2024-04-11 08:37:05
SEPLP states that it takes the letter of the Editorial Board of Latvian Radio with the utmost seriousness.
“It is very disturbing to hear that public media workers believe that the boundaries of their freedom of expression and editorial independence are shrinking. It cannot be denied that violent treatment of public media and other quality media journalists has significantly increased in recent years, which inevitably affects their ability to do their work Such an attitude, which the members of SEPLP have also felt towards themselves, is absolutely unacceptable,” emphasizes SEPLP.
The media supervisor reminds that the basic principles of public media defined in the Law on Public Electronic Media and Their Management stipulate that public media are free from political, economic, individual interest groups and other interference in their operation, and that the state ensures the independence of public electronic media. Adherence to these principles has always been and will be the main task of SEPLP, which requires appropriate understanding in the wider society, including among politicians and decision-makers. “It is necessary to continue working on it, not only by public discussion, but also by making relevant decisions,” SEPLP representatives believe.
Commenting on Latvijas Radio’s criticism of media “over-regulation and over-control”, the media supervisor agrees that the regulation of Latvian public media is currently one of the strictest in Europe. SEPLP states that one of their tasks is to organize this system by introducing and strengthening the most important reference points, as a methodology for assessing the public good, while abandoning unnecessary bureaucratic procedures. “We have already done a lot in this area, but there is still a lot to be done,” say representatives of the media watchdog.
On the other hand, commenting on the criticism of the need to prepare and publish LTV’s editorial policy on the selection, selection and publication criteria of “Lsm.lv” in the “Off the air” column, SEPLP emphasizes that it was not aimed at reducing the diversity of opinions, but on the contrary – at ensuring the diversity of opinions.
“It is important to understand the criteria by which this important task is performed, which is what the SEPLP calls for,” explain representatives of the media watchdog.
LETA already announced that Latvian Radio drew attention to the threat to freedom of speech and media independence in a public letter.
The letter states that, on the one hand, media freedom is threatened by public pressure, that is, journalists are exposed to hate speech attacks, which encourages journalists to self-censor. On the other hand, pressure comes from the “overregulation and overcontrol” of the public media, as well as the wishes of the ruling power, or insights about what the public media should be.
Later, LTV also publicly joined this statement.
2024-04-11 08:37:05