LRT journalists said on Wednesday that they were resuming protests against attempts to politicise the public broadcaster, adding that the main demonstration organised by activists and a media association will take place outside the parliament on July 8.
The protests first began in December last year after lawmakers from the governing coalition proposed legal changes to reduce the number of votes needed to dismiss the director general.
In response, journalists called on lawmakers to depoliticise the LRT supervisory council and abandon the proposed changes, which they said would increase political control. The largest of several protests at the time attracted more than 10,000 people, becoming the biggest demonstration in years.
Further reading
Journalists say the new draft law prepared in the working group goes further than the original version.
“It could open the way to a takeover of the public broadcaster,” Birutė Davidonytė, chair of the Association of Professional Journalists (ŽPA), told reporters on Wednesday.
The draft proposes restricting the participation of other media organisations in the production of LRT content.
According to Davidonytė, this showed that intention to remove critical voices from LRT.
“Joint journalistic investigations and other collaborative projects with different media organisations could also be restricted.
Under this law, individuals delegated by politicians would effectively decide who can speak on LRT and who cannot. To me, this strongly resembles the old Soviet Glavlit censorship system,” Davidonytė said.
Indrė Makaraitytė, an LRT journalist and representative of the initiative group at the public broadcaster, said the supervisory LRT Council had reacted very negatively to plans to resume the protests.
“Colleagues received calls from the council chair, with suggestions that we might be violating the code of ethics. This shows that these protests are inconvenient. Neither the ruling politicians nor, effectively, the LRT Council, which currently reflects their political views, want to hear journalists’ position,” she said.
“They appear to support this draft, which expands the council’s powers to interfere in editorial policy,” she added, noting that LRT journalists would resume moments of silence on air.
What is being proposed?
The new amendments are currently being considered by the Seimas Committee on Culture, but opposition representatives say they once again see the ruling majority “pushing through” changes.
The latest draft introduces a formal definition of the national broadcaster’s mission, which is not included in the current law. It also proposes the creation of a new governing body – a board – and an increase in the size of the LRT Council from 12 to 15 members.
The organisations that will delegate the additional councillors also include members of the political parties that are currently in power, journalists previously said.
The current LRT Council includes four members delegated by the president, two by the parties in power and two by the parliamentary opposition. The other six members are delegated by various civil society groups.
The new draft law also proposes setting specific requirements for council members and amends the grounds for dismissing the LRT director general before the end of their term.
It proposes that the director could be removed for improper performance of duties, violations of the public interest, serious misconduct, or failure to meet standards of good reputation.
However, the requirement for a two-thirds majority vote to dismiss the head of LRT on grounds of no confidence would remain unchanged. The requirement for an open vote would be removed, leaving the voting method to be decided by the LRT Council.
The bill has passed its first reading in the Seimas. The ruling majority has also decided not to seek a government opinion on the draft law.
The protest on April 8 is being organised by the Association of Professional Journalists (ŽPA), Kultūros Asamblėja (Cultural Assembly) activists and an initiative group of journalists at LRT.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
