On Wednesday, in the Saeima State Administration and Local Government Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (MEPRD) discussed local government press publications, encouraging the creation of a unified format and visual design of local government publications. The Ministry makes proposals so that the informative expenditures of local governments correspond to their intended purpose: to inform about the decisions adopted by local governments and the binding regulations.
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Municipal information publications, which would be obliged to inform the public about the work, decisions and binding regulations of taxpayers’ money, are often used to polish the image of politicians, do not provide objective information, distort the principle of freedom of the press and diversity of opinion. It is especially important to provide objective information to the public, especially during the pre-election period, the ministry points out.
Municipalities spend significant financial resources on such publications, often imitating the work of newspapers and journalists. MEPRD advocates the principle of a clear separation between journalism and public relations work. There is also a need to strengthen high-quality journalism in the regions by providing citizens with objective information that can only be provided by an independent media, the ministry said in a statement.
MEPRD’s proposal envisages the creation of a uniform format and presentation of local government expenditures. Similarly, and according to a unified approach, structured information in the territories of all local governments will ensure the availability of objective and comprehensible information throughout the society. This would also have an economic benefit – preparing information in a uniform format would save financial resources for society as a whole.
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