Vilnius -- The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuanian has decided to initiate procedures to ban the broadcast of two Russian channels in Lithuania.
The decision was made by the Commission on Wednesday after experts found what they called a breach of journalistic ethics in the “News on Saturday” program aired by RTR Planeta on November 15 and the “Today” program aired by NTV Mir Lithuania on November 23. The RTR Planeta showed a report about the Russian president’s visit to Australia, and NTV Mir Lithuania, about the situation in Ukraine.
According to the Commission, the programs failed, in particular, to observe the principle of objective reporting by presenting a unilateral view and information not based on any evidence.
The position of the Inspector for Journalist Ethics, Zita Zamzickiene, was expressed at the Commission’s session by her Advisor Deividas Velkas. He said that, “we have come to a conclusion that such information does not meet the provisions about the accurateness and objectivity of informing the public, there is no plurality of opinions.”
At the same time, the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics did not see any direct calls for inciting hatred in these programs. “However, indirectly, this, of course, reflects on the public,” he said.
During the process of suspending the broadcasts of the television channels, any further violations will also be reported to the European Commission, said Edmundas Vaitekunas, the chairman of the Commission. Concurrently, negotiations will be held with the television channels proper.
Vaitekunas claims that RTR Planeta representatives have already agreed to come to Vilnius on January 20 to discuss the situation. “We want to ask them to admit that the information was unilateral so that they publicly confirm this information,” Vaitekunas said.
Earlier he mentioned that if the talks with the television channels fail and all procedures are completed, their rebroadcasting could be suspended for up to one year.
