Head of Latvian public media LSM earns more than the president and prime minister

A comparison showing that the monthly salary of the chair of the management board of Latvian Public Broadcasting (LSM) exceeds the pay of the country's top officials has prompted wide discussion on Facebook in Latvia. The debate was started by Jolanta Kublinska, who posted a comparison of the salaries of six positions. The figures correspond to monthly salaries set for 2026, before taxes.

What the comparison shows

Baiba Zūzena, chair of the LSM board, has a monthly salary of 9,156 euros. The President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Saeima (parliament) each receive 8,659 euros, a difference of about 497 euros. An LSM board member receives 8,324 euros, while a minister receives 7,670 euros, which is 1,486 euros less than the board chair.

The comparison covers fixed monthly salaries, not total annual income. Top state officials are also given representation expenses, while pay conditions for heads of state-owned companies differ.

Reactions in the comments

The post's author expressed dissatisfaction and linked the issue to her critical view of public media. Some commenters consider such a salary too high given Latvia's economic situation, while others compare it with the incomes of teachers, police officers, medical staff and pensioners. A few suggest cutting top salaries. Others point out that the list leaves out the best-paid officials in the public sector. For example, the chair of the management board of the state company Latvenergo received 234,402.81 euros in total fixed and variable pay in 2025, before taxes, or roughly 19,534 euros a month on average.

How the LSM chief's salary was set

Zūzena became chair of the LSM board on 2 January 2025, after long leading the TV3 group in Latvia. In December 2024 the Electronic Mass Media Council for public media set her monthly pay at 9,156 euros and that of other board members at 8,324 euros. Initially, higher sums of 10,100 and 9,200 euros had been planned, but they were reduced after changes to the regulations.

The council has explained that the calculation used a study by the consultancy Figure Baltic Advisory on pay for heads of similarly sized private-sector companies. Because LSM's revenue comes mostly from state funding, 20% was deducted from the resulting figure. The board chair's pay was set 10% higher than that of other board members. This method differs from the one used to determine the salaries of the President, the Prime Minister and ministers.