After the scandal of the Financial Times publications, the ruling party received a verdict from the CEC
In her address to the CEC, A. Širinskienė emphasized that the political campaign for the upcoming municipal council and mayoral elections began in 2022. on October 7, and publications related to Lithuania were published in “Financial Times” at the end of November.
As he wrote at the end of November Delphi, the British portal “Financial Times” published a special series of publications about Lithuania: the country’s politics, entrepreneur, developer, achievements and breakthrough. It turned out that the institution “Investuok Lithuania” paid for these and this is the public audience part of the content.
In the response addressed to A. Širinskien of the CEC, it is noted that the requirements contained in the Code of Elections and other legal acts regarding the dissemination of political advertising and the financing of a political organization, the request for information to “Investuokok Lithuania” were not violated.
“The “Financial Times” publicity campaign was initiated and implemented by VšĮ “Investuok Lithuania” in order to strengthen the reputation of Lithuania as a safe, reliable, advanced and business-attractive country among the foreign business audience,” the document reads.
Specific topics, as indicated by the CEC in evaluating the information received, were selected by the editor of the Financial Times special reports column, taking into account the interests of the publication’s audience and the relevance of the topics.
“At the beginning of the project, the client had to propose a topic for six content units once, but neither in the terms of the contract with the Financial Times nor in the working meetings did the publication commit to the proposed topic. Neither the speakers, nor the visual solutions, nor the final result were coordinated with the customer,” VRK writes.
Such a format, fairy tale commissions, was not created specifically for Lithuania – it was used by other countries, and the client has no influence on the final content of the texts.
“Heads of Lithuanian state institutions, members of the academic community and other persons interviewed by the publication could not be published in the format of the publication, because the journalists who spoke to them only knew that they were reporting on Lithuania, but did not know about the initiative of this audience.
This is the practice at the Financial Times to maintain objective content and quality. the issue can also be informed by journalists for the article, because neither specific nor specific developers, with whom it was not possible to talk about the fact that there is no bias”, V. replied to A. Širinskien.
In the Commission’s assessment, publication of the publications is not related to the upcoming elections of municipal councils and mayors, as they are focused on an international business audience.
“The publications are focused on the international business audience – both for them and for the publication’s editorial staff, the Lithuanian municipal elections are an event of little relevance,” the letter notes.
It also states that the Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis interviewed in the texts are named by their current positions, without linking them to a political organization or political direction, the persons interviewed in other publications are not related to politics.
“In terms of content, the spoke representatives of the authorities speak on behalf of the state in three publications out of seven, the authors of the other publications mention the position of the Lithuanians/Lithuanians, but not the merits of a specific political force. The CEC has no data that the persons interviewed in the publications intend to run for office or are candidates nominated by political organizations in 2023. in the elections of municipal councils and mayors”, says the CEC.
As a result, according to the document, the commission found that the Financial Times publications did not seek to influence the 2023. elections or to influence the motivation of voters, there were no calls to vote for specific parties, and no ideas or program proposals of the candidate were presented.
“The readership of the ft.com portal is largely made up of foreign residents who do not influence the results of municipal councils and mayoral elections, it can be concluded that the publications published on the Financial Times portal ft.com and related to Lithuania in their content do not have signs of political advertising, therefore should be considered as part of public relations actions carried out by public institutions of the Market – writes the CEC.
Kubilius: European capitals are following Lithuania’s footsteps, that’s why they write about it
In the “Special Reports” section of the Financial Times, seven articles were published about Lithuania – the state’s position in the international space, progress in the financial technology sector, the achievements of photographers, the movement of the Suwalki corridor, energy independence from Russia, the history of basketball and the business unicorn. vintage.
Lithuanians expressed joy and pride that an influential media outlet paid so much attention to us.
“About how Lithuania influences the change of foreign policy paradigms of the European Union.
We influence because we don’t try to just swim in the long-drawn fairway of the greats (Berlin, Paris, etc.). We consistently draw different, “non-pragmatic” lines and thus force even Berlin or Brussels to admit that we were right about Russia a long time ago. We were not heard until the war.
Now they can already hear us, which is why the consistent words (and actions) of Gabrielius and Ingrida, not only about Russia, but also about China, are changing the paradigms that prevailed in the European Union until then. Berlin, Paris, Brussels are following in our footsteps, and it doesn’t hurt. That is why the Financial Times writes about it. They write without hiding their respect and admiration for the attitude of Lithuania,” commented a conservative member of the European Parliament on Facebook after observing one of the texts. Andrius Kubilius.
The Government drew attention to the fact that Lithuania was interested in “Financial Times” and prepared a special series of publications.
Margarita Šešelgytė, director of the Vilnius Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences, thanked the “Financial Times” journalist for the fact that she was interviewed and the university was able to share her insights.
The contract is 56.8 thousand. euro value
The Lithuanian Institute of Culture, the Lithuanian Embassy in Denmark, and a public institution subordinate to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation are also happy to welcome Lithuania on Facebook. “Invest in Lithuania”.
“24 years ago, the Financial Times prepared the first exclusive report on Lithuania – today it announces the second transformation of Lithuania into a forward-thinking, innovative world economy!” Since the “singing revolution” that regained our freedom, Lithuania has traveled step by step – joining NATO and the EU, and maybe even space!
Let’s examine Lithuania’s resilience in the face of global anomalies, as well as its important technology industry as an innovative and prosperous country,” the institution’s account reads.
Advertising on the website of this public institution can be seen next to the publications of the special report.
It was “Invest in Lithuania” that paid for the publication series.
in 2022 in November, “Investuok Lithuania” and “Financial Times” amounted to 56.8 thousand. EUR (with) value contract and purchased VAT content advertising services.
The estimated content time is from November 24, 2022 to January 24, 2023.
Claims that the Government had an influence on the content
True, Financial Times correspondent R. Milne assured that all editorial decisions in this case were made by the portal.
“All the articles were selected by me and I wrote them. The Government of Lithuania has no influence on this,” the journalist responded in a tweet.
He noted that all Financial Times special reports are prepared based on advertising demand, but the journalists do not know who the advertiser is, and they only know that there is a need to prepare texts.
“We can always write what we want, and we do every time,” Milne said.
However, according to the communication expert, some readers may feel bewildered by the fact that publications are ordered. Read more about the whole here.
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