Prime Minister's criticism of the Ministry of Agriculture: 'This must not happen again'
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė criticised the behaviour of the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, which are part of the "Nemunas aušra" party, towards the media. She said that such situations, when the ministries receive questions from journalists and avoid answering them directly, must not be repeated, the news portal „Delfi“ reported.
The Head of Government said that state institutions must respond directly and as quickly as possible to journalists' requests.
„The Prime Minister takes a negative view of the fact that journalists' questions were not immediately answered and instead press releases were issued. The Prime Minister stresses that answers to the media must be given directly and as quickly as possible. Such situations should not be repeated in the future – all questions on which journalists have the right to receive information must be answered“, – in a reply to the portal, the Prime Minister's adviser Ignas Algirdas Dobrovolskas is quoted.
As previously reported, at the end of October, journalists from „Delfi“ who contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and the Construction Sector Development Agency (SSDA), which is subordinate to the Ministry of Environment, received press releases issued by the institutions instead of answers to their questions.
For its part, the Lithuanian Journalists' Union (LJU) said that this was a manipulation of public information and an attempt to disrupt the work of the analytical media, which is important to the public
The portal „Agrobitė“ also initially received a similar reaction to questions sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Paying Agency on the same issue – the missing €20m. The MAFF then also responded with a propaganda press release, and the NMA sent a link to the MAFF press release, saying that there would be no further explanation.
After further appeals, and after informing the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, the MAA sent replies to the requests. The information wall was also taken down by the NMA. Since then, the MAFF and the NMA have been responding correctly to inquiries from „Agrobitė“.
