On Latvian Public Media (LSM), content in Russian will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances, in the event of a state of emergency, or for the specific purpose of countering disinformation. This was decided by the Saeima on Thursday, October 1, LSM reports.

Latvian Television and Latvian Radio do not broadcast in Russian, but the LSM.lv portal still produces content in Russian.

Until now, public media had been obliged to produce programs in minority languages, but following the Constitutional Court’s (ST) judgement, this situation had to change, as the court ruled that LSM’s content must primarily be in Latvian, whilst the Russian language is self-sufficient in the Latvian media, and therefore the state need not take special care of it. At the same time, the court emphasized that care must be taken regarding other minority languages that are not self-sufficient.

Following a change of government, with the ‘United List’ and the National Alliance entering parliament, the Saeima set about implementing the Constitutional Court’s ruling this summer. This led to amendments to the law, stipulating that in languages recognized as self-sufficient, including Russian, content may only be produced in exceptional circumstances: in an emergency; and in a state of emergency;

when it is necessary to specifically refute only such information that is misleading, untrue and poses a threat to democracy and the Latvian state as a whole.
In such cases, and in accordance with the principle of proportionality, the law stipulates that public service media have a duty to take into account the intensity and nature of the threat to national security.

Meanwhile, the Public Electronic Media Council (SEPLP) had its own proposals for implementing the ruling – these envisaged producing content primarily in Latvian, whilst content in foreign languages would be explained and justified by the SEPLP each year when drawing up the public service remit, in accordance with criteria set by the Constitutional Court.

The SEPLP viewed the amendments drafted by politicians as a threat to the independence of public service media.

For its part, the Saeima’s Legal Bureau stated that the SEPLP had better implemented the conclusions of the Constitutional Court’s ruling in its own proposals.

The Law has yet to be promulgated by the President. It is scheduled to come into force on 1 January 2027.