Lithuania’s ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) plans to draft a new bill to make it easier to dismiss the director general of the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), BNS reports. Under the proposed amendments, LRT’s council would be able to dismiss the company’s director with simple majority by secret…
The supervisory council of Estonia’s public broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR), has dismissed its long-term chairman, Rein Veidemann, ERR reports. Earlier, Veidemann had criticised an interview of a same-sex couple with two children that was aired on ETV, saying that the programme ran counter to the values of the majority of Estonians. ERR’s supervisory council elected…
Thousands of people gathered outside the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, on 9 December 2025 to protest against planned changes to the management of the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), BNS reports. Location data from mobile operators showed that around 40,000 people took part in the demonstration, DELFI reported. The protesters accused…
Staff at Lithuania’s public broadcaster, Lietuvos Nacionalinis Radijas ir Televizija (LRT), have announced a week-long protest against a proposal to make it easier to remove the company’s director general, LRT reports. During the action, the staff will hold brief moments of silence on air. Also, journalists plan a protest rally outside the Lithuanian parliament, the…
Several media outlets from Russia moved their editorial offices to Latvia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, LSM reports. Latvia has since issued over 6,000 visas to Russian citizens, of whom 500 are journalists and their family members. Dace Melbarde, parliamentary secretary at Latvia’s Foreign Ministry, said that giving Russian journalists an…
The budget and finance committee of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has approved a proposal to link state budget funding for the public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), to GDP growth as of 2026, BNS reports. Under the plan, LRT would continue to receive 1% of government income tax revenue and 1.3% of…
The proposal of Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) to begin monitoring media bias will only apply to programmes from third countries, TTJA director general Kristi Talving announced, ERR reports. She apologised for the confusion caused by TTJA’s proposal, saying that the agency should have clarified that the new rules would only apply…
Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, Tiit Riisalo (Estonia 200), said that the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) had the right to protect Estonia’s media space from propaganda channels of hostile states, ERR reports. Riisalo said that TTJA had blocked 51 TV channels and 273 websites to date. Also, he noted that…
Estonia’s daily newspapers, Eesti Päevaleht and Postimees, strongly criticised in their editorials on 5 July 2023 the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority’s (TTJA) proposed legislation to monitor the truthfulness, impartiality, and balance of news programmes, ERR reports. Both editorials strongly rejected the notion of state intervention in media, emphasising the importance of media freedom…
