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The media landscape in Lithuania

A strong independence movement emerged in Lithuania in the 1980s which played a considerable role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Censorship was lifted even before the country's independence received international recognition. In this way the media had a key hand in the struggle for state sovereignty.

Altstadt von Vilnius
Foto: genevicius, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa/2.0

Nevertheless widespread discontent with politics has replaced the enthusiasm about the freedom regained in 1990/90. Party affiliation is extremely low and people watch with mistrust as wealthy businesspeople gain an ever-larger stake in the economy, politics and the media. An ideological line is hard to detect in the media. Instead they are increasingly being criticised of not dealing with sensitive issues and focusing debate on local issues. One consequence has been a decline in readership: daily per capita print runs are only around a tenth of that in Germany.

The country's national dailies are Lietuvos Rytas, Lietuvos Aidas, Respublika and the free newspaper 15 min. In addition there is the business paper Verslo žinios as well as weeklies like Valstie ių laikraštis. Although the capital Vilnius is the hub of publishing activity, strong regional newspapers have also sprung up, including Kauno Diena in Lithuania's number two city Kaunas and Vakarų ekspresas in the seaport Klaipėda.

Internet media have developed more slowly than in Estonia or Latvia, for example, and the dailies have also developed their online presences comparatively late. Nevertheless a large number of information and sector-related portals have sprung up in Lithuania, with a major role being played by the Lithuanian edition of the Estonian portal Delfi. Other important portals include Balsas and Alfa, together with their affiliated blogs. A further news portal is operated by the state radio and television station LRT.

This country's media at euro|topics