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LATVIA
I. Cabinet
amends law to change funding principles.
Under Article 81
of the constitution, the Cabinet of Ministers [on 29th
December] adopted five statutes with the force of
law. The government session was due to adopt a
total of seven draft statutes under Article 81, but the
cabinet decided to postpone two of them, in order for the
coalition council of factions in the government to agree
on them. The constitution states that when
the Saeima [parliament] is in recess, the Cabinet of
Ministers has the right, if necessary, to decree statutes
with the force of law.
The cabinet
adopted amendments to the radio and television law,
providing that the financing of public broadcasting
organizations will be determined for the next financial
year without regard to inflation. Section 4 of
Article 5 of the radio and television law has hitherto
stated that the source of financial provision for public
broadcasting organizations is the state budget; moreover
finance from it must not be less than that of the
previous year, taking account of inflation.
The
director-general of Latvian Radio, Dzintris Kolats, told
the LETA news agency that even before now, neither
Latvian Radio nor Latvian Television has been allocated a
budget in accordance with the law, but rather on the
project principle. Kolats expressed the hope that
this decision will not affect Latvian Radio’s budget
for next year, as its programme of activities has already
been approved. Kolats noted that the abolition of
the previous criteria is dangerous, as a situation may
arise where because of a lack of funds Latvian Radio is
forced to abandon programmes on cultural, social and
public affairs.
Latvian Radio, Riga,
December 29, 1998
II. Major
changes in Latvian Radio.
The management of
Latvian Radio [on 11th December] informed the mass media
about some innovations at Latvian Radio. More about
the changes in Latvian radio programming and alterations
to broadcasting and reception in this report from Laima
Slava:
[Slava]
From
15th December this year, the First Programme [this
programme] of Latvian Radio will be actively broadcasting
round the clock on FM band II. Director-General
Dzintris Kolats of Latvian Radio mentioned the main
reasons why the First Programme is to be broadcast 24
hours a day:
[Kolats]
The
opportunity to react promptly to all sorts of crisis
situations. After all, at any moment there can be a
certain confusion, and then I can contact the staff and
tell them whether it’ s serious or not. There
have been cases like that even recently—the
incidents on the railway, for instance, and when we were
talking about it with the government, and in the national
[broadcasting] council, there was support for it, even
going so far as to get the last budget amended, so
finance has been found for it for this year, and
we’re starting to implement it.
During the night,
in practice there will be two people actually
working: the programme manager, who’s in
charge of the music programme, which is the material to
be arranged, and the other person is the duty news
editor, who prepares short news bulletins and is ready to
react as well to any changes in the current situation.
[Slava]
Another
change is that from 15th December, the Second Programme
will be broadcast in stereo in eastern parts of
Latvia. Dzintris Kolats explains why broadcasting
in stereo is necessary for the Second Programme:
[Kolats]
It is
more of a music station, and therefore the stereo effect
is more necessary, and basically more important than on
the first network, which is mostly a speech station after
all. But next year we are planning to introduce
stereo broadcasting on the FM band for the First
Programme, too. . . .
[Slava]
The
director-general of Latvian Radio also mentioned a major
task: to provide certain reception of a high
quality of radio programmes all over the country.
Work is currently going on to acquire new transmitters,
and there is some hope that in 1999 a new transmitter
will come into use in the Aluksne area [north-east of
Latvia, bordering Estonia].
Latvian Radio, Riga,
December 11, 1998
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