The municipal radio station Antena C shut down the talk show Hyde Park last weekend in compliance with a decision of the electronic media observer CCA, which had demanded action to crack down on what it described "calls for violence, xenophobia, and upset of the constitutional order."

Antena C director Ion Bunduchi stated that the station closed the programme because it had turned into a live talk show of a handful of listeners, who felt no shame in using the night broadcast for obscene expressions. Moderator Oleg Brega - who controlled the broadcast - was accused of the failure to put listeners off air when they ventured outside the decency. The show would reopen after mid-September, under another name and content, Bunduchi said.

Brega stated that compliance of the station with the CCA's decision is a "betrayal". This decision is illegal and is a result of pressures from the communist authorities on the electronic media. "The panicking authorities only can close something that speaks out the truth," he said.

In turn, CCA chairman Ion Mihailo stated that the audiovisual council cannot be made responsible for the closure of the show, because the CCA had only asked the station "to take measures that its broadcasts meet the rules of Decency And the letter of law."

The audiovisual council CCA warned the municipal radio station Antena C a week ago of a possible withdrawal of the operating licence for failure to stop broadcasting the night talk show Hyde Park. The CCA said Antena C deliberately allowed the dissemination of calls to violence, xenophobia and upset of the existing constitutional order.

The CCA examined on Monday a request from the General-Prosecutor's Office to investigate Oleg Brega, producer of Hyde Park, for "anti-constitutional statements" of listeners aired by the programme during live shows.

As a result of a monitoring report presented by CCA member Ion Prigorschi, the council accused Antena C director Ion Bunduchi of failure to take action to cease the repeated calls of listeners to a reunification of Moldova with Romania, which the CCA described as a call the upset of the constitutional order, and for indecent criticism against the Russian minority.

In this context, CCA member Serghei Drobot proposed the withdrawal of the operating licence. This proposal did not win a necessary number of votes. Six members of the council suggested to warn the station about these irregularities and asked that the station "complies with the rules of decency" and other conditions within ten days.

If Antena C loses the licence, it will be unable to claim another one during the next three years.