It is since 14 June 2007 that Mongolian Public Radio and TV /MNPRTV/’s Collective Board (CB) members have been on strike. The Parliament set up a working group to look into the events surrounding the strike but the working group has not delivered any conclusions yet.

On 5 July 2007, 6 members on the Collective Board announced their plan to go on hunger strike. On July 6, those 6 members obtained the legal permission for a hunger strike and went to hospital for medical examination.

According to the Collective Board’s statement, the planned hunger strike will call to dismiss MNPRTV’s National Board which is alleged to have repeatedly violated the Law on PSB since its very inception. Six out of fifteen members of MNPRTV’s National Board have been appointed by the Parliament without nomination from a NGOs’ Forum (convened to nominate board members).

As per the Collective Board’s statement, the National board has appointed chiefs of MNPRTV’s divisions and offices without any regard to established selection procedures. In opposition to these unlawful acts MNPRTV’s, the Collective Board filed a lawsuit against the National Board. Although courts of 3 instances have ruled in favor of the CB, MNPRTV’s National Board is ignoring this fact and is trying to dismiss many of its journalists under the excuse that they have failed attestation tests, prompting MNPRTV’s journalists to go on strike.

In June, in response to the strike MNPRTV’s National Board revoked MNPRTV General Director’s decision to dismiss a large number of journalists under the pretext of bad attestation results. On 27 June L. Ninjjamts announced she was dismissed by the National Board. The CB viewed this as falling short of their demands and continued their strike. L. Ninjjamts, who was appointed as chief of MNPRTV’s Human Resources Department without prior attestation, is considered by the CB to be the initiator of mass dismissals.

In connection with the events at MNPRTV, the Mongolian Journalists Union issued a statement on 12 June 2007 in support of MNPRTV Collective Board. At the same time, the Free Mongolian Journalists Association (which unites journalists from private newspapers) led by MNPRTV National Board member R. Khadbaatar issued a statement on 25 June 2007 criticizing CB members and accusing them of causing disorder at MNPRTV and thereby misleading the public.

The Law on Public Radio and TV came into force on 1 July 2005, leading to substantial changes in the policy of Mongolian Public Radio and TV.