Chose a local product
Representatives of the media regulator spoke regarding the results of an extensive sociological study. It turned out, in particular, that national minorities in Latvia most actively perceive information from social networks and television – 81% each, followed by Internet portals – 75%, radio – 73%, press – 58%. It is significant that it was print media that showed growth in 2023, while the popularity of portals and radio decreased. But the most significant growth was demonstrated by “audiovisual on-demand services,” for example, Netflix – by 20% per year!
Social networks are used daily by 62% of non-Latvians, and this is significantly more than the same figure for Internet portals – 44%. The big three social networks are WhatsApp, Youtube, Facebook. If we consider the popularity of TV channels, the top three among national minorities looks like this: 3life (67%), TV6 (62%), LTV1 (41%). According to social research, most often people watch entertainment content and general news. Programs regarding nature and animals, analytical content, and local information do well.
“Trust in the media and media content is a fundamentally important criterion to fight once morest disinformation,” teaches the presentation of the NESMI, headed by Ivars Abolins. In this regard, local media are doing well – among national minorities, 56% completely or somewhat trust them, while 28% express the opposite position. Another 16% have not formed their opinion…
In general, sociologists state that our audience perceives Latvian news more positively than news from the West, from Ukraine, and even more so from Russia. Regarding the latter, a reservation has been made – this concerns state-supported media.
the Forbidden fruit
Two years ago, I. Abolins initiated a ban in Latvia on all media content produced in the Russian Federation – even non-political content. Meanwhile, there are still 9% of viewers in the country who are looking for ways to circumvent information sanctions. Over the year, this share increased by 1 percentage point, and on the part of national minorities it remained unchanged – 14% of the audience. But the share of young people who try to watch Moscow has increased from 5 to 9 percent. In general, it is significantly less than the proportion of residents of the former USSR who listened to radio programs from behind the Iron Curtain…
To circumvent bans on Russian programs on cable TV, all sorts of advances in information technology are used: the vast majority of respondents indicated Youtube (52%), followed by VPN (11%), satellite systems (8%), IPTV (5%).
In general, the NSEM made optimistic conclusions: despite the differences in the media habits of Latvians and national minorities, they are not so significant. Non-Latvians often consume information in the state language. Also, the topics of interest to the two audiences are not particularly different. With relatively less trust in the media, in general, national minorities prefer local news and programs.
Here are some proposals in this regard made by NSESMI:
* advertisements in Latvian electronic media, including private ones, should be placed only in the Latvian language;
* new permits for radio programs are also issued only when broadcast on it.
They understand the Latvian language quite well
According to officials, the new norms will not pose any difficulties for non-Latvians. Ilva Mizaraya, a member of the National Council, noted that according to the latest survey on knowledge of the state language, 53% of ethnic minority youth under 18 identified them as very good or good, 24% as average. In the group under 64 years of age, these categories are 44% and 34%, respectively.
But MP Linda Liepina (“Latvia comes first”) does not understand the idea of banning advertising in Russian. To this, Mr. Abolins spoke in the sense that if ambitious goals had not been set, then Latvia would not have become an independent state, and Ukraine would not have fought with Russia.
He called the protection of the information space of the Republic of Latvia a priority task and in this regard, he considers the increase in demand for information in Russian among young people “very worrying.” This audience needs to be more “Latvianized”. At the same time, Mr. Abolins stated that in terms of influence on newspapers and the Internet there is no administrative resource.
— For example, Russian versions of portals… The state does not have the tools and rights. On the other hand, radio broadcast frequencies, the state has the right to determine the conditions. This is a regulated market.
New Unity parliamentarian Gatis Liepins supported more Latvian media in Latvia, because “the content in Russian is most often entertaining.” In his opinion, the 17 Russian-language radio stations operating in the country are “a lot.”
— Indeed: in Riga, turning on the radio and passing through the stations, you cannot understand where you really are. What kind of state is this? Russia or Latvia? I support this proposal that new permits cannot be issued in Russian at this time. That’s one thing. Another thing is that the number of these stations should be reduced.
According to Mr. Liepins, of the operating radio stations, “not a single one is informationally valuable.” Mr. Liepins also cited the fact that they are not at the top of the ratings as a motivation for closing Russian-language stations. Ivars Abolins promised to act in this vein, but “not revolutionary, but evolutionary.” After all, stations have temporary licenses, some for four, some for eight years. As they run out, they will stop broadcasting.
…Your author considers himself a completely independent person in this regard – he listens only to radio stations on short waves that broadcast Chinese folk music. However, I would like to note to Deputy Liepins that in the ranking, following the stations occupying the bottom lines are removed from it, there will still be leaders and laggards. What then will happen to the latter? This is already reminiscent of the brutal game of the Gulag guards – “leave the barracks without the last one,” when those who hesitated were beaten to death with sticks. So it seems that the people’s representative, while adjusting the receiver settings, mixed up not only the country, but also the time.
THE YOUTH
Only a third of Latvian youth watch TV regularly. But on-demand audio services are popular—platforms where you can download trendy music for little money. 65% of young people from national minorities choose information in Russian (an increase of 7 percentage points per year).
#ban #speaking #Russian #air #Singing
2024-04-29 01:28:31
