STA, 12 February 2019 - The parliamentary Commission for Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services debated on Tuesday the national security implications of a lengthy dispute with Italy over radio signals travelling across the border, and ways to protect Slovenian radio stations.

The dispute goes back well over a decade and revolves around frequency interference of radio broadcast signals that cross the border.

Some Slovenian stations have been ordered to pay fines by Italian courts, which has led to recurring criticism in Slovenia, most recently in 2016.

Italy insists Slovenian radio stations' signal in the border area is too strong, while Slovenia has accused Italy of failing to honour international agreements which govern such cases.

Commission chair Matej Tonin said the MPs inquired with the government what it was doing to protect Slovenian radio stations from court decisions that he said were "inappropriate considering how these issues are regulated internationally."

He said Slovenian stations may decide to withdraw from the border area for fear of fines, which would mean that "Slovenian language and Slovenian culture would not be heard in this area," which could represent "a significant security threat" in the absence of action.

According to Tonin, some of the measures presented by the government included counter lawsuits against Italian radio stations for frequency interference in Slovenia, assignment of additional frequencies to Slovenian operators, and legal assistance in cases before Italian courts.

The debate came just two days after senior Italian officials caused uproar in Slovenia and Croatia with statements interpreted as attempts at historical revisionism.

Tonin said that the context made the debate "all the more heated and pertinent".

STA, 1 February 2019 - One of Slovenia's foremost media experts has called for far-reaching reform of media legislation and state subsidies for media outlets struggling in the current business climate, arguing that Slovenian journalism needs strong support from the state.

"The media pluralisation fund, which has EUR 2m available and spends EUR 1.3m on radio stations of special importance, is not enough. It was not enough years ago and is even less so now: journalism globally faces existential problems and is struggling to survive," Faculty of Social Sciences professor Marko Milosavljević told the latest edition of Mladina.

He said a range of measures should be employed, from tax subsidies for media outlets to incentives for hiring young reporters, preserving the networks of foreign and local correspondents.

The government should increase funding for the media to at least EUR 20m per year, he said, arguing that this was still low compared to what some other countries are spending to prop up their media.

Professor Marko Milosavljević. Photo: www.fdv.uni-lj.si

"And don't forget, just one of the major Slovenian owners, who also owns many media outlets, received EUR 7m in subsidies for his non-media companies last year.

"If we can spend that amount of money on certain sectors of the economy, we can easily earmark EUR 20m for the entire Slovenian media industry," Milosavljević said.

As for the legislative side of things, Milosavljević is in favour of an in-depth reform of all media-related laws, including the act on AV services and legislation governing the public broadcaster and the STA.

The view puts him at odds with the government's stated plan to implement minor tweaks of the media law, but Milosavljević says the government has enough time for true reform given that it has just started its term.

"What's required is a strategic meeting by the prime minister and key departments that affect media in any way, at which those responsible would clearly determine that they must cooperate and come up with comprehensive solutions."

Only this way can pressing issues such as the prevalence of hate speech and intolerance, poor media literacy and digitisation be addressed. "It is essential that they start looking for and proposing solutions, technologies and markets are changing radically," he said.

22 January 2019 – The village of Slapnik in Goriška Brda has been abandoned for decades, but is set to get a new lease of life this year with the news that the BBC is to renovate some of the buildings and film a reality show there.

Slapnik, a settlement with 17 houses that once had around 80 residents, mostly farmers, lost its population to larger towns in the region, as well as to immigration to the US and Australia after WW2. Since 1985 is has been designated as part of Slovenia’s immovable cultural heritage, and become a curiosity for visitors, and those interested in the region’s architecture in particular.

According to Delo, the British Broadcasting Company will film a show in the village in which couples from around Europe will live in the renovated houses. Further details remain unknown, but it’s expected that around 20 episodes of the series will be filmed.

Slapnik, and the region in general, is expected to benefit from the attention, while the renovated buildings will provide more opportunities for further commercial activity in the village. A municipality official, Anita Manfreda, told the media that after the renovation and filming, expected to last two or three years, there are proposals to develop the area into a resort for guests wishing to relax in the peace and quiet of the countryside.

STA, 21 January 2019 - Slovenia is getting ready to implement the EU disinformation rapid alert system, which the bloc expects to have up and running in March, Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said in Brussels on Monday. In Slovenia, the national contact point will most likely be headed by the Government Communication Office (UKOM - Urad vlade za komuniciranje).

The foreign minister's statement comes after an EU ministerial on the action plan to fight disinformation, which is considered one of the key challenges due to the upcoming elections to the European Parliament.

The rapid alert system, which is part of the action plan, is to be set up in the coming weeks and is expected to start operating by March, Cerar said.

Slovenia's contact point will most likely be set up at UKOM. This will allow the country to directly cooperate with EU institutions and other member states in sharing information, and fighting and preventing the spread of disinformation, the foreign minister added.

He highlighted the importance of working together with the private sector and online content providers and of raising awareness about the dangers of disinformation in schools.

At the meeting with his counterparts, Cerar also highlighted the importance of EU strategic communication in the Western Balkans to prevent the spread of influence of those who want to create a negative image of the EU and could consequently harm the integration processes in this part of Europe.

"We live in a period of populisms when some policies are based on inciting hatred and prejudices and mislead people by means of made-up stories. In the society of modern networks we often witness lies, fake information and manipulations," he stressed.

Overall, disinformation is a new, great threat to democracy and democratic values, Cerar added.

STA, 8 January 2018 - The Celje Higher Court has upheld a court ruling under which Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša has to pay RTV Slovenija journalist Mojca Šetinc Pašek 6,000 euro in damages for an offensive tweet. The damages are now final and he will also have pay the costs of the appeal procedure.

In a civil lawsuit brought against Janša by Šetinc Pašek, the Velenje Local Court ordered Janša in November 2016 to pay her the 6,000 euro, setting a 15-day deadline.

In March of the same year, Janša posted a tweet labelling editor Šetinc Pašek and journalist Eugenija Carl "washed up prostitutes" who offered their "cheap services" to the public broadcaster.

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

This was after Carl run a report on the SDS, which Janša found "containing a bunch of despicable lies about SDS members".

The latest ruling comes after a tug-of-war in which Janša had claimed he had missed the deadline to respond to the lawsuit because it was not handed to him in the standard procedure.

He had also disagreed with the sum he should pay, arguing the tweet could not have caused such anguish to Šetinc Pašek to warrant such high damages.

The Higher Court has now upheld the original ruling and also established that the lawsuit had been handed to Janša in the right manner.

It also agreed the tweet was offensive and going considerably beyond the freedom of speech, with its only intent being "insulting the claimant in the general public".

A similar lawsuit had been brought against Janša by Carl, but in her case, the Celje Higher Court sided with Janša's appeal, ordering a retrial last November.

Both journalists had also filed criminal lawsuits against Janša over the tweet.

In November, the Celje District Court sentenced Janša to a three-month suspended prison sentence on one-year probation for defamation and ordered him to pay for the costs of the trial. Janša's lawyer Franci Matoz announced an appeal.

All our stories about Janez Janša are here

Launched on July 24, 2013, RTV Slovenia’s English language website has announced that it will stop releasing new content. The news comes after the state-owned broadcaster had published almost 8,000 stories in the last five and a half years, the archive of which can be found here.

STA, 23 November 2018 - The Celje District Court sentenced the Democrats (SDS) head, Janez Janša, to three-month suspended prison sentence on one-year probation for defaming two TV Slovenija journalists. He is also to pay for the costs of the entire procedure related to his 2016 defamatory tweet.

Judge Barbara Žumer-Kunc said in announcing the decision that the contents of Janša's twit had been insulting to the two journalists on a personal level. She added that such a way of expression was not becoming of a senior political official.

Janša, known for his fierce criticism of the media, attacked journalists Mojca Pašek Šetinc and Eugenija Carl in his March 2016 tweet, which read: "The FB page of the public house is offering cheap services by washed up prostitutes Evgenija C and Mojca PŠ. One for 30 euros, the other for 35. #PimpMilan,".

At today's hearing Janša said he did not have sexual prostitution in mind but media prostitution, while the two journalists insisted that the tweet was demeaning and insulting to them both as women and journalists.

Janša remains unrepentant

The judge offered Janša a settlement but he refused to properly apologise to the two journalists.

In his defence speech, he labelled the lawsuit absurd, saying that the tweet had been a reaction to Carl's report "containing a bunch of despicable lies about SDS members." The tweet was seen by a few hundred people, while more than 100,000 people watched Carl's report, he said.

Carl called the tweet brutal, adding that Janša had more than 1,000 followers on Twitter.

Janša also said that Pašek Šetinc had been insulting him with her reporting for more than 25 years, which the journalist denied.

Janša was not present when the ruling was announced and his lawyer Franci Matoz has already announced an appeal. He argued that many violations had happened during the proceeding and that the court had misjudged the tweet and the context in which it had been written.

Meanwhile, the two journalists are happy with the ruling, which they believe sends the message to Slovenian journalists that the judiciary respects and protects them.

"The court has sent a clear signal that nobody, not even top-level politicians like the accused, can and should rise above moral, social and legal postulates," said Carl.

All our Janez Janša stories are here

STA, 1 October 2018 - After several consecutive loss-making years, media outlets in Slovenia broke even last year by generating a cumulative net profit of EUR 4m on EUR 447m in sales revenue, shows a fresh analysis of official data. 

STA, 1 August - Dnevnik and Večer, Slovenia's leading newspaper publishers, announced a merger on Wednesday, after they have applied for regulatory approvals from the Culture Ministry and the Competition Protection Agency. 

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