It turned out that in Latvia they still watch TV from the Russian Federation

Exclusively in Russian

The study, entitled “The Public Good of Public Media 2024,” showed that Latvian public media is consumed exclusively in Russian by 22% of the country’s national minorities.

This audience listens to Latvian Radio 4 and/or reads public media news in Russian on the Internet, but does not use other Latvian public media channels, including social networks.

The author of the study, sociologist Andris Saulitis, notes that according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office, about 700 thousand non-Latvians live in Latvia. Accordingly, 22% is about 155 thousand representatives of ethnic minorities.

They’re looking in the wrong direction

At the same time, the study showed that people who use public media exclusively in Russian are likely to watch Russian TV channels banned in Latvia more often.

According to the study, 21% of minorities who use public media in both Latvian and Russian at least once a week also use banned Russian TV channels. At the same time, 30% of respondents who reach public media only in Russian use banned Russian TV channels. In the group of respondents who do not use Latvian public media at all, 24% watch banned channels from the neighboring country.

According to the management of Latvian Television (LTV), each person will always make his own choice when he wants to consume content in the language and in the way that is most familiar and convenient to him. Therefore, it is likely that preference will be given to content produced by commercial media or other information sources rather than content in the Latvian language, which is freely available on digital platforms as well as on state television channels.

Regarding the trust of minorities in public media, the study showed that it is lower among minorities than among the Latvian population as a whole. In particular, 29% of minorities express trust in the media, compared to 49% of Latvians overall. However, if you look at the prospect of several years, you will notice that confidence is gradually growing. For example, in 2022, only 22% of minorities rated public media as trustworthy. A more positive picture emerged in 2021, with 35% of minority respondents trusting public media.

Currently, the highest level of trust and the fastest growth in consumption is observed among young people living in Latvia – in 2021, 43% of young people trusted public media, and this year already 58%.

To liquidate or not?

Public media in Latvia are usually called state media, which are supported by money allocated by the Seimas from the state budget. The editors of these media outlets try to be independent, but given the current political model and mode of financing, this is very difficult.

The recently adopted National Security Concept states that public media must stop broadcasting in Russian by 2026. The Sejm approved this document, but some forces represented in parliament do not agree that the Russian language should be removed from public broadcasting. The expert community and the leadership of public media also stood up for the Russian language. The Ministry of Culture, now controlled by the Progressive party, also does not see much benefit for the country from the fact that information from the state does not reach part of the population.