Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 19.04.2024, 15:05

Complaint sent to British regulator about Russian TV program calling Latvian parliament speaker a neo-Nazi

BC, Riga, 05.05.2016.Print version
The Latvian broadcasting watchdog, the National Council of the Electronic Mass Media (NEPLP), has asked its British counterpart, the Office of Communications, to review for possible violations a program of NTV Mir, a Russian TV channel under the British jurisdiction, which is rebroadcast in Latvia, during which Latvian parliament speaker Inara Murniece (National Alliance) was called a Neo-Nazi, LETA was told at the NEPLP.

The NEPLP Monitoring Center said that on April 20 the program Mesto Vstrechi (The Meeting Place) that can be seen by the Latvian audience featured a discussion about possible rebirth of Nazism in Europe along with a story in which Latvian parliament speaker Inara Murniece was called a neo-Nazi notorious for her ultra-right views and negative attitude to Russia.

 

"The biased story claimed that Murniece had laid flowers at the Nazi graves in Latvia on March 16 [the commemorative date for Latvian Waffen SS Legion or Latvian soldiers, who fought on the side of Germany in World War II, believing that Germany would give Latvia freedom if they helped it to defeat the USSR],” the NEPLP said.

 

Moreover, the footage showing Murniece allegedly laying flowers at the Nazi graves in Latvia had in fact been filmed in Kiev when she and the rest of the Latvian official delegation laid flowers at the Independence Square or Maidan Nezalezhnosti in February 13, 2015, the anniversary of the pro-Western Maidan uprising.

 

Thus, the NT Mir program contained biased and distorted information which is prohibited under the Latvian law on the electronic mass media as well as the Broadcasting Code adopted by the British Office of Communications, the NEPLP said.

 






Search site