Building or Banning? Russian-Language TV in Latvia

Abstract

Russian culture and language occupy a sensitive place in Latvia’s society and politics given the history of Soviet and Russian imperial subjugation of the Latvian people. Indeed, the raison d’etre of the Latvian state is to create a place of self-determination and security for the Latvian nation, with special importance accorded to the Latvian language. Therefore, policies concerning the Russian language and touching on the legacy of Soviet occupation, whether it be in public signage, education or citizenship, are linked to debates about self-preservation, Latvian independence, and the development of Latvian language and culture which, in turn, depends on the external acceptance of other states and the internal acceptance of Russian-speaking minorities. Television, the most mass of mass media, has been subject to these political-cum-existential concerns as much as any other institution in society. This chapter traces the history of Russian-language television in Latvia from the late Soviet period to the present with an emphasis on locally produced informational programming and policy choices regarding the role of state-supported public broadcasting. These policy choices are in part defined by the corresponding geopolitical era—post-Soviet to EU accession, post-accession to the 2014 Crimean annexation, the Ukraine crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.