At the proposal of the President of Latvia, the State Security Council will discuss how to ensure uninterrupted broadcasting of public channels in a crisis situation. The disappearance from the broadcasts of Latvian Radio for several hours on Friday caused a lot of misunderstanding in the country, as the radio hall was filled with smoke and the employees were evacuated.
Aidis Tomsons, a leading journalist from Latvian Radio, was going live with his colleagues on a discussion program on Friday, when the alarm signal sounded in the radio room and simultaneously on all radios throughout Latvia. at the moment.
Smoke was spreading into the radio hall and more and more emergency vehicles arrived at the historic building on Riga Cathedral Square. Employees of the radio station were evacuated outside. Rescuers discovered with the help of thermal imaging cameras that the source of the smoke was the covering material of one of the walls and fortunately there was no major fire.
But radio listeners didn’t know all this, because the programs were suddenly interrupted and only the music remained on the air. News anchor Ugis Libietis went on the air with the emergency announcement just an hour and 45 minutes later, and normal radio broadcasts resumed two and a half hours after the break, when people were allowed to return in home.
“Yes, because there is a program interruption, we cannot broadcast the announcement of what is happening here,” Libietis said.
Information about the fire has been shared on social media and on the common homepage of public channels, but not everyone is constantly monitoring it. And many are starting to worry and ask themselves why the news is not broadcast and whether something serious has happened in the country.
“The decision to continue broadcasting outside the radio should have been made more quickly. Of course, we have an internal work organization and a comprehensive action plan on how to continue alternative program production in the event of a serious crisis of national importance – if someone attacks or a major disaster occurs, after which the radio can no longer be used. But after Friday’s accident, it is clear that we need to do better
draw up an action plan even for minor ailments,” said Janis Siksnis, President of the Latvian Council of Public Electronic Media.
Latvian Radio executives explained that in case of serious crises, plans were made to broadcast from other places, but in the case of this small incident they were not implemented.
However, President Edgars Rinkevićs has repeatedly insisted in recent days on the need to always guarantee the air of public channels and the possibility of informing the public. On Monday this week, during the meeting with the Public Electronic Media Council, the president announced that he would raise the issue in the National Security Council.
2024-01-08 19:25:00
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