Journalists oppose giving media fund to broadcast regulator

Latvia’s Journalists Association has strongly opposed a government proposal to transfer administration of the Media Support Fund to the National Electronic Mass Media Council, the regulator of electronic media, LSM reported.

The association says placing media oversight and the distribution of substantial state funding for media under one institution would create risks of political influence, institutional conflicts of interest and newsroom self-censorship. It warned that the change could undermine media independence and trust in the impartial allocation of state support.

The proposal by the Ministry of Culture to redistribute programs run by the Society Integration Foundation would transfer the Media Support Fund’s administration to the council, while other support programs would go to ministries and the State Chancellery. The association said removing the fund’s core functions would effectively dismantle its current operating model. It said changes would need a clear explanation of how they would improve access to support and the independence of decisions, adding that claims of greater efficiency or depoliticisation would not be enough on their own.

The association noted that the council already has broad powers to oversee electronic media, including content checks, broadcasting licences and administrative offence proceedings. Transferring the fund to the council would mean that an institution able to make adverse regulatory decisions about a media outlet would also administer its access to state funding for journalism, it said.

The association argued that oversight and funding decisions should be institutionally separated to reduce media outlets’ dependence on a single decision-making body. It also questioned how the government would ensure that outlets under investigation or penalised by the council could compete for funding administered by the same institution on equal terms, and how appeals, public criticism or investigative reporting about the council would be protected from affecting future funding prospects.