Teleradio-Moldova (TRM)

Teleradio-Moldova is Moldova’s national public service media provider, constituted as the Public Institution Company Teleradio-Moldova and operating under the Audiovisual Media Services Code. It runs two television channels and four radio services.

Media assets

Television: Moldova 1 and Moldova 2

Radio: Radio Moldova, Radio Moldova Tineret, Radio Moldova Muzical and Radio Moldova Comrat

Radio Moldova Comrat launched in July 2025. The radio services use sections of the shared Radio Moldova platform rather than separate websites.

Ownership and governance

TRM was founded by Parliament and operates under the Audiovisual Media Services Code. Governance runs through a Supervisory Council exercising strategic oversight and a Director-General heading the management committee.

Amendments that entered into force on 21 August 2025 transferred appointment of TRM’s nine-member Supervisory Council from Parliament to the Audiovisual Council. Members are selected through public competition and appointed at a public meeting by a two-thirds vote. The Supervisory Council appoints the Director-General through competition.

The reform removes Parliament’s direct role in appointing TRM’s supervisors and executive leadership, but does not eliminate political exposure. Four of the Audiovisual Council’s seven members are nominated by political institutions, two through Parliament, one by the President and one by the Government, with three nominated by civil society, and all seven are formally designated by Parliament. The director of the Independent Press Association, Petru Macovei, assessed the reform as increasing civil society involvement and reducing political control. OSCE/ODIHR concluded that the amendments increased civil-society representation and reduced parliamentary control, while also noting broader regulatory discretion, closed deliberations and the removal of one-term limits for members of both the Audiovisual Council and TRM’s Supervisory Council.

Implementation remains incomplete. Only one new Supervisory Council member, Valentina Iusuphodjaev, had been appointed through the new procedure by March 2026, and a competition for another vacancy attracted no candidate by its initial deadline. Most of TRM’s existing supervisors were appointed under the former parliamentary system.

Vlad Țurcanu resigned on 18 May 2026 and remains acting Director-General until a successor is appointed, for a period of no more than six months. Four candidates were admitted to interviews scheduled for 22 September 2026.

Parliament has moved to apply the depoliticised appointment structure to Gagauzia’s regional broadcaster GRT, with a regional supervisory council to designate its director through public competition while funding continues from the autonomy’s budget.

Source of funding and budget

TRM’s budget comprises state subsidies and its own revenue.

Audited figures show state transfers of MDL 148.9 million in 2023 and MDL 185.8 million in 2024, against own-source revenue of MDL 18.9 million and MDL 24.5 million respectively. The state shares were therefore approximately 88.7 and 88.4 per cent. The 2026 allocation is approximately MDL 221 million.

A Court of Accounts audit published in November 2025 identified significant deficiencies. It found spending exceeding approved item-level limits by approximately MDL 21.5 million, along with weaknesses in budgeting, procurement and asset management, and problematic reciprocal employment arrangements involving the Director-General and council leadership.

TRM disputed some interpretations, explaining that much of the amount concerned depreciation, provisions and late-arriving funds rather than additional cash expenditure, and said the recommendations were being implemented.

Editorial independence

TRM enjoys editorial independence in law under the Audiovisual Media Services Code. In practice its autonomy has been the subject of recurrent political debate.

Historically regarded as a government mouthpiece, TRM’s editorial stance has become noticeably more balanced over the past decade. Moldovan journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in April 2024 and March 2025 said editorial decision-making is not systematically dictated by politics, even if coverage sometimes appears to favour the governing Party of Action and Solidarity.

Independent election monitoring qualifies that assessment. OSCE/ODIHR monitoring of Moldova 1 during the September 2025 parliamentary election found that the channel was noticeably more critical of the Patriotic Bloc, that its talk shows indirectly favoured PAS through a pro-European narrative and emphasis on the Government’s anti-corruption activity, and that it produced little in-house analytical or investigative programming. That does not establish systematic government direction, but it means claims of improving balance should not be presented without qualification.

TRM operates an internal Ombudsman service to evaluate programming, handle viewer complaints and mediate between the public and management, issuing annual reports that document editorial missteps and propose corrective measures. It is an internal accountability mechanism rather than an independent external safeguard.

The Supervisory Council also exercises substantive editorial oversight. At its sitting of 22 November 2024 it heard a report on the variety and quality of analysis and debate programmes on Radio Moldova and recorded its findings on the editorial policy pursued during 2024 in a formal decision.

The July 2025 amendments broadened the Audiovisual Council’s powers to regulate online content, introduced definitions of disinformation and hate speech, and prohibited material endangering national security or inciting hatred, violence or discrimination. A separate bill requiring television stations to broadcast at least 50 per cent of output between 06:00 and 24:00 in Romanian or dubbed into Romanian was approved only in first reading on 25 August 2026, and was intended to take effect on 1 January 2027 if finally enacted.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published TRM 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

TRM is classified Independent State-Funded (ISF).

It is predominantly state-funded. Audited figures show that state transfers represented approximately 88.7 per cent of recorded state and own-source revenue in 2023 and 88.4 per cent in 2024. Its 2026 state allocation is approximately MDL 221 million.

Its governance contains substantive statutory safeguards. Since August 2025, Supervisory Council members have been appointed by the Audiovisual Council through public competition and a two-thirds vote, while the Director-General is selected by the Supervisory Council through competition. Parliament no longer appoints either body directly.

Its editorial independence is protected institutionally but imperfect in practice. The Ombudsman service and Supervisory Council monitoring provide functioning accountability mechanisms. OSCE/ODIHR nevertheless found that Moldova 1’s 2025 election coverage indirectly favoured the governing PAS and was more critical of the Patriotic Bloc.

On balance, the removal of direct parliamentary appointments, competitive leadership procedures and functioning accountability structures support the ISF classification. The classification should be reviewed after completion of the Supervisory Council transition and the first Director-General appointment under the amended Code.

September 2026