The Saeima approved Saulitis as a member of the Council of Public Electronic Media 0 8

Forty-eight deputies voted for his candidacy, thirty-six were against, and seven abstained.

Earlier, the Saeima's Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee supported Saulitis' candidacy.

Saulitis named his priorities as a council member the use of artificial intelligence opportunities for creating content for public media, adapting to new user content consumption habits, and providing quality, objective, and diverse journalism that reflects different viewpoints and is created in editorial offices that are not segregated by ethnicity.

Saulitis will begin his duties as a member of the Council of Public Electronic Media on February 2.

As reported, earlier this year the Saeima rejected two candidates nominated for membership in the Council of Public Electronic Media: first, the candidacy of the former head of Latvian Television, Ivars Belte, was rejected, and then that of the former member of the Council and head of Latvian Radio, Janis Siksnis.

After that, the deputy chair of the council, Georgs Rubenis, stated to the LETA agency that the council found itself at an impasse, and the Latvian Council on Ethics in Media indicated that it deemed it appropriate to abolish the provision requiring the approval of candidates nominated by the Council for the memorandum of cooperation of non-governmental organizations and the Cabinet of Ministers in the Saeima, delegating this procedure to the Council for the memorandum of cooperation itself or another body less susceptible to political conjuncture.

Later, at an extraordinary meeting on December 8, the council decided to nominate Saulitis for approval in the Council of Public Electronic Media.

The Council of Public Electronic Media consists of three members approved by the Saeima. One member is nominated by the president, one by the Council for the memorandum of cooperation, and one by the Saeima. On June 19, the Saeima approved the candidacies of the former chair of the board of Latvian Radio, Una Klapkalne, nominated by the Saeima, and Sanita Upleja-Egermane, nominated by the president, who had previously held this position.

The Council of Public Electronic Media is an independent autonomous body that represents the interests of society in the field of public media.