"The situation in the Latvian media market has remained critical for many years, and in recent years it has gotten even worse," said Gunta Sloga, head of the Baltic Media Development Center, in an interview with the 'Doma Square' program on Latvian Radio 4, writes LSM+.
"The advertising market has not recovered. In all groups of publications, the number of subscribers is constantly decreasing. The prices for press delivery are rising. Naturally, all this has had a dramatic impact on the market," said Sloga.
"One of the options for how publications can survive is synergy, a joint effort, and the example of the merger between Delfi and Radio SWH confirms this," the expert said.
Recently, the Delfi portal and the Radio SWH station announced their collaboration. Both companies plan to combine their digital and broadcast platforms, offering joint multimedia projects, integrated advertising solutions, and news content sharing.
Another trend in the media market is the transition of print publications to digital format. "Some are quite successful at this, while others are less so," Sloga acknowledges.
Sloga highlighted two more problems in the Latvian market related to the characteristics of our audience. "Firstly, many in Latvia are not used to paying for information. Public media are free, but non-state media operate on a subscription basis, and people do not understand why they should pay for this content. Secondly, many still do not see the difference between a professional product and the information that is spread on social media. People need to understand that they should only use quality products, which are created by professional journalists."
Sloga considers the closure of Latvian Radio 4 to be a politically motivated decision.
"Politicians are currently trying to influence public media. Last week, there were proposals to reduce the number of NEPLP (National Electronic Media Council) members. There are voices calling for a budget cut for public media. [Riga City Council member from the 'Latvia First' party Ainars] Slesers recently said that something needs to be done with public media — claiming they do not broadcast as he would like. Pressure on the media has already become a real trend. Public media are doing very well, and politicians do not like that."
However, Latvia is not alone in the issue of political pressure on the media.
"The situation with freedom of speech is getting worse worldwide. Populists are everywhere. Even Trump decided to shut down independent media. So we are not unique here. But we still have very strong media, and they need to be protected. It is very important for civil society not to remain silent. Democracy dies when everyone is silent. So we need to protect freedom of speech," said the head of the Baltic Media Development Center.
