RSSCase of the Mondays
Aug 09
Monday morning. At Narvesen.
Clerk: There are no morning newspaper today.
Me: Why not?
Clerk: Because I was late for work this morning. (Pause) Sorry.
We don’t need no information
Aug 03
Parliament, Politics, Society Comments Off
“There is a minimal level of education and knowledge, outside of which any election becomes its own caricature. You don’t just need rudimentary literacy, which allows a man .. to spell his name. Here, one needs understanding of the election process and platforms provided, smart evaluation of the candidates, understanding of the government and economy of the country and its needs, of an idea of the political, international, and military dangers; and of course the communion with the credible sources of information.”
– Ivan Ilyin, a Russian religious and political philosopher.
RIGA – The recent developments in the media market in Latvia force one to conclude that the Fox News-style of journalism has arrived. With elections being only two months away, it sends a frightening signal to quality in-depth journalism.
First, the recent changes in the management of the bastion of independent journalism, Diena, is an example of someone’s cynical play. Ever since it came to existence in 1990, Diena had been an elite newspaper that pushed the politicians to answer tough questions and served proudly Latvia’s citizenry. It was, in its own way, a true voice of the people. After the last year’s change in ownership and the most recent change in editorial staff, the new editorial team announced they’d be looking for new journalists among the 19- to 22-year-olds with no experience in craft. Last weekend, the assistant editor Dzintars Zaļūksnis held training exercises with the young people. As someone who had worked in the Riga city council’s public relations department as late as June, he’d know what to teach young journalists. As a test exercise, he has sent out the young people to go look for news on the street. From a prestigious newspaper, the new class would turn it into a training college paper. The former influencer in policy making is either starting from scratch or digging itself a grave.
The farcical comedy show on LNT
Second, the Latvia’s second most watched TV channel is staging a series of “public debates” on important issues. “Latvia We are Listening” could be a good thing. Don’t jump to your conclusions until you consider the new owner’s political connections to the old new kids on the block: Par Labu Latviju (For Good Latvia, or PLL).
As Harry Callan said last week:
On last night’s show, of the panel of ten people giving their opinions about agriculture, most had either direct or indirect links to PLL. The lopsided nature of the debate would almost have been understandable had the participants actually declared their interests at the start of the show — but they did not. As a result what we got was a party political broadcast masquerading as a debate.
Participants included LNT director Andrejs Ēķis. Ēķis is a prominent supporter of PLL. His name is often linked with that of PLL co-leader Andris Šķēle in connection with the so-called “Digitālgeita” investigation which involves allegations of huge fraud using offshore companies in the way Latvia switched to digital TV. Both Ēķis and Šķēle deny any wrongdoing. The investigation continues. Ēķis had his assets frozen in March.
Ripped off a page from the O’Reilly Factor, the program took place in the “No Politics Zone.” Yesterday’s show included a deeply thought-provoking question: “Are forests our national treasure?” (pictured) Clearly the show – and that was the show – intended to reach into the hearts of the viewers, reaching into their feeling as victims of the big bad world out there. Under the pretenses of being fair and balanced, the television show showed stories of people who lost their jobs in the forest industry and who ended up fighting with banks and large corporations. It also points out that the government chose to rescue Parex, instead of helping those people. As the grim voice accused the government of apathy, it showed the current minister of economics, Artis Kampars from the New Era party, rather than the true face of the Parex takeover, Atis Slakteris, then-finance minister, from the People’s Party, which is now part of the PLL.
The show clearly targets the lowest intellectual common denominator, a person who spent the last five years in the basement of his mother’s house, reading the conspiracy theory literature.
Which brings me to my guilty pleasure on the media market: Neatkarīga Rīta Avīze (Independent Morning Newspaper). Under its straightforward name, the newspaper serves as a window to the soul of Aivars Lembergs, the mayor of Ventspils. It is not clear exactly who or what owns the newspaper, but it often is used as a platform for the mayor of Ventspils to deliver fatwas on the leaders of the government or the international lenders.
In a recent interview, Lembergs said that Latvia state-owned energy and railroad companies along with the forestry company will be sold off to an “international oligarchy” immediately after the elections. It offered a glimpse into his own mind.
The well-designed newspaper provides also provides a glimpse into the world of conspiracy theories and serves as a fascinating overview of what methods certain individuals use to get to the power. It often bashes the Sorosistas, incorruptible journalists along with the members of the local chapter of the Transparency International.
With the education system in ruins, the public appears to be getting dumber and dumber. The coverage is getting angrier, forcing one to suspect that the upcoming elections will be but a farce. The population unable or unwilling to think, to deduce, to reason is much easier to manipulate. It is much easier to persuade them of imagined enemies, imagined problems. It is much easier to exert control. Taking over railroads, telegraph and post office was the task number one of the Bolsheviks coup in 1917. What comes next?
Concerns Over the Future of the Largest Daily, Free Press
Jul 31
Politics, Revolutions, Society Comments Off
Published in the Global Voices Online:
With the ownership of the largest daily newspaper, Diena [LV], in question, many journalists in Latvia fear business interests and political influence would rule the news coverage ahead of the October parliamentary elections.
“Who is behind Diena,” read last week’s front page headline of the newsweekly Ir. “One year after a change in ownership there appeared a shadow of the oligarchs and a question: Does Latvia still have a free press?”
“The situation is very, very sad, because elections are coming,” a former Diena journalist Gunta Sloga told Swedish radio (SWE). “Many people will not be able to get objective information before the vote, and especially problematic it becomes for those who live in the countryside and do not have an access to the Internet.”
Sloga and a few others had quit the newspaper in 2009 over lack of transparency in the sale from the Swedish company Bonnier. The new owners installed a new manager, who lasted there almost a year. Meanwhile, the owners said the newspaper would maintain its professional integrity. Tralmaks unexpectedly quit in July, bringing the issue of integrity back into the light. The owners appointed Sergejs Ancupovs, the former press secretary for the former prime minister, Valdis Birkavs, as well as a leader of a think-tank connected to certain political parties, to run the newspaper.
On July 20, journalist Kārlis Streips wrote [LV] on his Politika.lv blog:
I’m in deep mourning for Diena. When the first professional journalists departed, I wrote that Diena would still be my newspaper. Now, I don’t have a newspaper in Latvia any more. For professional reasons, I’ll continue to subscribe, but it’ll be all.
In a video [LV] posted on the Diena newspaper’s web site, Ancupovs declined to answer questions about who approached him for this job.
“You know, we won’t be doing that kind of investigation,” he said, after explaining that the Diena newspaper will continue to maintain its objectivity and will not be a subject to political influence.
“Let’s assume that I have fallen from Mars,” he said, calling two journalists who interviewed him, “girls.”
Ancupovs said in a radio interview that the newspaper has always had a political influence. And it will continue to do so.
Jānis Buholcs writes [LV] that the recent change in Diena leadership means it is no longer necessary to hide under the pretense of being above the political influence. Buholcs responds to Ancupovs:
Media controlled by politicians is not the same as media that have their own political sympathies, which those openly espouse. The system of Putin and Berlusconi is not the same as an op-ed in a newspaper.
Pods.lv wonders [LV] if the newspaper’s purchase was “the most expensive election campaign”:
If we are to believe information that Diena and Dienas Bizness were paid for 7 million lats (US$13 million), then that’s a very expensive toy.
Let’s assume that the goal is to influence the election results with the help from these two media outlets and after that liquidate them both. I think it would be too expensive for an election campaign.
On the other hand, considering the amounts of money the plotters could get in many different public bids and purchase requests, then 7 million is nothing but small change.
Meet the Fighter for the Little Guy
Jul 28
RIGA – The Harmony Centre, a collective of political parties, continues to be the most popular political bloc in the Latvia. According to the most recent polls, almost 20 percent of Latvia’s citizens support the Harmony Center (SC). The crew includes the former communist leader – who sought to overthrow the new-born independent Latvian government 20 years ago (now a member of the European Parliament) – people (the very last paragraph of the link) who call the 1940 Stalin’s electoral farce “free and fair” elections, which then led to the surrender of Latvia’s independence to Moscow. This crew naturally enjoys support among mostly Russian-speaking population. And it is within reach of power come the october contest.
It just needs a gentle push to reach into the despair of ethnic Latvians, who naturally are more on the left side of the political spectrum (after all, the Social Democrats were the dominant party of the interwar democratic republic – up until the 1934 coup).
Maybe gambling on that, the SC had declared itself the New Left. It has dubbed itself a political movement that stands on the economic platform, pushing Latvia towards an egalitarian society, a society where the wealth is more or less equally spread among different layers of society. It aims to be the party of the little guy. A Little. Latvian. Guy.
Funded by the SC is a think-tank group called Reform Task Force Latvia. It hired Western economists, like Michael Hudson, to speak about the evils of the international lenders – who currently pay for Latvia’s budget deficit – and the philosophy of “neoliberalism” that has been poisoning this country for the last 20 years. “Economic policy deployed since independence has failed to implement policies guided by the classical economic tradition that created prosperity in the Transatlantic region and East Asia,” its Web site hails. “Instead, Latvia’s independence coincided with the ascendency of the now proven failure of neoliberal economic policy that accelerated its underdevelopment.”
What looks great on paper doesn’t transform well into reality. The SC supported amendments to the banking regulations, which would have slowed down the splitting up of the Parex bank, a requirement from the European Commission. According to the CEO of Parex, Nils Melngailis, it would have left the taxpayers, including the little guys, on the hook. They would have to pay the Parex owners an interest, which amounts to as much as 4.6 million lats ($9 million) a year.
The bill died. The SC turned to the Constitutional Court yesterday to see if the financial regulation is constitutional, in an attempt to fight for the guys who pay their bills.
Fighter for the little guy, they’re not.
Jul 27
Beyond Latvia, Wacky Neighbor to the East 1 Comment
RIGA – I have wondered who was behind the new eased restrictions on residence permits to Latvia. Apparently, it’s Rietumu Banka.
Ansip finishes Baltic tour
Jul 13
Doesn't Fit Anywhere Else Comments Off
Ansip’s meeting was part of a short tour through Latvia and Estonia in which he met with his government counterparts as well as prominent businessmen.
via Ansip finishes Baltic tour.
Hadn’t realized the Prime Minister of Estonia toured through, ahem, Estonia.
We could learn from our neighbors
Jul 12
Beyond Latvia, Economy 3 Comments
RIGA – A teacher visits her students’ parents, who are behind on the utility bills. Her job is to urge the parents to pay on their debts and help the state to balance its budget.
Tax collectors, auditors, police officers’ salaries depend on how many fines they issue during their shift.
The once-or-twice-a-year audit of a business now becomes a monthly affair.
Someone stole a t-shirt from a supermarket. Someone else called the police. The authorities sealed the premises, conducted an audit of required documents for the goods at the store. The audit revealed some goods lacked proper documentation, which resulted in the confiscation of the goods. The goods were later resold at a state-owned second-hand store. Luckily, the supermarket’s owner knew when and where those goods would be delivered, so he bought them back at a cheap price, adding his two cents to the state treasury.
Journalists are required to subscribe to the state-owned newspapers where they work. They are also required to force their friends and relatives to subscribe to the newspapers.
Belarus, where this is a common place, is in need of hard cold cash to balance its budget. Minsk is running out of options as its relationship with Moscow has recently soured. And Minsk is not keen on adhering to the EU’s democratic principles, especially ahead of the 2011 presidential elections.
The three Baltic states stand as bastions of freedom and democracy, eager and willing to share their somewhat awkward transformation experience with their neighbors. The three small countries transformed from the Soviet-era command economy into the market paradise pretty quickly. They left the Soviet Union and join NATO and EU. Often, politicians and human rights from the Baltic countries travel to georgias and ukraines of the former Soviet Union to share the experience. Other times, politicians from over there come here to learn – or just drink beer at the Dome Square, or sunbathe at the Jurmala beach.
Maybe now, it’s time for Latvia to learn to balance its budget by means other than budget cuts and tax hikes?
P.S. According to Belarus’ own statistics, 77 percent of the state-owned enterprises are unable to compete on the global market. So, relying on the economy to bring much needed revenues to the state coffers is a waste.
Jun 02
Economy, Politics, The Dombrovskis government 5 Comments
RIGA – Every once in a while, it’s good to return from hiatus to point out the stupidities of the pre-election life in Latvia. Things in Latvia are so bad that even a fake letter from the head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn appears as a result of the work of some amateur and incompetent goon, who perhaps serves the people interested in instability head of the elections. It was reported that the head of the IMF allegedly urged Latvian authorities to move towards “the mini-devaluation” in the letter that appears to be an answer to someone in “the Republic of Latvia.” The letter, which you can see here, had no proper letterhead and subtle grammatical errors.
“We are confident,” the letter said, “that in the long run a[sic] timely decision on this matter will certainly be satisfying to all sides. I would appreciate an [sic] immediate information about progress in your discussions about the widening of the fluctuation band of the Latvian currency against EUR. It will improve the basis for our following in-depth negotiations.”
The letter’s concluding paragraph says, “I am certain that only working in the spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation we can fasten[sic] the overcoming of the crisis in your country.”
Articles, such as a and the, have never been popular among non-native speakers from Latvia. Just read this blog.
Coincidentally, the People’s Party re-discovered the former guarantor of stability and former prime minister Aigars Kalvītis, who was probably stuck in the closet somewhere until the better times would come. He admitted some of mistakes while he was in the office. Kalvītis said the government should have devalued the currency, widened the corridor to plus/minus 15 percent to help the country get out of the crisis. I can’t say whether it was right or wrong to keep the currency peg, but it appears to be rather interesting that he came out with it at the same time as the letter began circulating suggesting the very same thing.
0+0=?
Apr 23
Parliament, Politics Comments Off
RIGA – Fearing their impotence after the October elections, two political heavyweights have announced this week they were consolidating forces. The former Prime Minsiter, Andris Šķēle and the Prime Minister Wanna-Be Ainārs Šlesers are going to be on a single ticket. The new bloc, temporary nicknamed (A+Š)2 will counterweight the Dombrovskis’ Unity movement.
To me, it is clearly a marriage of convenience. Šlesers needs a rural vote to gain seats in the 100-member unicameral parliament. He did fairly well in Rīga last year in the municipal elections, but his party – which attracts both Latvian and Russian votes – has no network outside large cities. Šķēle needs to keep his political project, known as the People’s Party, afloat in spite of the abysmal ratings.
I couldn’t help but compare this duo to the Putin-Medvedev tandem. The two leaders could hand-pick one to be the prime minister after the election, and next year – when President Zatlers comes up for a vote in parliament – vote into the Rīga Castle another leader. Their supporters often say publicly that Latvia is in need of a strong leader; it is in need of a Great Leader. Latvia needs its own Putin, they say.
“Latvia’s most significant problem until now was a lack of personalities,” Ēriks Stendenieks was quoted by Diena. “Andris Šķēle and Ainārs Šlesers – however controversial they would not be – in synergy can give more than lukewarm people. Those who can predict the future events further than two weeks ahead are either fools or charlatans.
Speaking to journalists in the parliament, Šlesers was as verbose as usual, chiding journalists for asking difficult questions. Often seemingly contradicting himself.
“You don’t have to talk about the past,” he said. “You have to talk about the future.” At the same time, he pointed to experience of his party members, like Andris Bērziņš, who had served as the prime minister in the 2000s.
Surely, Šlesers wouldn’t want to talk about the past. The man penned the now infamous editorial in Diena back in 2004, urging to push the pedal to the metal. The pro-Šlesers movement with the cynical name “For a Better Latvia” recently pledged to raise an average salary in the country to € 3,000, which some economists called it practically impossible (the text is behind registration). It would lead the country to the worse overheating as the so-called “fat years” of boom. It would mean that “the economy should grow equally fast and the annual growth rate of GDP would thus have to be 16.3%”
“As I understand the organization would like to see Latvia develop into the best small economy in Europe. It is a laudable goal but rings very hollow with these ‘pie in the sky’ “projections”. Getting the numbers right would be a good start. “
As the fruits of their past labor have now become a reality, the newly formed union faces a tough sell to the undecided voters. So, instead, they’re offering pie in the sky, feeding the electorate with empty promises.
The election season is upon us.
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