The bbc's negative coverage of Lithuania

by Delfi

British travel writer Michael Palin included the three Baltic states in his latest series for the BBC, "The New Europe". Ignas Brazauskas comments on the series: "Of course it was interesting to get some general information and an insight into the mentality of each of these three countries. However it was obvious that most of the information didn't come from Palin himself but from members of the film team on location who had been specially commissioned for the task. This only served to reinforce the kind of stereotypes you find in all the travel brochures." He notes with regret that it was Lithuania which came away worst. "The whole time melancholic music played in the background, which wasn't the case with Estonia and Latvia. And Palin didn't interview a single Lithuanian. So what kind of impression will this make on the average Brit? Estonia was the only country which might have come over as halfway normal."