Mass media in Lithuania

Although Lithuania declared independence in 1990 - which was recognized by the USSR one year later - alternative and uncontrolled press began to appear in the country starting from 1988, when the Initiative Group of the Reform Movement of Lithuania Sąjūdis was established. During the period of transition to democracy (1988-1990) Sąjūdis published several newspapers, both national and local,[3] establishing the basis of a diversified media landscape. After the declaration of independence the government stopped interfering in the media outlets which for the most part were privatised to their journalists and employees.

The number of newspaper titles in Lithuania rose sharply in 1990–1992 and assured its enormous diversity. In 1995 there were 477 newspaper titles. There was also a proliferation in the radio and television market. However, the economic recession in 1996 was followed by a decrease in the circulation of newspapers and journals. The Russian financial crisis in 1998 also affected negatively Lithuanian economy, hitting the capacity of the readers to buy newspapers that became prohibitively expensive for majority of population.[4]

The hundreds of joint stock companies that emerged in the first years of Lithuanian independence were first sold to local businessman and companies. These were then bought by large publishing companies or foreign investors by the end of the 1990s. Today a small number of domestic and foreign companies owns the media in Lithuania.

In Lithuania legislation concerning the media is primarily represented by the Law on the Provision of Information to the Public,[15] the Law on Telecommunications,[16] and, the Law on Electronic Communications.[17] The Law on the Provision of Information to the Public was amended in 2015 by Lithuanian authorities and introduced a penalty of up to 3% percent of a broadcaster’s annual income for spreading information that is considered war propaganda, encouragement to change the country’s constitutional order, or an encroachment on the country’s sovereignty to contrast hostile propaganda and disinformation. Several Russian television stations [18] were taken to court by Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) on the basis of this law. During 2014 and 2015, Rossija RTR (previously [RTR-Planeta]); [NTV] Mir; TVCi, [PBK Lithuania] and [REN TV] were found to have violated Lithuanian broadcasting regulations and temporarily suspended or fined. Trying to provoke tension and violence between Ukrainian and Russians, as well as against the European Union and NATO member states, were among the violations established by the authorities.[19] In Lithuania, Russian programs make up 22 percent of total television broadcasting, as opposed to Lithuanian programs that make up 23 percent of it.[20]

In 2017 Freedom House[1] defined Lithuania's press freedom status as “free", while the 2017 World Press Freedom Index prepared annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) states that media in Lithuania have "limited freedom". According to RSF's Index the country is ranked 36th among 180 countries and although its media are reputedly independent and free to criticize the government they are not always free to criticise big business interests.

Although the generally positive evaluation of Lithuania’s media freedom presented by international media watchdogs, in recent years there occurred a few episodes concerning censorship on media freedom.

For instance public information about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people has been restricted[21] in several occasions.[22] The law was officially condemned by the European Parliament.[23]

In November 2013 Lithuanian intelligence, the Special Investigation Service (SIS) raided the Baltic News Service (BNS) office in Vilnius. The SIS tried to compel the journalists of the news agency to reveal their sources after they reported that Lithuanian intelligence agents had information about Russian officials’ plans to launch smear campaign about Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite.[24] Six journalists were questioned, computers were confiscated whilst the BNS editors' houses were also searched.[25]

Lithuanian intelligence recorded telephone conversations of the BNS employees within the pretrial investigation of the matter. The wiretapping was declared unlawful by Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, while president Grybauskaitė signed amendments to the Law on Provision of Information to the Public and to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The amendments established that prosecutorial procedures with the potential of impinging upon press freedom or individual rights can be only carried out in cases of great public interest.

Another aborted censorship episode occurred at the end of 2016, when MPs of the Lithuanian Parliament unanimously voted to amend the country's Civil Code to limit the right to criticize public figures. The regulation has been opposed for its potential risk to deter the media from informing the public on pertinent issues. The law could not come into force because it was vetoed by Lithuanian president and the amendments were subsequently withdrawn by the Parliament.[26]

There have been some instances in Lithuania when journalists lost their job positions due to providing alternative views to the audience or raising uncomfortable questions for political figures.[27][28] For example, journalists such as Rūta Janutienė[27] or Vytautas Matulevičius[28] eventually became outcasts in the mainstream media. As a result, they began creating their own independent channels such as PressJazz TV[29][30] or OpTV (short for Oppositional Television)[31] on YouTube to raise problems on such topics as local political corruption, national authorities not protecting the interests of the state, shifts in geopolitics and environmental protection. They also invite various politicians and lawyers to back up their claims.

There have been some concerns raised about mainstream media being biased towards political candidates during elections. Some politicians were given far more representation in the media than others. In 2019, a presidential candidate professor Arvydas Juozaitis has exposed this problem during one of the political debates on LRT and left the studio.[32] However, others believe it was a provocation.

Media ownership concentration has been increasing over the last several years due to the purchase of media outlets by domestic and foreign companies. Nonetheless national ownership prevails in the Lithuanian media because a number of foreign multinationals, in line with similar trends in the CEE region, decided to exit relatively small and volatile markets.[33] For instance Norvegian Orkla Media (Norway’’s second largest media house) fully owned the newspaper Kauno dia until it sold it to Lithuanian Hermis Capital in 2007. Swedish Bonnier, which owns the business newspaper Verslo žinios, was the main investor in the Lithuanian television market until Lithuanian MG Baltic Media purchased LNK in 2003.

The country does not have a legislation for media market regulation or anti-monopoly law. Consequently, media monopoly and cross ownership are frequent as large sectors of the media belong to one single owner. This also leads to the dissemination of the same material in different outlets. Media companies have also been criticised for insufficient reporting to the Lithuanian Minister of Culture about their owners, although it is required by the law. Editors-in-chiefs are shareholders or owners of a number of news outlets[3] while a considerable number of politicians and public servants own media tools. According to the Lithuanian office of Transparency International in 2016 there were 26 such owners. This is because politicians and public servants, who typically own regional media, continue to remain as media holders after their election to the Parliament or municipal councils.[34]

• Telecommunications in Lithuania
• Television in Lithuania