In an open letter sent to the National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP), Latvian Association of Journalists (LZA) details that this institution’s actions, in punishing TVNET internet platform for what NEPLP called insufficiently accurate use of words, is censure and puts at risk freedom of speech.
In a statement sent to the Saeima’s Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee, LZA invites NEPLP to immediately cancel its applied penalty on TVNET without waiting for a verdict of the court. The Saeima committee is asked to commence an inspection to check if NEPLP members’ actions do not breach regulations that guarantee the freedom of speech and thought in Latvia.
LZA reminds that:
“Article 100 of the Constitution states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to freely receive, keep and distribute information and to express his or her views. Censorship is prohibited.”
The 18th of May 2023 decision Nr. 199/1-2 from NEPLP applied a fine of EUR 8 500 on TVNET LLC “for failure to comply with due diligence and neutrality”. According to the council, the media has breached regulations of the Electronic Mass Media Law because the “discussion of possible amendments to the Immigration Act bby one of their programmes was incorrect, one-sided and misleading”.
According to the text from NEPLP’s decision, TVNET was punished after the interview with Saeima deputy and For Stability! political party leader Aleksejs Rosļikovs and the word “deportation” and its interpretations during the interview.
According to NEPLP, the use of this word and its interpretation, especially in March, considering the deportations of Latvian residents by the USSR to far-away regions, is “associated with negative emotions about the country’s occupation and repressions against citizens of the Republic of Latvia”.
Although NEPLP’s decision itself quotes the interpretation of the word “deportation” – “forced deportation, transfer, expulsion (on political or criminal grounds based on law or decision by public authorities)”, at the same time it argues that the programme “does not respect the principles of due accuracy and neutrality in the use of the term “deportations/deportations”, contrary to its meaning”.
Attempts to punish media for interviewed persons inaccurately, but not legally or linguistically, using some word, would make
sense for an authoritarian or totalitarian country, but not the Republic of Latvia.
LZA invites NEPLP to follow the Constitution, as well as the law that governs the institution’s activities.
Also read: UN concerned about reduced freedom of press around the world