Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) told journalists on Monday, September 25, after the coalition meeting, that a sub-committee will be formed in the Saeima to evaluate the issue of merging public media.
Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) told journalists on Monday, September 25, after the coalition meeting, that a sub-committee will be formed in the Saeima to evaluate the issue of merging public media.
When asked whether public media workers will also be actively involved in the process this time, Siliņa said that the subcommittee should invite all involved parties to the discussion.
The Prime Minister also noted that the country has found additional funding for media support.
As reported, at the previously held public media conference, the Minister of Finance Arvils Asheraden (JV) said that it is important to understand what the public good is from merging public media and increasing funding.
“The legislature cannot set specific percentages for a sector, because that’s how we can divide the entire budget – this is for this and that for that. I urge you not to follow this fruitless path. This issue is for the public good. It is important for me to understand where it is all going,” he said. Asheraden.
He believes that there is already a certain perspective for the next three years, which is an increase of five million euros for public media every year.
Deputy Augusts Brigmanis (ZZS) reminded at the conference that there was a decision of the Saeima’s Human Rights and Public Affairs Commission, in which both the position and the opposition unanimously agreed that the public media were to be merged, and that the direction was to deal with the funding by 2025 question.
Saeima member Linda Liepiņa (LPV) expressed her belief that the funding of public media should be tied to the gross domestic product (GDP), because otherwise politicians will continue to influence the media and judge about it – whether and what indicators the media have achieved.
However, Asheraden disagreed with the audience, stressing that “0.12% of GDP does not give the answer to whether everything is good and whether we are moving in the right direction”.
