The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 9 April 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Mantra about society being polarised is plain lie
STA, 9 April 2021 - Mladina says in its latest editorial that leading politicians talking about the nation being divided and society being polarised is a "plain lie" and that its purpose is to create a false narrative about the support for the current government coalition.
The left-leaning weekly adds that this is confirmed neither by election results nor public opinion polls conducted since 2008, saying that "Slovenia is not politically divided into two equal parts" as this is a "plain populist lie."
Appearances and statements by governing politicians clearly show how important it is for them to repeat the theory that society is divided and polarised - this way they show that the public support they receive themselves is much higher than the actual support for their parties and policies.
"In all elections since 2004 ... a majority has been won by parties that declared themselves as clear opponents of the Democrats (SDS)," Mladina adds under the headline A Simple, but Big Lie.
The same is being confirmed by public opinion polls: the SDS and its satellites never get more than a third of overall support, and parties that break their promise of not cooperating with the SDS practically always lose public support immediately.
As for government support, the situation is similar - at this point Slovenia is not polarised, but it could be said that it is almost united: a vast majority is against the government led by Janez Janša and his SDS party.
"What polarisation is President Borut Pahor, an open supporter of the SDS, talking about then when he says that society is divided and polarised?" Mladina wonders, adding that by doing that, Pahor is fictitiously inflating public support for Janša and his government.
Of course, Janša is the one who talks the most about society being divided and polarised, but this theory is also repeated by all members of the government and Janša's satellites, as well as analysts who make public appearances as allegedly unbiased observers.
This is simply a lie as the "public has not been as politically unified as today for quite a while - since 2014. It is united in the conviction that it does not support these arrogant and autocratic authorities or government."
Demokracija: Fact checking to defeat media lies
STA, 8 April 2021 - Demokracija says in its latest commentary that opinions about the state of freedom of the press in Slovenia should be based on checkable facts and adds that people are getting aware that what they used to consider as mainstream, credible and influential media are not that anymore.
The right-wing weekly notes that in the State Department report about the media in Slovenia, the "only opinion by the Americans of their own is that the [Janez] Janša government respects media freedom and that there are no political pressures."
It adds that truth is a very practical challenge: it is based on checkable facts, and facts are undoubtedly on the side of the government, with two things being encouraging.
The first is that the government does not want to be likeable to the mainstream media and be apologetic when it is criticised or accused of something. "Naive people who would let the media guide them like controlled idiots no longer sit in the government palace."
Demokracija adds that the illusion that the established (progressive) media have influence on political decision has been lost with the third government of Janez Janša, which is a huge blow for their egos, as they imagined that they would be running the country regardless of who is in power.
"The second thing that is encouraging is that people are getting gradually aware that those what they used to consider as 'mainstream', 'credible' and 'influential' media are not any of that anymore."
They used to power the "motor of the Slovenian version of the lying cultural Marxism" with hatred towards Janša, the weekly says, expressing the hope that such media subversion is ending.
"Facts can now be checked on the internet, and fact-checking is the best way for truth to defeat lies," concludes the commentary headlined What Gender the Martians Are?
All our posts in this series are here
