The study, whose results were published January 22, was carried out by Latvijas Fakti with the National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP). Overall, the study shows that the quality and usage of the Latvian language on a10-point scale has been highest evaluated for Latvian Radio. Among online sites, the highest assessment is for the public media unified portal LSM.lv.
During the study, 1,041 residents of Latvia aged 18 to 74 who use the media in Latvian were interviewed.
The highest evaluations on a 10 point scale were given to public radio channels: Latvian Radio 1 (8.9 points), Latvian Radio 2 (8.9 points), and Latvian Radio 3 (8.8 points).
The use of Latvian has also been positively evaluated in public television channels - LTV1 (8.7 points) and LTV7 (8.6 points), followed by the commercial television channel TV3 (8.5 points).
The study suggests that Internet media are evaluated lower than traditional media. On websites, respondents said it was more likely that they encounter language style and spelling mistakes, clumsy translations, and poor-quality language.
On the 10-point scale, the public media unified news portal LSM.lv was valued the highest at 8.1 points, followed by reTV.lv with 7.6 points and TV3 Play with 7.8.
91% of the survey participants find it important to have correct and understandable use of Latvian in news and informative analytical content. 85% of respondents said the language of journalists in these programs should be understandable and easily perceived.
“At a time when the quality issues of the Latvian language have received increased attention, the special role of the media should be emphasized, because the language in the media should be a benchmark, a model for all of us. We use the language we hear on television and radio to communicate with each other daily. Therefore, it is a common responsibility - for media users to request content in correct Latvian language, while content creators continue to aspire to excellence in their language,” said Ilva Milzarāja, a Member of the NEPLP.
