Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

• Ombudsman Juris Jansons: no country is obliged to grant state funding to national minority schools
• LTV: local TV channel will be able to compete with Russia’s TV channels only by producing domestic programmes in Russian

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons in an interview with news agency LETA stated that no country is obliged to grant state funding to national minority schools. But Latvia, in its turn, went further in development and assurance of human rights, especially concerning ethnic minority children. The Ombudsman said that the fact that graduates of national minority secondary schools are passing final examination in Latvian language is in a child’s interests. It is important to preserve the balance between national minority rights for their language, culture and state interests so that every individual is integrated into the state society preserving own uniqueness and respecting state policy and law, said the Ombudsman. He also said that from the legal point of view, the transitional provisions of the Education Law say that transition of education in secondary schools into Latvian language should begin in 2004, and during these last 10 years there had to be a progress achieved.  The Ombudsman also pointed at some aspects of inequality in the process of bilingual education process when 9th grade students of Russian language schools can pass the examination in Russian language, but students of all other students should do it in state language. News agency LETA 07.04.2015, Vesti Segodnya

In an interview with Vesti Segodnya, a representative of the Latvian Television (LTV) explaining the need to establish state funded Russian language channel in Latvia says the only way how to attract wider Russian speaking audience to LTV is to increase the number of programmes in Russian language. However, it is not possible to achieve within the two existing national channels because channel LTV7 (channel which presently broadcasts some Russian language programmes) broadcasts also large amount of sports programmes and informational and educational programmes in Latvian language. The LTV considers that a local channel will be able to compete withRussia’s TV channels only by producing domestic programmes in Russian.