Factors of limitation of media freedom in Lithuania

There is an excessive concentration of media ownership in the hands of private interests that can be linked to the powerful societal actors. Highly concentrated groups that control organizations both in the media market and other fields of economy limit the variety of the media content on the national, regional and local levels. Since the property relations of the Lithuanian media subjects are only partially publicised and internal norms of behaviour and rules of the editorial offices are usually not developed, the management transparency of the media organisations is quite low. The economic pressure on the journalists is huge. Also one of the measures of reducing the journalist social benefits is a widespread practise not to enter into labour or authorship contracts, but rather to force them to work as freelancers on the basis of certificates issued by the State Tax Inspectorate. The analysed legal, political and economic factors of intervention in the media work process shows that the media independence from external actors is not ensured but the situation cannot be assessed as extremely critical from this point of view