On 11 June, President of Latvia Egils Levits sent a letter to the Saeima and Cabinet of Ministers. In this letter President Levits identifies key steps that Latvia needs to take to enhance the independence, quality and diversity of commercial media.
According to President, national-level democratic discourse is an essential ingredient of any democracy. ‘It is a discourse space where people can find information and share their views about local, national, European or global issues that are important for our society and country. Strong and mature democracy can thrive and meaningfully evolve only if there are active people who are ready to join public conversations about issues relevant for society and state, people who are keen on and competent in how country is run, people who are ready to contribute to national policies through democratic participation. Availability of true and fair information and opportunity to exchange ideas with others is the very essence of democratic discourse,’ says the letter of the President.
‘Open democratic discourse has a lot more influence on how we see the world compared to information we can find around us. Our beliefs determine our actions or how we as citizen engage in social and political life and decisions affecting the whole society through elections and other participatory decision-making mechanisms provided in the constitution, Satversme,’ Egils Levits points out.
‘Public information sources that contribute to our worldviews and political and social actions are therefore directly responsible for quality and sustainability of our national policies, society and economy, as well as the overall development of the country,’ President Levits adds.
According to Egils Levits, democracies must take care of their fundamental elements: ‘That is something a state must do routinely. It should constantly strive for stronger democracy and democratic integrity. If any of its core values is threatened or weakened, state must respond. Latvia cannot afford to have a neutral position on the quality of democratic discourse space. According to the Preamble and Section 1 and Section 100 of the Satversme (Constitution), government has the positive obligation to act. It must make sure Latvian residents has access to best available sources of information and media diversity in terms of issues that are important and relevant for the society’.
President’s letter also indicates that media play crucial role in creating a full-fledged national democratic discourse space. Newspapers, radio stations, television channels and online websites have the power to reach large masses of people: ‘It is the duty of the public sector to provide policies that promote the accountability and quality of media content, and thus give media an opportunity to make a difference when it comes to national-level democratic discourse.’
Letter of President Levits also addressed the current situation in national media industry, describes the constitutional framework around freedom of speech as core element of democratic system, case-law of the Constitutional Court and Senate of the Supreme Court, and findings of international and European Union institutions on information space and mass media governance. President makes suggestions about criteria and solutions for better commercial media regulation, quality and diversity. Egils Levits also indicates other public service broadcasting improvements that are needed.
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Position paper on public support for strengthening of commercial media independence, integrity and pluralism prepared by President Levits was presented and discussed during an online conference organised by the President on 11 June. Participants included Minister for Finance Jānis Reirs, Minister for Culture Nauris Puntulis, Chair of the Saeima Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee Artuss Kaimiņš, Chair of the Media Policy Sub-committee of the Saeima Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee Vita Anda Tērauda, President of the Latvian Association of Journalists Arta Ģiga, CEO and Deputy Chair of the Board of Latvian Press Publishers Association Guntars Līcis, CEO of Latvian Association of Broadcasting Organisations and Chair of the Latvian Media Ethics Council Andris Ķēniņš and researcher of the Baltic Centre for Investigative Journalism ‘Re:Baltica’ Aija Krūtaine.
Various media followed the event as participants and were given an opportunity to ask their questions during a Q&A session that followed. Conference was live streamed on Delfi.lv, www.president.lv and President Levits’ YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts/channels.