On Tuesday, the 20th of June, during his meeting with the Public Electronic Mass Media Council (SEPLP), President of Latvia Egils Levits stressed that the Cabinet of Ministers and the Saeima need political will to make the necessary decisions to create a unified public media.
In his discussion with representatives of the council Jānis Siksnis, Sanita Upleja-Jegermane and Jānis Eglītis, the president touched on the topic of SEPLP’s developed guidelines, the funding models for the merged media facility, other EU member states’ public media funding and development experience. According to Levits, “SEPLP has done a good job”.
“One of the cornerstones of a democratic country is having strong public media. […] Now the Cabinet of Ministers and the Saeima have to make political decisions on the merge and financing model.
Politicians have to be able to make important decisions.
A merge would help use state funding more efficiently. I would create an opportunity to develop digital platforms, which would help expand the audience. I also consider content expansion, diversification and increase of content quality as equally important tasks,” said the president.
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