Cobalt has successfully represented the Latvian Television public TV network before the Administrative District Court and Administrative Regional Court of Latvia against an association of political parties challenging the rules set by the network related to the allocation of airtime leading up to the elections of the 13th Saeima (parliament) as unlawful.
Cobalt reports that “the association of political parties claimed that it was unduly denied participation in the final debates of Prime Minister candidates,” and that “the court recognized the editorial independence of Latvian Television as a media outlet, which includes the freedom to determine the organizational rules of pre-election broadcasts and allocate time between politicians as it sees fit, as long as said organizational rules are equitable and each political party is provided the statutory guarantee to appear at least once on a pre-election broadcast that is a part of a public service remit. The organizational rules of pre-election broadcasts must be fair and equitable and should be made known to the public in a timely manner. Latvian Television had fully complied with all of the requirements above. The Court did not find misuse of editorial discretion by Latvian Television.”
Cobalt’s team was led by Managing Partner Lauris Liepa and Associate Inese Greke.