Latvia
Latvia ranks 22nd in the RSF Press Freedom Index. The situation has improved each year, given the fact that the country ranked 39th in 2013. A remarkable achievement for a country that only 30 years ago was in the grip of totalitarian rule.
Since 1991 when Latvia regained independence, there have been fundamental changes of political, economic and social nature that have turned a former Soviet colony into a democratic country with a market economy.
Media landscape
Taking into account the size of the market, Latvia’s media can be considered well-developed. Research conducted by TNS Latvia (2017) showed that people evaluate media performance critically – 50% of the population trust the Latvian mass media, and the main sources of information are television and Internet news sites. Due to the various languages spoken, a linguistically diverse media environment has sprung up.
On several occasions, human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch but also the Council of Europe and OSCE, have reported problems. Especially with non-citizens – a special category for citizens of the former USSR who have neither Latvian nor another citizenship – for whom access to rights is limited. This also serves a challenge in terms of access to information for this minority group.
Safety
The Latvian authorities continue to move against pro-Kremlin media. They investigated the Baltic Media Alliance, a pro-Kremlin media holding company – which led to the closure of the Perviy Baltijskij TV channel’s news service, the ban on the Russian TV network RT, and arrests of local employees of pro-Kremlin media. Though according to many, the arrested persons were not journalists, but propagandists paid by the Kremlin. Transparency remains an issue when it comes to the motives of the security services and the National Electronic Mass Media Council who carried out these measures.
Several independent media companies have left Russia in recent years because of threats against their journalists and their work, and have set up operations in Latvia. The Latvian Association of Journalists and the police signed a statement guaranteeing journalists’ safety. Parliament passed a law banning regional and local municipal authorities from publishing news in the same way as the media, thereby satisfying long-standing demands by the media for an end to this form of unfair competition. Concern was expressed about the availability of information during the Covid-19 pandemic because governmental meetings were held behind closed doors and decision-making lacked transparency.
Free Press Unlimited’s partners
In Latvia Free Press Unlimited provides support for two Russian-speaking media outlets with a focus on the Russian-speaking audience in Baltic countries and abroad. Riga-based Spektr.Press, a Russian media outlet in exile, that also covers news from Russia, has a rare capacity to work on the occupied territories in Eastern Ukraine. Riga and Tallinn-based online news outlet NG-Baltia also covers a wide-range of topics, including the cultural events in Baltic countries.
Photo: "Riga - Latvia" by Ivan Zanotti Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.