Ljubljana related
The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 15 March 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Janša's coalition partners are in tight spot
STA, 15 May 2020 - The left-wing weekly Mladina argues in Friday's editorial that the coalition partners of PM Janez Janša are genuinely shocked that Janša broke his promise that he will not bring up ideological topics. They risked a lot by joining this coalition, and now they are scared, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž says under the headline Suffering Coalition Partners.
It is funny, but everyone from New Slovenia (NSi) to the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) is shocked by Janša's moves against the media, attacks on NGOs, his ministers' letters to the Council of Europe, European Commission and foreign media, and his undermining of the country's "entire immune system" from police to oversight over money laundering.
By joining this coalition, the parties risked a lot and they knew that what is happening now could happen. Yet Janša's sweet promises that they could make it were tempting.
The other option was bad and they picked what at least seemingly postponed their problems for two years.
They now admit that the cold shower came as early as the first government session. "Aggression, disrespect and cultural battle, it started immediately. But because of the crisis they kept quiet, hoping that the public will forget all about it because of the crisis. And that Janša will deal with 'his things' and then they will have peace."
Everyone was initially shocked because of coronavirus and because Janša became prime minister, Repovž says.
But this week, coalition partners started raising their voices. Very gently. Matej Tonin of the NSi erased his mildly critical tweet, but he did send out a signal. Aleksandra Pivec of DeSUS stated first criticism, and Janja Sluga of the SMC added some concern to her speeches.
Actually, the coalition partners are afraid. They know what they have got themselves into. At first they were afraid of their leader and they are also afraid of a potential election.
Their actions now show that they realise that Janša and his followers went too far in their spreading of hatred and revenge, and that there is no way back.
Janša's previous government was not swept away in 2013 by protesters but by coalition partners. Some of them knew this will be the end of their political career but did not care. Well, now the coalition partners are in the same tight spot.
They know they cannot uphold the politics that Janša is outlining because it runs contrary to their fundamental beliefs. But they also know he will not want to be distracted.
Reporter: The case for case unbiased journalism
STA, 11 May 2020 – The right-wing Reporter magazine argues in Monday's commentary that journalists should close ranks and fight political pressure no matter whether it comes from the left and the right, as it looks at attacks on the media, in particular a TV Slovenija show which reported about irregularities in the purchasing of personal protective equipment.
Making the case for unbiased reporting, Reporter's editor-in-chief Silvester Šurla says politicians tend to support media when their political opponents are under the spotlight but change tack when the spotlight shines on them.
"Our people are always spotless and as such untouchable. In a black-and-white world one knows in advance who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. The most fervent political supporters are not convinced by any fact, any document, any whistleblower."
The commentator says journalists should in principle always keep a professional distance, which is sadly not always the case in practice since journalists, politicians and ordinary people often see the role of the media through their own interests and political preferences.
"Journalists should be interested in the facts and they should do their job as politically impartially as possible, using the same standards for all political blocs, regardless of the editorial policy of their media."
"But there are few media in Slovenia that criticise both when that is necessary. Instead, we are witness to the utterly absurd and perverse situation of media that like to beat their chests for being 'on the frontlines of the service of the truth' having the strongest political bias. They were founded by politicians who use them as their fist, just like the Communist Party used to to," Šurla says about Nova24TV, which was founded by SDS politicians.
"Such partisan media are now at the frontlines of spewing bile on those who are trying to be independent of politics and are uncovering scandals of whichever government is in power, be it left or right. This is in reality the most hideous political and propaganda machinery disguised as media."
Turning to the Tarča (Target) news show, the commentator says that there had been no untouchables for the show, which had reported about scandals ranging from a 3D model of the Koper-Divača rail track in the Miro Cerar government to the construction of the Stožice sports complex in Ljubljana and the purchasing of egregiously priced stents at hospitals.
It quotes the authors of Tarča writing that those who had praised the show not long ago and demanded changes are now slinging mud at them, while those who dismissed the show as populist are now applauding.
"And we're back at 'us' and 'them', the perverted attitude of politics to the media in a democratic society. It is therefore high time that journalists close ranks and show solidarity with their Tarča colleagues and to clearly say that such pogroms must stop. Today they are on the stakes, tomorrow it will be us," the paper concludes in Today Tarča, Tomorrow You.
All our posts in this series are here
STA, 12 May 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša makes the case for confrontation with the media in an essay entitled War with the Media, in which he argues that keeping silent while media wage war is not an option and has damaging effects on society.
Janša starts out by saying he used to subscribe to the notion that you cannot win the war with the media, until seven years ago, when he had a conversation with an old friend of Helmut Kohl, the former German chancellor.
The man told him that in Ancient Rome fear of the Roman legions had been a stronger weapon than the legionnaires' spears and swords.
In the ensuing debate by intellectuals from several countries three main conclusions were drawn.
VOJNA Z MEDIJI
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) May 11, 2020
Basen o nas žabah, skuhanih v mlačni vodi ter grožnjah s smrtjo
»Vojna posameznika z mediji ne obstaja, kot ne obstaja vojna posameznika z vojsko neke države.« pic.twitter.com/LmUHPuaGNR
Firstly, a media outlet deserving of its name will never declare criticism against it as an attack on freedom of the press or even a war on media.
Secondly, those denigrated by the media have lost if they consent to the notion that there is no point in arguing with the media.
And thirdly, the media declare criticism of their fake or manipulative reports as war, and then they accuse the targets of media hit jobs of waging war against them.
"And the lukewarm portion of 'public' opinion boiled in lukewarm water widely nods, acknowledging that 'war with the media cannot be won'," Janša says.
"The professional group in western civilisation that first declared itself the seventh power, then the fourth (unelected) branch of power and finally the moral judge of political correctness, is increasingly difficult to recognise today as a force for good, for they are neither."
This is becoming increasingly clear with better education and internet access, which "drastically shatter the emerging idolators of Orwellian society and raise the hope that western civilisation will not suffer the fate of the (W) Roman Empire," according to Janša.
The prime minister goes on to make the case for media plurality, noting that individuals cannot wage war with the media, but media themselves can and should be engaged in a "media war" in the sense of presenting competing views.
"In a democratic society different values must have opportunities for expression and advocacy of their ideas that are as equal as possible."
"Media competition is more important than any other [competition], indeed, it is the precondition for a democratic social system and a free society in general," Janša says.
Turning specifically to Slovenian media, Janša singles out RTV Slovenija as he takes issue with the public broadcaster's statement that a public radio and television service is a bedrock of a free society and attacks on it are attacks on democracy.
He then flips the situation by wondering how the broadcaster would react if the government made the same declaration in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic.
"Can you imagine the reaction by the 'public radio and TV'? If yes, it is perfectly clear where we are and just how profound the depravity is of those who declare themselves a 'bedrock of a free society' without an election or constitutional procedure or any kind of shame."
Janša goes on to say that both largest TV stations have many capable, professional and ethical journalists but these cannot make their mark because of "incendiary editorial policy and management".
"The atmosphere of intolerance and hatred is created by a narrow circle of [female] editors with familial and capital ties to the pillars of the deep state and a handful of average and below-average journalists on demand who would not even make it as reporters from the produce market in a normal media outlet."
For Janša, these are signs of totalitarianism. "Totalitarians typically disarmed their opponents before they shot them. First in the media and then physically. First discrediting, then liquidating. Physically if necessary."
The prime minister argues that "well-meaning and god-fearing individuals" are making this possible.
"Perhaps in the lukewarm water you did not even notice that death threats and appeal to murder at leftist rallies are treated by RTV Slovenija, POP TV and other 'media' from the same flock as something 'normal', self-evident even."
"In fact they are boiling you, not the government," he says in reference to the slow boiling of a live frog.
Noting the difficult situation Slovenia is facing as it battles the coronavirus epidemic and the coming economic crisis, Janša says that the destructive consequences can only be overcome if the nation stands together, whereby irresponsible conduct by a few can put everyone else at risk.
"Slovenia can do it, but it cannot do it divided. This requires active effort for the common good and a strong voice, a voice without fake 'political correctness', the voice of each individual against incitement, the creation of additional emergencies and irresponsible actions."
The essay, which was released on the government website on Monday evening, has been criticised by the opposition Social Democrats (SD) and Left.
The SD's MEP Tanja Fajon labelled it inadmissible, low-minded and shameful, and an abuse of the institution of prime minister against freedom of the press by means of a rhetoric used by US President Donald Trump.
Fajon added that her colleagues in Brussels were frequently asking her about what was going on in Slovenia and followed the developments with concern.
The Left's leader Luka Mesec told the press that Janša had used a populist rhetoric of undermining the media and other authorities in society, but by doing so, he was only expressing his "authoritarian tendencies".
The coalition partners of Janša's Democrats (SDS) in the government are also reserved about the prime minister's views, with the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) announcing it could reconsider its further cooperation if ideological topics should prevail over projects the party had committed to in the coalition agreement.
Although she has not yet read Janša's piece, DeSUS leader Aleksandra Pivec said it was extremely disturbing that one's personal ideological views interfered with real work.
"We're interested in implementing the projects to which we have committed within the coalition. We would like to distance ourselves from various personal views and writings ...," she told the press.
Unhappy with Janša's way of communication, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) said it believes in the professionalism and independence of the media. "This manner of communication between politics and the media certainly does not enhance the credibility of either side, the media and politicians," said deputy group leader Janja Sluga.
New Slovenia (NSi) leader Matej Tonin took to Twitter saying that both the media and politicians carry a lot of responsibility and that truth is the value that every politician and every media outlet must pursue. "Objective reporting is what builds democracy, bias disables it," he tweeted.
STA, 6 May 2020 - The Supreme Court has quashed a ruling that ordered the incumbent prime minister, Janez Janša, to pay EUR 6,000 in damages to a journalist for calling her a "washed-up prostitute" in a tweet. The journalist has announced she will take her case to the Constitutional Court.
The Supreme Court rejected the journalist's damages claim after upholding Janša's appeal against the December 2018 ruling by the Celje Higher Court that upheld an earlier decision by the local court in Velenje ordering Janša to pay damages to Mojca Šetinc Pašek, a journalist and editor with TV Slovenija.
Šetinc Pašek brought the defamation suit over Janša's post on his Twitter profile in March 2016 reading "the FB page of the public house is offering cheap services by washed up prostitutes Evgenija C. and Mojca P.Š. One for 30 euros, the other for 35. #ZvodnikMilan".
Na neki FB strani javne hiše ponujajo poceni usluge odsluženih prostitutk Evgenije C im Mojce PŠ. Eno za 30€, drugo za 35€. #ZvodnikMilan.
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) March 21, 2016
The Supreme Court has ascertained that an average follower of Janša's Twitter profile could understand the tweet referred to Šetinc Pašek's work for the public broadcaster rather than her private life, so the second instance court's surmise that the contentious tweet could be understood literally was inaccurate.
The latest judgement, which runs to 17 pages, argues that as TV Slovenija news programme editor Šetinc Pašek performed an extremely important and responsible job from the aspect of the public's right to know, hence her work was exposed to public criticism.
The Supreme Court infers that like Janša the editor was a public figure, for whom "the boundaries of permissible criticism are broader than with private persons".
"In this conflict between the defendant's freedom of political expression and the plaintiff's right to dignity and good name", the majority of the judging panel thus decided in favour of "the enlightenment principle that only free debate on major political topics makes it possible to near the truth".
"Thus, the position prevailed that priority needs to be given to the freedom of political expression. The Supreme Court has therefore not taken a stance on the non-legal aspects of the plaintiff's statement," reads the judgement passed on 6 February.
The court ordered Šetinc Pašek to compensate Janša for costs of the procedure within 15 days.
Šetinc Pašek described the judgement as "outright scandalous", adding that it meant Janša as the leader of the largest parliamentary party and the most powerful person in the country could insult unrestrained any journalist or editor who publishes what he disagrees with.
"Since in the opinion of a majority on the judging panel Twitter is a medium typical for bitter, rough, even insulting content. As if Janša was forced to publish on Twitter," commented the journalist, who called it a black day for Slovenian journalism and the public.
Janša was also sued by Carl, and both journalists brought criminal charges against him. In the criminal procedure Janša was sentenced to a three-month suspended sentence by the Celje District Court in November 2018, but the Celje Higher Court ordered a retrial last year.
All our Janez Janša stories are here
STA, 3 May 2020 - Slovenian journalist Blaž Zgaga is one of 17 recipients of this year's Freedom of Speech Award given out by the German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle to journalists from 14 countries who have been persecuted for coronavirus reporting. All other recipients come from non-EU countries.
Zgaga, a freelance journalist and a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, received the award for being harassed by the government and receiving anonymous death threats, the jury said.
Other recipients come from Serbia, Belarus, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Turkey, Jordan, India, Cambodia, the Philippines, and three from China.
Deutsche Welle has been giving out the award annually to initiatives and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to human rights and freedom of speech.
Previous award winners include the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, the White House Correspondents' Association, and the Mexican journalist and author Anabel Hernández.
MP of the senior coalition Democrats (SDS) Branko Grims responded to the news on Twitter by saying that the fact that Zgaga received the award proved only that Deutsche Welle staff did not understand Slovenian. "I think that giving Blaž Zgaga a freedom of speech award is like giving Metod Trobec a women's rights award."
He was referring to a serial killer and rapist, whose victims were women.
STA, 29 April 2020 - With the terms of eight representatives of civil society on the programme council of RTV Slovenija running out on 16 May, the National Assembly appointed on Tuesday seven new members, with the eighth one to be looked for in a repeated call for applications.
Appointed to the programme council of the public broadcaster with a 51-36 vote yesterday were Alojz Bogataj, Nastia Flegar, Alenka Gotar, Rok Hodej, Slavko Kmetič, Janez Štuhec and Andrej Prebil.
They were selected from 60 candidates vetted by the parliamentary Privileges and Credentials Commission on 21 April after two rounds of voting. There were not enough votes for the eighth candidate, which will be sought in a repeated call for applications.
The opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD) and Left claimed that the coalition parties had distributed programme council members among themselves, arguing that representatives of all viewers and listeners should be sitting in it instead.
They said that RTV Slovenija was a public institute, with LMŠ deputy group head Brane Golubović saying that "the day when the coalition will try to replace the director is not far away and it will take on the Slovenian Press Agency with the same zeal."
Left coordinator Luka Mesec said that the candidates who had not been endorsed featured scientists, media critics and former journalists.
He took issue with Prime Minister Janez Janša's attitude to RTV Slovenija and journalism in general, while Marko Koprivc of the SD said that the government had declared a "bitter war to journalism".
The government recently replaced three of the four government representatives on the 11-member supervisory board of RTV Slovenija.
The ruling SDS has also proposed the replacement of two out of the five representatives of the National Assembly in the supervisory board, but the idea was criticised by the left-leaning opposition at the relevant parliamentary commission.
The Privileges and Credentials Commission will vote on the proposal at one of its future sessions, after it received an opinion from the parliamentary legal service.
STA, 17 April 2020 - The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has called on the Slovenian authorities to restrain from exerting undue political pressure on the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija in the challenging times of the coronavirus epidemic.
In Thursday's statement published on the EBU website and cited by RTV Slovenija on Friday, the organisation said that "RTV Slovenija is playing a critical role in helping the state fight the Covid-19 pandemic and is currently stretched to its limits."
The European alliance of public service media organisations also argues that the Slovenian government's attacks on the public broadcaster's employment, financial and programme policies are not supported by empirical data.
"While of course welcoming criticism, we fear the accusations seek to undermine the independence of the public broadcaster and the competencies of their management and supervisory bodies," the statement reads.
The organisation is sure that there are already regulatory mechanisms in place to scrutinize the proper functioning of RTV Slovenija, which provide checks and balances against its institutional independence and autonomy.
The statement is a response to the pressure and allegations against RTV Slovenija, including in a letter the government sent last week to the Council of Europe to claim that the majority of the main media in Slovenia stem from the Communist regime.
In early April, PM Janez Janša accused RTV Slovenija of lying in a tweet targeting an interview with a trade unionist who expressed indignation about the government's intention to raise its pay, from which the government later backtracked.
Janša also said at the time that "we pay you to keep us informed in these times, not to mislead the public. Apparently there are too many of you and you are paid to well."
The EBU also took the opportunity to note that RTV Slovenija's legal and financial framework was outdated, and that it needed urgent update to ensure it receives adequate funding and technical upgrade in line with technological developments.
All our stories on the media in Slovenia are here
STA, 16 April 2020 - The government on Thursday made early replacements of three members of the supervisory board of RTV Slovenija, the country's public broadcaster.
Matjaž Medved, Irena Ostrouška and Petra Majer were dismissed and are being replaced by Borut Rončević, Anton Tomažič and Drago Zadergal, the Government Communication Office announced.
Rončević is a professor at the Nova Gorica School of Advanced Social Studies and Anton Tomažič is a jurist who served as MP for the DEMOS coalition in the early 1990s
The government appoints four out of eleven members of the RTV Slovenija supervisory board.
One of the first tasks of the revamped board will be to vote on endorsement of the broadcaster's financial plan for the year.
Since the supervisors rejected the plan in December, the broadcaster's operations are being financed by means of provisional monthly budgets.
The broadcaster generated a loss of EUR 3.2 million last year, to be offset by surpluses from the past years.
STA, 14 April 2020 - A contentious letter sent by the government to the Council of Europe (CoE) to claim that the majority of the main media in Slovenia stem from the Communist regime was defended by Foreign Minister Anže Logar in parliament on Tuesday, as the opposition described it as a piece of one-sided political propaganda.
The letter, debated today in a joint session by the parliamentary committees on foreign policy and culture, was a response to an alert issued by the CoE Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists after Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted in late March that the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija was misleading the public, adding "apparently there are too many of you and you are paid too well".
Addressing the session, Foreign Policy Committee chair Matjaž Nemec said the letter, drawn up by the Government Communication Office (UKOM) and sent to the CoE by the Foreign Ministry, served as a settling of scores in domestic politics, and represented yet another attack on journalists.
Nemec, an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), said the letter was a manipulating description of the Slovenian media landscape that failed to mention information that linked Janša's Democrats (SDS) with media under police investigation over suspicious financial flows from Hungary or fake news.
Nemec accused the government of sullying Slovenian media in the document, and Janša of exploiting the coronavirus epidemic for denigration and misinforming European institutions about the state of Slovenian media.
"The letter addressed to the Council of Europe represents a unilateral, politically-motivated and irresponsible conduct on the part of the government against the good name of the Republic of Slovenia, and instead of steps to protect the standards, freedom and independence of journalist work, it resumes the war against the media, and deepens tensions in society," said Nemec.
Logar denied that the letter was a dispatch in response to a statement by CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović as claimed by the MPs requesting today's session. He said the government had not yet responded to that statement, and if it did, the response would be drawn by the UKOM.
The minister said that he was not involved in the compilation of the government's response, but had been acquainted with the wording before the letter was sent to Slovenia's standing mission to the CoE, which then referred it to the CoE Platform.
"Do I support the text? Do I agree with the content? What is it that doesn't hold true in what's written?" Logar challenged MPs. He also read the accompanying dispatch prepared and sent by the Foreign Ministry along with the government's response to the CoE.
The letter, accessible on the website of the CoE Platform, argues that "the majority of the main media in Slovenia have their origins in the former Communist regime, and even in the late 1990s the positions of editors-in-chief were held by the former members of the infamous security service UDBA".
Logar left the session after making his point due to other obligations, which upset the Culture Committee chair Violeta Tomić of the Left: "The minister spat on us, poured mud over us and then left."
In place of Logar, the Foreign Ministry was represented by State Secretary Tone Kajzer, but since the latter would not answer MP questions and would have nothing to add, the session was broken up to be resumed when Logar is available to attend.
The opposition demanded the government retract the contentious letter and replace it with a content that would not harm Slovenia's reputation. They moreover called on junior coalition partners to take responsibility and honour their promise the government would not be a one-man and one-party government.
The junior partners, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and New Slovenia (NSi), distanced themselves from the letter last week.
Opposition MPs today denounced the letter as abuse of power for party interests, an attack on democracy, independent journalism and freedom of expression. They also accused Logar of lying after he said last week he knew nothing about the letter.
Speaking on behalf of the SDS, MP Eva Irgl denied the opposition's accusations, arguing today's session was meant as an attack against the foreign minister and to settle scores with the SDS, government and prime minister.
While the Journalists' Association (DNS) denounced the letter last week, its smaller counterpart, the Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP), which brings together mostly journalists and commentators from right-leaning media, upheld the letter as accurate and pinpointing key problems of the Slovenian media space.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ZNP argues that the main problem of Slovenian media is a lack of pluralism as most media more or less openly favour the political left.
"Fact is that even after the fall of the dictatorship, the political forces stemming from the previous Communist regime, along with their ideological supporters continue to control almost uninterruptedly the economic, judicial and media fields in the country, including public RTV Slovenija," reads the ZNP's response.
The ZNP says that the majority media under the control of the left have often been abused for the settling of scores with the centre-right political opponents. They see media bias coming to the fore again as the third Janez Janša government took over, asserting that the most radical of journalists from the dominant media controlled by the left openly agitate against the new government.
Govt points to ex regime in response to CoE criticism of pressure on media in Slovenia
SDS under fire following dispatch about communist origins of Slovenian media
MEPs defend freedom of press, disagree over communist media dispatch
Govt points to ex regime in response to CoE criticism of pressure on media in Slovenia
STA, 8 April 2020 - Responding to criticism coming from the Council of Europe (CoE) over pressure on the media in Slovenia, the government has argued the situation is a result of Slovenian media having "their origin in the former communist regime".
While the CoE has been highlighting pressure on media occurring under the new government and named the state as the "source of the threat", the government wrote that it welcomes that the CoE Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists is taking a stronger interest in the media situation in Slovenia.
It added that the CoE's attention should be drawn to the broader context of the media situation in the country, including historical facts in the development of the media market.
"The majority of the main media in Slovenia have their origins in the former communist regime, and even in the late 1990s the positions of editors-in-chief were held by the former members of the infamous security service UDBA," says the letter accessible on the website of the CoE Platform.
Sent to the CoE by Slovenia's Permanent Representation to the CoE on Tuesday, the letter also says that up until 2004 the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija had been run directly by "former communist structures".
The letter says that "more or less all attempts to create new media that would not be based on the legacy of of the totalitarian past have failed" because new media had not received money from advertising. One of the few media that survived was Catholic Radio Ognjišče, surviving above all because listeners supported it with their contributions.
The situation changed partly only in the period between 2004 and 2008, "when for the first time the parties originating in the former regime lost the authority for four years", the letter says of the period when Janez Janša was prime minister for the first time.
"During this period, the law governing the operations of RTV Slovenija also changed with a view to promoting greater plurality of the media space. As a result, in some media that in one way or another are financed by all citizens, individuals who were not connected with the former totalitarian party also took on leading roles."
However, already in 2008, when the Borut Pahor government took over, there was "tremendous persecution of all editors and journalists who were not part of the former regime's network," the letter says, referring to editor dismissals at the STA and RTV Slovenija, and saying that similar actions had been taken in some private media.
The letter also says that media in Slovenia had during this time undergone ownership consolidation. "With the consent of left governments, the majority of the main media have been sold to individuals who are known to the general as Slovenian tycoons, many were also members of Forum 21," an outfit established by former President Milan Kučan.
"Journalists themselves also contributed to their increasingly poorer public image. Jumps from journalism to politics are, unfortunately, too common for the public to fully trust the integrity of journalists," the letter says, naming here MEPs Tanja Fajon and Irena Joveva.
"There are not isolated cases of political rewards for journalists who appeared in public as the greatest fighters among journalists against parties that did not arise from the network of the former regime," the letter says, naming Rok Praprotnik and Dejan Karba.
The government expresses satisfaction in the letter that Slovenia had finally become the subject of international interest in terms of freedom of the press and the general state of the media in the country, saying that "warnings of the unbearable situation of the Slovenian national broadcaster should also be taken seriously".
It says that initiatives for a more rational spending of public funds are being misinterpreted. "While many media companies are struggling to survive... RTV Slovenija has hired an additional 400 people in the last 10 years alone, bringing the total number of the institution's employees to approximately 2,300."
The letter was sent to the CoE, after the latter issued an alert in response to Janša's tweet on 20 March. Janša tweeted "Don't spread lies, @InfoTVSLO. We pay you to keep us informed in these times, not to mislead the public. Apparently there are too many of you and you are paid to well."
Janša tweeted this after TV Slovenija aired an interview with a trade unionist who criticised the government's decision to raise the salaries of ministers and state secretaries.
Janša's tweet was criticised also by the Journalists' Association (DNS), the Journalists' Trade Union and the leadership of RTV Slovenija. The union and the DNS interpreted the tweet as a threat to RTV Slovenija employees about possible loss of employment or other repressive measures that may befall them unless they report in a way that suits the government.
This was the second alert by the CoE Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists issued to Slovenia in the past two weeks. On 27 March, the Platform said that investigative journalist Blaž Zgaga had received death threats from far right groups.
In response to that alert, the government said it "strongly rejects and condemns the case of alleged harassment... At the moment, we have no conclusive evidence as to how this event came about."
Zgaga was also mentioned in the letter sent to the CoE on 7 April, which said that his credibility was destroyed when claims of Janša's involvement in the Patria defence scandal were proven false.
SDS under fire following dispatch about communist origins of Slovenian media
STA, 9 April 2020 - The senior coalition Democratic Party (SDS) has been criticised, not only by journalists and the opposition, but also by its coalition partners, after an official government dispatch to the Council of Europe's Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists claimed that all the main media stemmed from the communist regime.
The dispatch was a response to an alert issued by the Platform after Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted in late March that the public broadcaster RTV Slovenia was misleading the public, adding "apparently there are too many of you and you are paid too well".
The Journalists' Association (DNS) said that the dispatch was far from reality of Slovenia's media market, that the writing reflected the ideological position of the the SDS and was undermining Slovenia's reputation abroad.
For 30 years, Slovenia has been a democracy with a media market, which has seen various anomalies, but is nonetheless operating in a relatively normal framework, the DNS said on Thursday.
Editorial policies, as well as ownership, vary from one media outlet to the next, so to claim that all are guided by an ideological war against the SDS is "peek paranoia", which has been evident in the existing attitude of the SDS and the incumbent government toward the media and journalists, the DNS said.
The association underlined that Slovenian journalists are performing their job in line with professional and ethical standards, and on par with their colleagues in other western democracies.
"In fact, the only instances of aberration are seen in media directly or indirectly linked to the SDS, which have received substantial funding from Hungarian companies. These have been conducting degrading campaigns against anybody who does not agree with SDS politics, they have manipulated facts and spread intolerance toward anybody who is different or thinks differently," the DNS said.
It added that the government failed to understand that freedom of the press is guaranteed by law in Slovenia, that public media are not state media and that the state, albeit the founder of public media, does not have the right to play editor.
Meanwhile, the director of RTV Slovenija Igor Kadunc repeated his reaction to the initial tweet in a statement for Radio Slovenija that RTV Slovenia was operating economically.
Bojan Veselinovič, the director of the STA, also a public media outlet, meanwhile denied allegations levelled against him in the dispatch, which explicitly mentions Veselinovič firing editor-in-chief Borut Meško, who later died due to severe illness.
Coalition partners Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) have distanced themselves from the letter, all of them saying that they had not been informed about the contents of the dispatch. The parties also said that they would demand to learn who authored the dispatch, sent to the CoE on 7 April.
The SMC said in its response to the STA that it only learnt about the letter from the media and that its position was clear: "any attack and pressure on the media is unacceptable."
The NSi as well said it had not been informed about the dispatch and would demand explanations "within the coalition", including about who wrote the dispatch. Similar sentiment was echoed also by DeSUS.
The opposition was also critical, with the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the Social Democrats (SD), the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) and the Left calling for an emergency session of the parliamentary culture and foreign affairs committees to demand explanations from Foreign Minister Anže Logar.
The opposition parties believe the dispatch amounts to abuse of power for political purposes and an action that undermines the country's international renown.
The Left called on Logar to resign, while LMŠ MP Nik Prebil said in a statement that no government minister, least of all the foreign minister, must allow that such documents "bear a personal or party connotation".
Meanwhile, Matjaž Nemec, an MP for the SD and the chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said he expected Logar to explain to the committee why the dispatch could be interpreted as reinforcement of a political agenda through diplomatic networks.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry denied having drafted the dispatch. Instead, government Communications Office (UKOM) head Uroš Urbanija, told the newspaper Delo that his office had written the letter and that neither Logar nor Janša were aware of its contents.
Urbanija, a former home desk editor at the STA, former editor at RTV Slovenija, as well as Nova24TV, told the paper that the letter had been sent in a clear procedure of UKOM receiving a question from the press and responding to it without any special notification to government officials.
The ministry, while denying having written the letter, said it forwarded the explanation to the CoE in line with established diplomatic practice.
MEPs defend freedom of press, disagree over communist media dispatch
STA, 9 April 2020 - Slovenian MEPs have expressed support for freedom of the press after an official dispatch was sent to the Council of Europe (CoE) saying that all the main Slovenian media had their origins in the Communist regime. But while MEPs from right-leaning parties expressed support for the dispatch, others labelled the writing as politically motivated.
Sent to the CoE's Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists on 7 April, the dispatch was a response to an alert issued by the Platform after Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted in late March that the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija was misleading the public, adding "apparently there are too many of you and you are paid too well".
MEPs Milan Zver and Romana Tomc, both members of the senior coalition Democratic Party (SDS) and the European People's Party (EPP) group, expressed belief that Slovenian media had not yet reached EU standards.
"Slovenian media space has been occupied above all by monochrome dominant media outlets which have been in the hands of the old (neo)Communist nomenclature since the beginning," Zver said in a statement for the STA.
"Unfortunately, political pluralism was not followed by media pluralism, one of the pillars of modern democracies," he added.
The dispatch "describes the actual state of affairs of so-called independent journalism and the so-called independent media in Slovenia," Tomc said, adding that the media space in Slovenia is completely "unbalanced".
"Therefore it would be very beneficial if relevant international institutions started more comprehensively dealing with this problem, to which we have been drawing attention for a long time," Tomc added.
Franc Bogovič of the People's Party (SLS), also a member of the EPP, said he wanted to see substantial discussions about social responsibility of the media, as well as plurality and autonomy of Slovenian media.
"Political ideas and individuals on the centre-left political spectrum get a lot more room" in the media, he said, adding that the three biggest daily newspapers are owned by persons from a certain "economic-political-media circle" which is trying to interfere with the state.
Ljudmila Novak of the New Slovenia (NSi), also a member of the EPP group, said that constructive criticism can only be of help to the authorities. She believes that Communist heritage and the influence of left-leaning political parties can still be felt in some media outlets.
"Some political parties, their leadership and membership originate in the former Communist regime. Therefore this can be felt also in some media. Unfortunately, the media under the patronage of some political parties or in their ownership are the least democratic of all."
Meanwhile, MEPs from the ranks of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Klemen Grošelj and Irena Joveva, a former journalist for the STA and commercial broadcaster POP TV, said that the dispatch amounted to politically-motivated abuse of state institutions to promote party agenda.
Social Democrat (SD) MEPs Milan Brglez and Tanja Fajon, were also critical. Fajon, also a former journalist who worked for TV Slovenija, said the dispatch was politically-motivated and disgraceful.
She said the dispatch failed to mention contentious funding from Hungary of media close to the SDS, as well as threats by Janša and his supporters to individual journalists.
Brglez meanwhile regretted that Foreign Minister Anže Logar put the interests of his party before the interests of the state. The Foreign Ministry meanwhile denied having drafted the dispatch, while the head of the government Communication Office Uroš Urbanija said the dispatch had been written by his office and that to his knowledge neither Logar nor Janša had been aware of its contents.
STA, 8 April 2020- The programming council of the public broadcaster has come out in defence of independent and professional journalism after several RTV Slovenija crews have been attacked and Prime Minister Janez Janša accused the broadcaster of lying in recent weeks.
In a statement adopted after its tele-session, it condemned attacks on RTV Slovenija's independence and on the professionalism of its journalists.
Noting that constructive criticism is welcome because it can lead to improvement, "the council resolutely rejects all attacks which more or less openly aspire to damage RTV Slovenija's independence and the media professionalism of its staff".
The council said it supported upright journalism regardless of political or religious affiliation of journalists and regardless of their world-view.
It noted Slovenia being amid the Covid-19 epidemic, entering recession and witnessing increased social distress among its residents. But in this complex crisis, public media play an important role of bringing news, providing explanations and opening up debate.
The council said the situation demands great efforts and self-sacrifice also from RTV Slovenija, its leadership, editors, journalists and other staff to bring a professional public service.
Janša accused RTV Slovenija of lying in the first week after his government assumed power amid the coronavirus epidemic in a tweet targeting an interview with a trade unionist who expressed indignation about the government's pay raise. A few days later two TV crews were harassed verbally, with one of them also having the company's vehicle damaged.
