"For many years, the media industry was left without its policy planning document. It is particularly important that the Media Policy Guidelines for 2024-2027 approved by the government today have been made in close cooperation with the industry. In them, we have placed special emphasis on media independence, safety and self-regulation, as well as efforts to address minorities in Latvian. There is still a lot of work ahead in order to complete the action plan for achieving the goals set in the guidelines and to fight for additional funding in the political priorities in the coming years," said Minister of Culture Agnese Lāce (Progressives).
According to a government release, the direction of the guidelines – a safe media environment – envisages strengthening the safety of journalists and media environment professionals by promoting the understanding of the public, the judiciary and internal affairs structures about the work and dangers faced by journalists, preparing the media for operation in crisis situations, and improving the public's media literacy.
There's also a desire "to harness the potential of artificial intelligence while strengthening resilience against the misuse of artificial intelligence."
The media policy guidelines for 2024-2027 can be read in full in the attachment to this story. They are in Microsoft Word document in Latvian, as supplied by the Cabinet of Ministers, and extend to some 33 pages.
"The direction of the guidelines – a high-quality media environment – envisages supporting the lifelong education of media professionals and the integration of young media professionals in the media environment, getting to know the media environment in Latvia by regularly conducting research in order to make data-based decisions and promoting media quality by supporting professional organizations and educating media workers," said the Cabinet release.
The guidelines are a continuation of the 2016-2020 Media Policy Guidelines.
