Government approves new broadcasting bill.
The new bill of Broadcasting Act will make the TV and radio stations dependent on political interests, claims CE media expert Marju Laur. The bill was drawn up by Culture Ministry vice-chancellor Peeter Sookruus and his associate Aime Vesmes, who have stressed in an accompanying letter that the document meets all the EU requirements. Eesti P Evaleht interviewed Rein Lang, board chairman of Trio LSL, which owns four radio stations, and who claimed that the government aims at seizing political control over the radio stations and closing down the unfriendly ones. The authors of the draft law claim that the issue of broadcasting licences must be restricted, since the frequency band available is of limited width. The bill stipulates that the current licence owners will have to apply for a renewal and that the previous licence owners will have to compete with possible new applicants at an equal standing.