Prosecutors question LRT over secret recording rules

Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has sent LRT 15 questions about its rules for secretly gathering information, prompting criticism from journalists who say the inquiry risks interfering with editorial independence. LRT reported that prosecutors are investigating a possible breach of the public interest.

The office asked LRT director Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė for information about the broadcaster’s editorial policy on covert information gathering. Under the policy, a journalist may secretly gather information when there is evidence that the conduct being documented could show unlawful or dishonest actions and the matter is clearly in the public interest. The journalist must also obtain advance permission from a responsible editor.

The prosecutors’ questions cover who may request permission for secret audio or video recording, what information an application must include, and whether specific people and evidence must be identified. They also ask what criteria are used to assess suspected wrongdoing and whether the information could be obtained by other means.

The office also asks how an editor grants permission, whether approval can be given verbally, who ensures recording stays within the approved limits, and when the editor is informed of the results. Other questions concern who decides whether suspicions are substantiated, how long recordings may be kept, and whether their destruction must be documented.

Birutė Davidonytė, head of the Association of Professional Journalists, called the inquiry “nonsense” and said covert recording is an established investigative method used in exceptional cases to expose crimes or other violations of public interest. She said it was not a practice journalists use routinely and questioned why prosecutors were seeking to assess whether it is permissible.

Mindaugas Aušra, chair of LRT’s Editorial Policy Oversight Commission and a journalist in the broadcaster’s investigative unit, also criticized the request, according to LRT.