MNB

MNB Mongolian National Broadcaster (MNB) television (Монголын үндэсний олон нийтийн телевиз) is ranked among the top ten TVs by audience shares. (https://www.dropbox.com/home/%237_MOM2016_MNG/2-%20research/1_Media-IDs/3_TV?preview=Top+10+TV-Maxima-english.pdf)The MNB television is the first Mongolian television which was established in 1967. Till 2006 the television was owned and managed by the state. In 2005 the law on Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) was adopted. The law came into effect in 2006 and the process of transforming the state run television and radio into a public service entity was initiated. Currently MNB Television broadcasts its programs on three channels, offering a wide range programs that address political, economic, cultural, social, scientific, educational, sports and other issues. According to the PSB law the Public television is financed by state subsidies, license fees collected from households, public interest advertisements, donations and rent of facilities. MNB Radio and Television programmes are supported by the state through an annual subsidy which was MNT 3, 9 billion (US$2, 2 million) in 2015. In addition each household in Ulaanbaatar pays 1.100 MNT (50 US cents) per month and rural households pay 600 -800 MNT per month.The law obliges the National broadcaster to serve the interests of the public by offering a diversity of program types and addressing needs and interests of diverse groups of society. The highest governing body of the National broadcaster is the National Council, which appoints the general director and the council of directors. (http://www.mnb.mn/s/41?type_slug=i) Members of the National Council are nominated by Parliament, President and Government and approved by Parliament. Even though the nominations shall be based on civil society suggestions, the appointment process is in-transparent and directly influenced by political interests. (See Context Media and Context Law)The influence of the political party in charge of the government on management and sometimes also journalists is obvious by changes of personnel when the government changes. So, instead of Public Service Broadcaster it maybe should be called Party Service Broadcaster. According the monitoring study conducted by the Press Institute on Public service programming content and policy in 2013, 50.5 percent of news items on Public Television was based on a single source, mostly from government sources.