Liina Kersna: Estonia's public broadcaster must be shielded from political influence

Reform Party MP Liina Kersna argues that Estonia's public broadcaster ERR needs stronger independence from political parties. She is proposing a legislative amendment to ensure that independent domain experts outnumber parliamentary faction representatives on ERR's supervisory board.

Estonia's public broadcaster ERR is at the centre of a growing debate about political independence, with Reform Party MP [Liina Kersna](/politicians/liina-kersna) now pushing for a concrete legislative change to reduce partisan influence over the institution.

Kersna has opened discussions in the Riigikogu on an amendment that would require the ERR supervisory board to include more recognised field experts than representatives appointed by parliamentary factions. The core logic is simple: the broadcaster's credibility depends on its independence, and that independence must be guaranteed in law, not left to goodwill.

## Why this matters now

Public trust in media institutions across Europe has come under sustained pressure in recent years, and Estonia is no exception. When political parties hold disproportionate influence over a national broadcaster's governing structures, editorial independence can erode gradually — often without any single dramatic incident to trigger alarm. Kersna's proposal aims to pre-empt that drift rather than respond to a crisis after the fact.

The amendment would shift the balance on ERR's supervisory board decisively toward professional expertise. Under the proposed change, specialists with recognised knowledge in relevant fields — journalism, media management, communications, law — would hold a majority over faction-appointed political figures. The goal is to insulate editorial and strategic decisions from the short-term calculations of party politics.

## A structural safeguard

Kersna frames this not as a critique of any current board member or political party, but as a structural safeguard appropriate for a democratic society that takes press freedom seriously. Estonia consistently ranks among the top countries globally for press freedom, and maintaining that standing requires active institutional choices, not passive reliance on tradition. The Riigikogu debate is ongoing, and the proposal is expected to draw both support and pushback from factions with stakes in the current appointment model.