Latvia and the Latvians Frederic T. Harned, Harvard University (part of a larger M.I.T. study), 1973

Media

II. Local Media

Latvia achieved general literacy by the beginning of the twentieth century. Its population has been plentifully supplied with reading materials by the Soviet regime. A total of 76 newspapers are published in Latvia, 49 in Latvian and the rest in Russian (see Table B.2.). Their 1971 average circulation (1,297,000) amounted to 71.8 copies of Latvian newspapers per 100 inhabitants of the republic who considered Latvian their native language, and 39.0 per 100 Russian speakers. [1] The Russian speakers have, of course, the centrally published newspapers available as well.

Of the nine all-republic newspapers, the most important are the two dailies, Cina [Struggle] (in Latvian, with a 1970 circulation of 190,000) and Sovetskaya Latviya (in Russian, circulation, 105,000), organs of the CC CP Latvia and the LSSR Council of Ministers; the Komsomol papers, Padomju Jaunatne [Soviet Youth] (circulation, 157,000) and Sovetskaya molodyozh [Soviet Youth] (circulation, 152,000); and Literatura un Maksla [Literature and Art] (circulation, 48,000), a weekly organ of the Writer's Union as well as those of other creative artists. [2] Dzimtenes Balss [Voice of the Homeland], a.weekly publication for Latvians abroad, is counted among the all-republic papers.

The eleven city newspapers include Latvian and Russian language pairs for the cities of Riga (and Jurmala), Jelgava, Liepaja, Ventspils, and Rezekne; Daugavpils is served by a Russian paper alone. The 1970 circulation of Rigas Balss [Voice of Riga] was 78,000 in Latvian and 61,000 in Russian. [3]

Two-thirds of the 27 magazines published in Latvia are in Latvian. In 1970, they had a total per issue circulation of 1,043,000, 93% in Latvian. Thus, Latvian-language readers are far better supplied with locally produced journals than are the Russian readers. Magazines published in Moscow are readily available in Latvia, which redresses the balance. The most important journals, with their 1970 circulation figures, are Padomju Latvijas Komunists (16,300; also published in Russian as Kommunist Sovetskoi Latvii, circulation 5,100), the Party monthly; Zvaigzne [Star] (111,700), a popular fiction fortnightly; Karogs [Banner] (18,000), the journal of the Writers' Union; Veseliba [Health] (162,000), the Ministry of Health's journal of popular medicine; Padomju Latvijas Sieviete [Soviet Latvian Woman] (169,700), a political and literary journal for women published by the CC CP Latvia; and Dadzis [Burdock] (76,400), the official satirical journal.

In the realm of book publishing, only Estonia publishes more titles per capita, or larger editions per capita, than Latvia does. However, the proportion of Latvian-language books out of all books published in Latvia has steadily declined from a high of 81% of new titles in 1945 to slightly over 50% in 1970. [4] Almost all the rest are published in Russian. In volume, Latvian books have consistently outnumbered the Russian by three or four to one. In 1970, nearly one-quarter of the titles appearing in Latvian, encompassing over two-fifths of the total volume, were translations from other languages, especially Russian. [5]

The Baltic republics are far better supplied with radio and television receivers than the rest of the Soviet Union. In 1971, Latvia had more TV sets per 1000 inhabitants than France had in 1969. [6] There was a radio or radio-phonograph for every third inhabitant. Wired loudspeakers constituted only 16% of the radio receiving points in Latvia, less than half of the all-union average. [7] This supply of selector receivers, coupled with Latvia's geographic position, suggests that the country has a high capacity for receiving foreign broadcasts. Radio Luxembourg, in particular, is a popular source of western music.[8]

In 1968, Latvian SSR Radio broadcast four separate programmes, including one in stereo, for a total of 27 hours daily. Broadcasting is in Latvian and in Russian. A foreign service in Latvian and Swedish is also maintained. [9] Small local stations also exist in the cities of Jelgava and Rezekne, in 26 raions, and in many sovkhozy, kolkhozy and large industrial establishments. [10] Amateur radio is widely popular. Organized and encouraged by DOSAAF, some 30,000 amateurs, operating 300 stations, were registered in 1968. [11]

Eight TV stations existed in Latvia in 1970, but none originated local programming except the one in Riga. There are two programmes available. TV Riga broadcasts approximately five and a half hours per day, roughly two-thirds of which is of local origin (in both Latvian and Russian), the rest from Moscow. Central television broadcasts about 14 hours per day. On TV Riga, programming in Latvian averages just under two hours per day, out of the total five to six hours; on Central television, all programming is in Russian. [12]

1. Computed from Pechat' 1971: 189 and Itogi 1970: IV: 280.
2. Preses Hronika, December 1970: 79-111. This is a monthly listing of publications in Latvia. Once a year it carries complete information on journals and newspapers.
3. Ibid.
4. LTS,1971: 418. Latvian-language books are published in larger editions, so that four-fifths of all copies of books published in Latvia in 1970 were in Latvian. This percentage has been increasing since 1965.
5. Pechat' 1970: 96.
6. 202 vs. 201, or one set for every five persons. Nar. khoz. 1972: 628; UN Statistical Yearbook, 1970: 805.
7. Computed from Nar. khoz. 1972: passim.
8. Personal communication, June 1973.
9. LME, 1970: III: 119.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid. 116.
12. See, e.g., schedules in Sovetskaya Latviya (July 23), 1972.