The Prosecutor General’s Office of Lithuania (LGP) has asked the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), to explain its conduct of journalistic investigations, LRT reports. LGP sent a detailed list of 15 questions to LRT’s director general, Monika Garbaciauskaite-Budriene, asking how the company regulated secret recordings internally. The questions relate to an ongoing criminal investigation into a recording pen that an LRT journalist allegedly left at a meeting of the ruling Lithuanian Social Democratic Party. LGP said that it was examining whether LRT’s internal rules violated the public interest, including people’s constitutional right to privacy. Several experts decried the LGP’s letter, saying it was an attempt to pressure and censor LRT. Meanwhile, the European Broadcasting Union expressed deep concern about the investigation, which it said could interfere with the editorial independence of public service media, LRT reported. Also, Reporters Without Borders warned that the investigation could expose confidential journalistic sources.
Headlines