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Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė, LRT CEO, announced the LRT’s decision to withdraw its proposal during the Seimas Culture Commission session on Monday.
At his request, the Culture Committee undertakes to review the LRT Ethics Ombudsman institute provided for in the new version of the LRT Law and the entire system of media self-regulation during the spring session of the Seimas.
Ms Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė stated that the decision had been taken to withdraw the previous proposal according to which the Public Information Ethics Commission could not consider the national broadcaster, recognizing the need to transpose the provisions of the Services Directive audiovisual media of the European Union as soon as possible.
Last December, the Seimas Culture Committee, considering the amendments to the Public Information Law related to the transposition of the EU Directive, included in the draft a proposal initiated by the LRT regarding a reservation that the LRT does not it should be evaluated by the Public Information Ethics Commission.
These amendments were criticized by the Association for the Ethics of Public Information, representatives of the Presidency. As a result, in late December, the Seimas rejected all amendments to the law and returned them to the Culture Committee for reconsideration.
During the meeting of the Culture Commission on Monday, M. Garbačiauskaitė Budrienė recalled that the new version of the LRT Law came into force on January 1, which provides for additional regulation and the position of LRT Ethics Ombudsman that is derived from it. He argued that this would lead to double regulation of the LRT, since this controller would perform the same functions as the Public Information Ethics Commission.
M. Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė also pointed out that, in addition to the Public Information Ethics Commission, the LRT will be supervised by the Ethics Controller, the LRTK, the Office of the Inspector of Journalistic Ethics and, in certain aspects, institutions such as the Office State Audit and STT.
As one of the reasons why its activities should not be evaluated by the Public Information Ethics Commission, the LRT had stated that it was not represented in this commission. Viktoras Popandopula, director of the Public Information Ethics Association, stated that the issue of the membership of the LRT representative in the Public Information Ethics Commission can really be considered, only that, according to him, the LRT has not expressed such request so far.
“The LRT offers were a bit unexpected for the Lithuanian media, I am glad they are withdrawing. We believe that those proposals would create exceptional conditions for the only broadcaster in Lithuania, and not just for the broadcaster, as LRT manages all kinds of media. The bottom line, apparently, is that additional internal self-control on ethical issues should not be equated with external ones, “he said.
Dainius Radzevičius, President of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, supported a detailed discussion on the media self-regulation model.
“Such a discussion is necessary because it has been almost five years since the self-regulation of journalists and editors in 2015 became not only an association and a public information ethics commission, but also a much broader regulation, at least legally theoretically. Although reality has shown that, unfortunately, it would be too difficult to examine the ethics of informing the public as widely as now, “he said.
The president of the Union of Journalists requested the inclusion in the working group not only of the members of the Public Information Association, but of all the representatives of the media community.
“We just realized that the news agencies weren’t represented on many issues either. (…) Therefore, I hope that colleagues who do not belong to the association are also included ”, said D. Radzevičius.
Lawyer Liudmila Meškauskaitė pointed out that the Public Information Ethics Commission should include representatives not only from the media, but also from the general public.
Vaiva Žukienė, president of the Board of the Press, Radio and Television Support Fund, also supported the debate on the revision of the ethical model of self-regulation.
“Ethical issues are becoming increasingly important.” The fact that this issue has come up with potential thunderstorms and lightning shows that we are ready for a serious discussion, which, hopefully, should start before the spring session, “he said. .
The president of the Seimas Culture Committee, Vytautas Juozapaitis, promised to start a debate of this kind in the spring: “We will continue discussing this issue and a working group will be formed. The law also regulates the principles of formation of the Public Information Ethics Commission. It is already the right and duty of the legislator to adapt here, “he said.
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