V. Juozapaitis justifies why LRT is exceptional – Respublika.lt

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President of the Culture Committee of the Seimas, Vytautas Juozapaitis. Photo by Stasys Žumbis

On Saturday (December 19, 2020), Vakaro žinios announced the ambitions of the LRT. It will ensure compliance with the provisions of the Code of Ethics in the editions of the public broadcaster, and what objectivity could be expected from it if the salary were paid by the LRT.

The Public Information Ethics Association, which unites the majority of the Lithuanian media, points out that the amendments presented to the Seimas Committee on Culture were known to a very small circle of people, they were not published on the committee’s agenda , so there was no opportunity to get acquainted and express an opinion.

The fact that the public station has an internal ethics ombudsman, according to the association, is to be appreciated, but it is only a matter of internal order. The association indicates that the modifications seek to make the public body maintained by taxpayers distinctive in relation to other media. And not in terms of diversity of content, genres or opinions, but in relation to viewers, listeners and other users of the information.

According to the representatives of the association, the ethical standards of journalists are universal and must apply to all people who are engaged in this activity without exception.

However, the president of the Culture Commission, V. Juozapaitis, circulated a statement stating that “none of the members or guests of the Commission present at the meeting voiced their opposition to the aforementioned proposal, nor did he state the reasons why this proposal should not be approved. It should be noted here that representatives of the signatory organizations also attended the meeting and had the opportunity to speak.

Vito Tomkaus trigrašis: The journalistic community has publicly expressed concern that conservatives want to give the LRT leadership a kind of “white ticket” to protect it from ethical guardians. Conservative Juozapaitis said none of the Seimas commission members objected. Rhetorical question: since when did idiots themselves start issuing “white tickets” to themselves? After all, in the past it was the exclusive prerogative of psychiatrists …