On 9 December, Vaiva Žukienė, Chair of the Media Support Fund Council, Rasa Navickienė, Deputy Chair of the Council, and administration representatives Ruslanas Iržikevičius, Director, and Ramona Žalakevičienė, Advisor, met with Minister of Culture Vaida Aleknavičienė and Deputy Minister Viktoras Denisenko. The meeting discussed the planned MRF budget for 2026, the growing funding needs, and the most vulnerable areas of the media.
MRF representatives emphasised that state participation in media funding must be based on the principles of proportionality and fairness. If a decision is made to freeze the budget of Lithuanian National Radio and Television, at least part of these funds should remain in the media sector through the MRF so that the public does not lose access to strong and diverse information. Balanced public and private media funding helps to avoid bias and ensures that the public receives diverse information.
At the meeting, MRF Council representatives presented the Minister with a significant increase in the number of applications and the amounts requested, as well as the need for the fund’s financing to grow if a vibrant, diverse, and independent media in Lithuania is to be preserved. It was emphasised that in today’s society, information spreads extremely quickly – news, opinions, and misinformation reach a wide audience in an instant, both nationally and regionally. This speed of information poses new challenges for the media: they must not only respond quickly to events, but also ensure the reliability and quality of information.
It is also emphasised that regional and minority media, with their limited resources, often struggle to keep up with this pace, making state support even more important to maintain the diversity of information and ensure that the public, and local communities in particular, receive reliable and timely content.
