''Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze'' (Independent Morning Newspaper) is a

Latvian language Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as ...

national daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, published in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. Since 5 May 2020, it is only published online, with the last print edition coming out on 30 April 2020. The newspaper has been described as having close ties with oligarch

Aivars Lembergs Aivars Lembergs (born September 26, 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was f ...

. Its political orientation has been characterised as nationalist.

History

The forerunner of the newspaper was the party organ of the

Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ) , colours = Maroon Green , headquarters = Riga, Lāčplēša iela 60, LV-1011 , seats1_title = Saeima , seats1 = , seats2_title = European Parliament , seats2 = , website lsdsp.lv, membership_year = 2017 , membership = 633 The Latv ...

''Cīņa'' (The Struggle) appearing since 1904. In 1919, ''Cīņa'' was taken over by the

Communist Party of Latvia The Communist Party of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Komunistiskā partija, LKP) was a political party in Latvia. History Latvian Social-Democracy prior to 1919 The party was founded at a congress in June 1904. Initially the party was known as the Latvia ...

and remained the main party organ until 1990. With the restoration of Latvian independence in 1990, the newspaper's staff ceased collaborating with the party and formed ''Neatkarīgā Cīņa'' (The Independent Struggle) with new editors, which later become the ''Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze''. In 2014, ''Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze'' reported an exclusive that a 13th-century toilet ditch likely used by the

Albert of Riga Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia or Albrecht (german: Albert von Buxthoeven, lv, Alberts fon Buksthēvdens; c.1165 – 17 January 1229) was the third Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Lat ...

had been found during

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s in

Old Riga Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

. The story was picked up by many other Latvian news outlets, including the

Public Broadcasting of Latvia Public Broadcasting of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas sabiedriskais medijs, lit=Latvian Public Media – LSM) is a publicly funded radio and television organization operated by both of Latvia's public broadcasters – Latvian Television and Radio Latvi ...

, but later turned out to be a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

. Aivars Lembergs gained ownership of the paper in 1999, sometimes publishing his editorials there. In 2016, the publisher of ''Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze'' was purchased by Nauris Kāpostiņš, a businessman and brother-in-law of Aivars Lembergs' son, Anrijs Lembergs.

References

External links

* * Newspapers published in Latvia Companies based in Riga Mass media in Riga {{Latvia-stub