Because of the rushed procedure and high risks of it weakening public media, workers of Latvijas Radio have sent an open letter to the government. In it, they request authorities to halt the merge of public media and halt the approval of amendments to the Law on Public Electronic Mass Media and Administration Thereof, as confirmed by LR workers in a public press statement.
According to LR workers, the rushed law amendments, which provide for the merge of Latvijas Radio and LTV starting with the 1st of January 2024, will not enhance public media, rather they will weaken them and increase the risk of political manipulation.
191 Latvijas Radio workers have signed the open letter so far.
The letter stresses that LR workers oppose the legislative amendments viewed in the Saeima, which provide for the merge of LR and LTV into a single company – Latvian Public Media.
«On Monday, the 27th of March, the ruling coalition will make the decision in regards to the planned changes. On Thursday, the 30th of March, the Saeima will vote in the final reading,» as mentioned in the statement from LR.
LR workers also mention that the Public Electronic Mass Media Council’s main task is forming a single public media that will be provided independent and predictable financing in accordance with the average level in Europe.
SEPLP considers tying the funding model to certain tax revenue,
allowing for the allocation of 1.3% of PIT and 2.12% from excise tax revenue starting with 2027.
LR stresses that a work group was put together for this purpose. Unfortunately, this group started its work a week ago, whereas the Ministry of Finance had mentioned in its last year’s report that SEPLP’s developed proposal for the merge of the two entities lists no clearly-defined costs. Thus the ministry does not support this matter’s continued review.
«Even now the benefits and costs of this merge remain unknown. In unofficial talks politicians do not hide the fact that there won’t be sufficient money to afford the merge of social media entities in the coming years,» LR workers explain, adding that «if the decision regarding the merge of public media is not adopted together with the concept regarding appropriate financing model, it means the merge of the media entities is unjustified.»
The letter also explains that «what is happening now implies that the process that revolves around this merge outlines politicians’ lack of understanding of the importance of public media in keeping Latvia’s information space strong. There is also an attempt by certain politicians to use the weakened state of public media to gain more influence over public opinions by using biased commercial media and social networks».
«This is why we invite halting law amendments until the benefits from the merge become clear. This is especially important now – in a time when Latvia’s information space is at serious external risks,» LR workers say, adding they have never been against changes that could help strengthen public media.
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