that communications from the regional Executive Committee were treated as editorial instructions.

Monitoring has found an almost complete absence of coverage of regional corruption, with two stories in six months and none implicating local officials.

Amendments proposed by the regional assembly in mid-2024 sought to create a parallel licensing mechanism and introduce employee reviews by commissions including political appointees. Media organisations condemned the proposals as undermining press freedom and national legal coherence.

Analyses have documented the influence of the exiled oligarch Ilan Shor’s network in Gagauzia’s media landscape.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published GRT policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure, and could not establish the extent of adoption in production.

State Media Monitor did not establish whether Moldova has adopted a statutory framework requiring disclosure of AI-generated content in broadcasting.

Classification rationale

GRT remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC) under the law and institutional arrangements in force in September 2026.

It is regionally publicly owned and politically governed. GRT is a public institution of the Gagauz autonomy. Its nine-member Observers Council is appointed by the People’s Assembly for single four-year terms and exercises extensive authority over strategy, organisation, senior appointments and budgeting. No governance mechanism independent of the regional political authorities was identified.

It is predominantly regionally state-funded. GRT receives subsidies from the budget of the Gagauz autonomy and may earn its own revenue. Budget-execution information has been published in institutional activity reports.

Its editorial independence is compromised in practice. The Audiovisual Council has repeatedly sanctioned GRT for disinformation, imbalance, political promotion and other breaches. Journalists have reported the removal of politically inconvenient material and editorial instructions originating from the regional Executive Committee. Monitoring has also found an almost complete absence of scrutiny of corruption involving regional officials. These findings outweigh the formal guarantees of editorial autonomy contained in national and regional legislation.

Bill no. 291/2026 has no effect on the present classification. If enacted, it would transfer appointment of the regional Supervisory Council from the People’s Assembly to the national Audiovisual Council and introduce competitive selection of the director. The Government’s review nevertheless identified unresolved questions concerning the provider’s legal continuity, founder, property, interim management, budgeting and language qualifications. The classification should be reconsidered only after the final legislation enters into force, the new governing bodies are appointed and their operation can be assessed.

September 2026