Proposed LRT amendments will strengthen political pressure, warns media expert

The latest proposed amendments to Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT will further intensify political influence over its operations, a media expert has warned, as three universities criticise the government’s rushed and chaotic approach to reform.

In an interview with LRT’s Dienos tema programme, Dr. Džina Donauskaitė, a researcher at Vilnius University’s Journalism and Media Research Centre and a member of the LRT governance reform initiative, said the amendments undermine democratic oversight and ignore journalists’ concerns.

“A public broadcaster must be democratically governed, with decisions reflecting public interest—not political pressure,” Donauskaitė said. “Instead, these changes will only strengthen that pressure.”

She argued that the reforms, set for parliamentary debate after Easter, grant LRT’s governing board editorial control—an authority that should rest solely with journalists and content creators. For example, the board would oversee decisions such as which media outlets to invite for broadcasts or which international partners the Research Department may collaborate with, despite lacking journalistic expertise.

“Why should non-journalists on the board dictate who the Research Department works with?” Donauskaitė asked. “These are professional decisions that should be made independently.”

The amendments have drawn criticism from international broadcasters, including the BBC, as well as the European Broadcasting Union and the Venice Commission, all of which warn that the changes threaten LRT’s independence.

Kęstutis Vilkauskas, chair of the Seimas Culture Committee, defended the process, noting that academics had participated in earlier working groups. He welcomed further legal proposals from experts but maintained that the current draft had already incorporated diverse input.

The controversy follows months of protests by LRT journalists, who argue that the reforms—initially framed as responses to state audit recommendations or efforts to align with the BBC model—are instead aimed at tightening political control, particularly over the dismissal of the director-general and editorial content.