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The media landscape in Latvia

When Soviet rule ended in Latvia in 1990/91 the Latvians made up only 52 percent of the population, and in the capital Riga ethnic Russians were actually in the majority. The division of society along nationality lines and the fear of renewed dependency on Russia therefore remains a predominant theme right up to the present.

Riga Innenstadt
Foto: Syl ;), Lizenz: by-nc-sa/2.0

Even today, media in Latvian and Russian coexist side by side, whereby the Russian media are often accused of being financed by Moscow and of specifically aiming to influence members of the Russian minority. As a result the content of Latvian media and Latvian politics is determined by issues of nationality rather than ideological considerations. The major Latvian dailies are Latvijas Avīze, which is more popular in rural areas, Diena, and the national-conservative Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze. Then there are the regional newspapers, and business papers like Dienas Bizness. The dailies Tschas and Telegraf are major Russian-language media, as well as the business paper Bisnes i Baltija.

Following independence Latvia focused strongly on the Internet, and online media play a key role today, particularly the Latvian edition of the Estonian portal Delfi and the Apollo portal. The blogs on these portals and the online editions of some newspapers have become an integral part of public debate.

The country's public broadcaster, on the other hand, has had to make drastic cuts because of the crisis and has continually reduced its broadcasting times since 2008. Since this has the effect of bolstering the private channels and the programmes broadcast from Russia there are growing fears about their increasing influence on the Russian minority. There was great public uproar when the Rowland family took over the Diena publishing house in autumn 2009. Many editors resigned in protest and later founded the weekly Ir. There has been a heated debate in Latvia ever since about whether the state should intervene to prevent private media from falling into the hands of certain interest groups. This discussion intensified in 2010 when entrepreneur Viesturs Koziols acquired a majority stake in Diena: Koziols is a friend and business partner of the conservative politician Ainars Šlesers.

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