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

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

national daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, published in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. 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 26 September 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 fou ...

. 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 The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (, LSDSP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Latvia, political party in Latvia and the second oldest existing Latvian political party after the Latvian Farmers' Uni ...

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

Communist Party of Latvia The Communist Party of Latvia (, 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 Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ...

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 ( – 17 January 1229) was the third Catholic Bishop of Riga in Livonia. As the Bishop of Livonia, in 1201, he founded Riga, the modern capital city of Latvia, and the city was later made a bishopric. The bu ...

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

Public Broadcasting of Latvia Public Service Media of Latvia ( – LSM) is a publicly funded radio and television organization operated by both of Latvia's public broadcasters – Latvijas Televīzija, Latvian Television and Latvijas Radio, Radio Latvia. LSM provides news, a ...

, but later turned out to be a

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

. 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