STA, 2 December 2020 - The STA supervisory board does not support the Government Communication Office's (UKOM) decision to suspend the funding of the STA's public service and rejects the claims about information concealment, chief supervisor Mladen Terčelj said in a statement on Wednesday. He also rejected claims about the STA's business being non-transparent.

Terčelj said that neither the supervisors nor the director had ever declined allowing lawful access to the agency's books and documents, yet no such request had come from the government as the shareholder of the agency.

Trčelj noted the STA supervisory board having carefully monitored the events leading to UKOM's decision to stop financing the STA.

Since UKOM set access to STA business information and documents as a condition to pay its bills, the supervisors took a decision on 4 November that the owner of the agency - the government - should turn to the STA director for the documents it wanted to obtain.

The decision is based on an STA law provision saying that shareholder rights are exercised by the government, Trčelj explained.

"So it is not true that the STA supervisory board decided that UKOM should turn to the director with a request to obtain the information," he stressed.

While UKOM says the STA has denied it access to the required information, Trčelj said "the government has so far not sent such a request to the seat of the company."

The supervisors are also acquainted with a memo STA director general Bojan Veselinovič sent on Monday to the government inquiring on the basis of which regulation UKOM was awarded the status of a beneficiary that could ask for access to the documents, information and databases it would like to obtain.

Terčelj said that since the law on the STA entered into force, in 2011, neither the STA management nor the supervisors had been informed about UKOM being granted such a status.

The chief supervisor also rejected the allegations about the agency's non-transparent operations.

He said the supervisors had insight into the agency's entire business at monthly, quarterly and annual levels.

What is more, the STA's annual report is annually audited by internal and external auditors and discussed by the lower and upper chambers of parliament.

The lower chamber also appoints the agency's supervisors, and has not had any remarks about the annual reports.

In order to resolve the deadlock, Terčelj thus urged the government to ensure UKOM pays the bills for the services the STA has provided in line with the 2020 contracts.

He said that to ensure its stability and to provide for the social security of its staff, the STA had been forced to launch procedures to protect its liquidity.

"UKOM can end the threat to the national news agency's public service only by settling its obligations stemming from its contracts with the STA."

Terčelj also said that the agency must be provided with adequate funds for public service for next year.

A separate view was presented by Radovan Cerjak, a member of the supervisory board appointed in September. He said that the supervisory board had not discussed the suspension of current STA financing and labelled Terčelj's statement "a solo action".

He blamed the deadlock on Veselinovič and his "completely unreasonable action" of not providing the required documents, so he believes it is up to him to resolve it.

The supervisor said the deadlock would be resolved only if Veselinovič "immediately provides the owner with all the required documents, instead of seeking support for his actions among part of politics".

UKOM director Uroš Urbanija also responded to Terčelj's statement, saying on Twitter: "Great, if they are not concealing the documents, than let them provide them."

He said proof of Terčelj laying is Veselinovič's publicly stating "that he won't give the documents", adding that as the chief supervisor he can be prosecuted for lies.

On Monday the government discussed UKOM's memo about its suspension of STA funding, which was prompted by what UKOM said was the agency's refusal to provide access to documents from which it could assess the STA's financial operations with a view to decide on funding for 2021.

STA director general Veselinovič denied such claims by explaining that UKOM's demands exceeded its legal and contractual powers. He said that under the STA law, only the government has this right.

He also explained that UKOM's demands were related to the area protected by editorial autonomy provisions and to the commercial segment of the STA's operations, for which UKOM as the guardian of the contract on the public service is not authorised.

STA, 1 December 2020 - The Government Communication Office (Urad vlade za komuniciranje – UKOM) has informed the government that it is not able to implement the contract with the Slovenian Press Agency (Slovenska tiskovna agencija – STA) for 2020 and to conclude a contact for 2021. The STA has not received its monthly compensation for October from UKOM, which its leadership says threatens the agency's future work.

UKOM informed the government at Monday's correspondence session that it would not be able to fully implement the 2020 contract on the performance of public service, concluded with the STA, and conclude the same annual contract for 2021.

According to this information, STA director Bojan Veselinovič has been called to produce documents from which UKOM would interpret the financial operations of the agency so that the 2021 contract could be concluded.

"Since the STA director has failed to send us the requested documentation despite several calls, UKOM is not able to continue to honour the requests for payment of monthly compensation for the performance of public service on the basis of the concluded contract until it obtains [the documentation]," it said.

UKOM added that, without a comprehensive insight in the operations of the STA, it was not able to establish what "adequate financing" for comprehensive and undisrupted performance of public service, as defined in the STA act, actually meant.

Consequently, UKOM is not able to conclude the contract on the financing of public service to be performed by the STA in 2021, the government office added.

The STA management responded to this in a statement on Tuesday, saying that in its opinion there was no legal basis for UKOM to suspend financing of the public information service performed by the STA under the annual contracts.

The STA said that, despite all obligations from the 2020 contract having been fulfilled, it had not received the monthly amount of funding for the public service for October.

The agency added that in a series of memorandums, UKOM had demanded answers to content-related questions about the journalist work of the STA, and about specific news content and responses to that content that ran against the editorial autonomy provided by law.

The STA has also been called to provide a series of documents, information and databases related to the agency's commercial activity, under the argument that this was required for the 2021 contract to be concluded.

"The STA was regularly responding to the UKOM memorandums in a manner and within the scope envisaged by the legislation and the annual contract," the statements says, adding that only the government as the sole founder of the STA might request information in such a scope.

The press agency said it regularly informed its supervisory board about its operations in a transparent manner, and its annual reports were also discussed in parliament. Its operation is also subjected to regular external and internal audits.

"All these safeguards show that the STA fulfils all the obligations it is required to by law without any major disruptions," the statement reads, also noting that the National Assembly had called on the government several times to secure sufficient funding for the STA.

"Due to the suspension of financing by UKOM, the STA has found itself in a situation that threatens the agency's operational stability and the ability to perform the public information service it is required to by law."

The STA added that despite these developments, it would continue with "comprehensive, updated and unbiased reporting", but in the long-run the stability of operation and the social situation of the staff would be threatened if UKOM did not change its attitude.

STA, 20 October 2020 - Slovenian filmmakers have made an urgent appeal to the government, the head of state and Human Rights Ombudsman in a bid to have the government release the approved funding for films, some of which have already been made but those working on them have still not been paid.

In an appeal sent out of Monday, the Association of Slovenian Filmmakers (Filmski producenti Slovenije) calls for an end to "the blockade of Slovenian cinematography", warning that the chronic lack of funding and the coronavirus pandemic is making the alarming state of the film industry worse by the day.

The reason for the situation is the hold-up of funds approved in the state budget for 2019 and 2020 under the previous government and confirmed in the revised budget for 2020 under the current government: "Those are payments based on contracts signed between the Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) and producers in 2018 and 2019, which the Culture Ministry has endorsed and put forward for confirmation by the government."

The appeal notes that the Culture Ministry put forward three claims for funds to the government between 13 March and 31 August, one for EUR 837,995, which was endorsed in early April, one for EUR 536,873 to fund ten projects in 2020 and 2021, and one for EUR 2.62 million for 21 projects this year and the next.

The association notes that work on most of the projects started a while ago and that some films had already been shot in 2019 or early this year, while some, in particular co-productions, have already had successful international releases.

"What they all have in common is that the creators and other workers have not yet been paid for the work they have done (even as far back as November 2019) and that ongoing projects cannot be completed because of the hold-up in funding," reads the appeal.

The SFC has managed to get less than one-fifth of the funds approved in the 2020 budget.

As a result film production planned for this year is all but on hold, as is most of pre-production and production for at least next two years, while most of those who have worked on 31 projects for which payments have been suspended have not been paid since November 2019.

Many of those have ended up without their livelihoods: even those who applied for a basic monthly income allowance, have been approved aid for two months and a half at the most, reads the release.

Furthermore, the filmmakers note that no new calls for projects have been published and even some of those published last year have not been completed yet, while the second wave of coronavirus is taking further toll on the audiovisual sector.

Unless the government approves funds already committed at the next session, the filmamkers plan to notify relevant international institutions.

STA, 18 October 2020 - The Slovenian Journalists' Association (DNS) said on Sunday it was not familiar with the details of an incident that occurred during Friday's protests in Ljubljana involving rapper Zlatko. However, it stressed it condemned all forms of violence, both verbal and physical. The DNS also called on media to act in line with professional standards.

The association said that the society must not accept the atmosphere where verbal and physical attacks become a normal risk for journalists during their work.

The situation is overheating because of the general social atmosphere and an increasingly hostile environment, created by verbal attacks and discreditations by many who should be role models. "This is cause for concern and we will not agree to this," the DNS said in a press release.

Objavljam ekskluzivni posnetek našega snemalca. S posnetka je razvidno, da je raper Zlatko, ki ni upošteval ukrepa nošnje maske na prostem in prepovedi zbiranja nad 10 oseb, udaril po kameri in jo iztrgal iz rok našega snemalca, ki je samo opravljal svoje delo. pic.twitter.com/vAm3zZXbhw

— Luka Svetina (@LukaSvetina) October 16, 2020

Zlatko je fizično napadel snemalca, posredovala je policija. #petkovprotest pic.twitter.com/muSnK1hZ2b

— Aljoša Masten (@mastenMMC) October 16, 2020

Profesionalno delo @policija_si
Ljubljenec @rtvslo se je zjokal po napadu na novinarja #kretenbrezmaske pic.twitter.com/BrJTr41VyA

— Slovenski nacionalist (@BalanticMatjaz) October 16, 2020

It called on everyone, including media, not to take part in creating such an environment. "Media should act in line with professional standards, the code of ethics of Slovenian journalists and the Munich declaration, and not make inciting or insulting reports.

"We promote a professional role of the media in the society, and see them as independent supervisors of those who are on power, not as a part of party propaganda mechanisms."

The Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP) strongly condemned on Saturday the incident that occurred during Friday's protests in Ljubljana and involved rapper Zlatko grabbing the camera from a Nova24 cameraman. It said this was an "attack on journalistic freedom and consequently on freedom of expression".

The reaction came after Zlatko approached the Nova24 cameraman and grabbed his camera, demanding that he erase the recording. After police intervened, the camera was returned. Several videos of the incident have been published on social media.

The ZNP said that the attack on the cameraman "just became he does not come from the 'right' media according to [Zlatan] Čordić" was an "attack on journalistic freedom and consequently on freedom of expression. It is inadmissible that violence determines who can do journalism and who risks being attacked."

STA, 15 October - The Slovenian Press Agency has expressed indignation at Prime Minister Janez Janša's Twitter post in which he describes the agency as a "national disgrace, an evident abuse of the name it carries".

The statement accompanied the retweet of a post by the editor of Demokracija, Jože Biščak, who questioned STA's priorities by noting that a report about the construction of the Cirkovce-Pince power line, which Janša attended, had fewer words than an interview with the rapper Zlatko.

"Judging the quality of reporting work based on word count, the basis for Prime Minister Janez Janša's response on Twitter, is anything but a professional standard," the STA said.

#STA je nacionalna sramota, eklatantna zloraba imena, ki ga nosi @STA_novice https://t.co/7E4GAo8swG

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) October 15, 2020

It noted that several news items had been published about the event Janša attended, whereas the interview with Zlatko accompanied the release of his new album. Moreover, these are different genres that cannot be compared either in terms of form or length.

"Such a manner of labelling the work of reporters of the STA, which is owned by the state but performs a public service, is inadmissible, baseless and is far from the kind of stance we would expect from the president of the largest political party and current prime minister," the agency said.

This is not the first time Janša has written about the STA this way. In March he designated the agency as a ventilator of fake news.

The Slovenian Journalists' Association said it was concerned about a new attack on a media outlet by the prime minister on social networks, noting that the STA is "one of the key building blocks of the Slovenian media environment". The association also stressed that the STA wire is used by media across the board, regardless of their world view, which further justifies it being called a national agency.

Rejecting criticism that is based on incomparable benchmarks, the association said it was "additionally surprised that the prime minister, who publicly urges the citizens to act responsibly in fighting coronavirus, invests energy in confrontation with the media, which are key in the dissemination of information about the measures the government is taking".

STA, 14 October 2020 - A total of 707 new Sars-CoV-2 cases were confirmed in Slovenia on Tuesday, almost a doubling of Monday's figure and a new record by far, which comes on 4,902 tests conducted, a new high as well as the positivity rate hit a record 14.4%, government data show.

"Today's data show the situation is getting increasingly serious (...) The situation calls for action, measures taken so far have not done enough to prevent the spread of the virus," government spokesman Jelko Kacin told the Covid-19 briefing as the government is meeting in the afternoon to adopt new restrictions.

According to him, Slovenia's incidence rate, a key EU-wide indicator that shows the number of infections per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days, has increased to 202.75 from 178.91 the previous day.

Covid-19 claimed two more lives, increasing Slovenia's death toll related to the disease to 175.

This was as the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals increased by 30 to 210 despite 17 being discharged. As many as 35 patients, four more than the day before, now require intensive treatment.

Kacin said that the outbreak was spreading at care homes with several aged care facilities across the country reporting new infections.

Matjaž Jereb, head of the intensive care unit at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the UKC Ljubljana hospital, said the estimate was that one in every 150 Slovenians was infected.

STA, 30 September 2020 - Telekom Slovenije's sale of Planet TV to Hungarian media company TV2 Media has been finalised, the national telco said on Wednesday. The purchase price is EUR 5 million, but Telekom also provided a capital injection for its troubled subsidiary, which produces the eponymous TV channel, via debt to equity conversion before finalising the transaction.

Telekom already signed the sales contract with TV2 Media, owned by Jozsef Vida, whom media associate with the business network of the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz, in July. It said now that Planet TV has not been sold at a loss.

From Thursday, Planet TV will be formally part of TV2 group, which will add three to its portfolio of 14 TV channels.

The company said that new executive director of Planet TV will be Pavel Stantchev, already executive director at TV2. Špela Pirnat, who served as financial director between 2013 and 2016, will join Planet TV as financial director.

Stantchev pledged for the team to work hard to meet expectations of the greatest possible number of viewers, while bringing greater competitiveness and choice needed in the Slovenian market.

Telekom launched Planet TV in 2012 under the then Janez Janša government. It was reported that the telecoms incumbent had been looking for a strategic partner which would buy a 49% share in the TV production company already at the beginning of January, only to change its mind later on.

According to the newspaper Delo, Planet TV has cost Telekom Slovenije EUR 80 million in the form of capital injections, advertisements, loans and other services since it was launched in September 2012, and has operated in the red.

The latest blow was the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce ordering Telekom last year to pay a EUR 23 million buyout to Antenna Group, the Greek partner who wanted out of the joint venture.

The news portal Necenzurirano.si has reported about unofficial plans to merge Planet TV and Nova24TV, the news portal and website associated with Janša's ruling Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and also in the ownership of Hungarian individuals reportedly close to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.

Meanwhile, Telekom moreover started this month with procedures to sell its subsidiary TS Media, which owns the news portal Siol, as well as the web portals Najdi.si in Bizi.si.

STA, 15 September 2020 - Foreign Minister Anže Logar told the press on Tuesday that the government had unanimously and without debate endorsed a response to the EU Commission's draft opinion on the rule of law situation in Slovenia, after it came under renewed criticism in the press for its stance on the rule of law in the country.

Logar's statement comes after the newspaper Delo reported that the Commission's draft report on the rule of law in Slovenia is relatively favourable. However, the paper says the government paints the situation in a considerably more negative light in the document sent to Brussels.

The response was drawn up at the Foreign Ministry, according to unofficial information, and endorsed by the government at a correspondence session on Friday.

The government points out that Eurostat data do not back the Commission's arguments about greater efficiency of Slovenia's state attorneys, according to Delo. Moreover, the government is critical of the draft urging additional financial and human resources for the judiciary.

The government also criticises the media, in particular what it sees as "activists of the political struggle" who are not investigative journalists, and points to an above-average number of those who are employed as artists and journalists in Slovenia.

The Commission's draft report meanwhile says that there are no appropriate measures regulating a conflict of interest in media in the country, for example between political parties and media owners, which appears to be a reference to media controlled by the ruling Democrats (SDS).

Meanwhile, the government believes the Commission has overlooked the issue of ethical pluralism in post-transitional societies.

The response to the draft opinion also mentions suspected abuse of the anti-graft watchdog for political purposes, says Delo.

Violations of the rights to defence have occurred during the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) procedures, claims the government, adding that such seemingly minor shortcomings led to serious political consequences in the past, such as the toppling of a government.

The KPK responded by dismissing the allegations, highlighting that the watchdog was an independent body that was not and would not be influenced by individual political interests. It moreover said that the government had not acquainted it with the response.

Logar, speaking at a press conference after hosting his counterparts from the informal Central 5 (C5) initiative, said that there was still room for improvement in tackling corruption in Slovenia. The government will do all it can to speed up procedures against major acts of corruption, he said.

Justice Minister Lilijana Kozlovič said that the Commission's draft opinion was an opportunity for dialogue on the actual state of judiciary within Slovenia.

The minister said that she had endorsed the report, which she sees as a stepping stone to dialogue between Slovenia and the Commission as well as a set of guidelines for the country to improve its judicial system.

She said the government's response was produced by the Foreign Ministry in line with set methodology and agreements at the EU level.

A task force reviewing and presenting the situation in judiciary is in the works at the Justice Ministry, she said. It will feature representatives of the Supreme Court, Foreign Ministry and Justice Ministry "as well as perhaps external experts".

Kozlovič said that the contents of the report and of the government's response were not yet publicly revealed. The EU draft opinion indicated that the report would be "positive to a certain extent", but "it is not favourable at all".

In May, when Logar's comments attached to a report filed by Slovenia for the Commission's first annual rule of law report sparked strong reactions, Kozlovič said that Logar's letter was not the government's position and that her stance on the situation was positive.

In the wake of the government's latest response to the Commission's report, opposition parties said today that they had not been acquainted with the response since it was an internal document.

The Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) warned that this was not Logar's first letter to besmirch the reputation of Slovenia's judiciary abroad.

The Left expects the latest report to resemble the May letter as part of distraction tactics of the current government.

The Marjan Šarec Party (LMŠ) said that Slovenia respected the rule of law, though this did not mean the situation could not be improved.

Slovenia received the Commission's draft report on the rule of law in the country in late August. Unofficially, a report for all member states will be released on 30 September.

The EU General Affairs Council is expected to debate the situation this autumn, with the report striving to strengthen dialogue between member states and EU institutions, and shared understanding of the rule of law, including with respect to the candidates for EU membership.

STA, 8 September 2020 - The public consultation on government-proposed changes to three media acts has ended, but the debate is still on as the national broadcaster continues to protest the legislation and some of the opposition parties are not happy either. Two relevant associations have also called on the government to withdraw the proposals.

The management of RTV Slovenija told the press on Monday it is opposed to the changes to the three acts - one of them deals with the public broadcaster - and called on the Culture Ministry to withdraw them.

The main point of contention is the proposal to distribute 8% of the public broadcaster licence fee among other media - 3% for the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) and 5% for other media.

Director general Igor Kadunc said that the proposals encroached upon the funds available to RTV Slovenija, which would stand to directly lose as much as EUR 7.7 million a year along with almost EUR 10 million in lost revenue from its transmitting business, which would be transferred onto a new fully state-owned company.

Kadunc stressed that the public broadcaster was EUR 8 million short every year already, and that it had EUR 6 million less to work with last year than it had in 2012.

Since 2012, no government has dealt with the development of RTV Slovenija, he said, while rejecting the allegations that the public broadcaster was not solving the financial situation with streamlining and reorganisation.

Kadunc believes that the legislative changes in their present form will not be passed in parliament. He added that the management of RTV Slovenija was ready to participate in drafting expertise-based and comprehensive changes to media legislation.

Radio Slovenija director Mirko Štular added that the public media service might be destabilised at the detriment of the public. The funding cuts are already resulting in staff shortages and the programme would suffer even further, he added.

TV Slovenija director Natalija Gorščak said that the legislative changes were not only an attack on the public broadcaster, but on the Slovenian cultural identity and language in general.

Trade unionist Simeona Rogelj added that the public broadcaster could lose up to 500, or a quarter of all employees, if the proposed changes were implemented, with journalists being the first to go.

Meanwhile, the opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) reiterated its call for the legislation to be withdrawn, arguing that it is being opposed by practically the entire professional public.

The media space shows that the current government is taking the path taken by authoritarian regimes in Europe, SAB deputy group head Maša Kociper told the press on Monday.

She believes the changes aim at weakening the public broadcaster and giving power to other, commercial media outlets, which are inclined to the current government, in particular the ruling Democrats (SDS).

The Left has meanwhile called on President Borut Pahor to change the title of a debate on RTV Slovenija he is hosting on Friday, which suggests that the public broadcaster is not a free and politically unbiased media outlet.

Left MP Violeta Tomić said that the concept of the debate implied that Pahor gave legitimacy to the "attempts at discrediting RTV Slovenija by the ruling SDS to politically subjugate the public broadcaster".

Zmago Jelinčič, the head of the opposition National Party (SNS), meanwhile said that the arguments from the other opposition parties lacked content, while agreeing that there are some mistakes in the proposals, which can be corrected with amendments.

The Slovenian Advertising Chamber and the Slovenian Media Association have also reiterated their calls for the legislation to be withdrawn, saying that such changes required a comprehensive, in-depth and expertise-based discussion.

The chamber said that 5% of the public broadcaster licence fee and special taxation of cable operators would create the largest state media fund under direct control of the government.

Instead of ensuring the greatest possible transparency and professionalism in distribution of funds at the systemic level, the changes open the door wide to "arbitrary decision-making and cronyism".

It also brings further commercialisation of the public broadcaster also at the expense of other entities on the market, their press release adds.

Journalists are also up in arms, with Petra Lesjak Tušek, the president of the Slovenian Journalists' Association (DNS), saying that "a resolute no should be said in particular to the attack on the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and the STA".

The latter is a reference to the proposal that the STA is no longer financed from the budget and to the plan to switch the STA supervisory board appointment powers from the National Assembly to the government.

The other organisation of journalists, the Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP), meanwhile endorsed the public broadcaster licence fee distribution proposal, while also saying that it did not matter whether STA supervisors were appointed by the government or parliament.

The Association of Independent Radio Stations, which brings together more than 20 local radio stations, is in favour of the changes to the media law, arguing they would facilitate creating fair conditions for long-term coexistence and development of all, big and small media outlets in the country.

The association pointed in Tuesday's press release to what it believes is an extremely uncompetitive and monopolised situation in the fields of TV, press and radio, which benefits large media outlets.

It said these have "over the years, often by resorting to dodgy practice and moves, created strong monopolies in advertising, which now enables them to control the entire media market", thus preventing healthy competition and plurality.

The situation cannot be blamed only on the Culture Ministry's past inaction, but in the area of radio, also on the Agency for Communication Networks and Services, which has failed to regulate commercial radio networks when it noticed they did not meet the criteria of producing shows with local contents, the association said.

Responding to the latest calls, the Culture Ministry said certain corrections would be made and noted that there were several alternative proposals regarding the financing of RTV Slovenija and distribution of its licence fee.

"A word or two needs to be also exchanged with the coalition partners," Media Directorate head Ivan Oven told RTV Slovenija yesterday, as the changes have not been fully coordinated yet within the coalition.

STA, 2 September 2020 - The International Press Institute (IPI) has analysed the state of mass media in Slovenia since the new, Janez Janša government took over in mid-March, saying that "few countries in Europe have experienced such a swift downturn in press and media freedom after a new government came to power".

Headlined New Administration, Old Agenda: Press Freedom Strained Again in Slovenia under Veteran PM Janša, the report, posted on IPI's website on 1 September, says that in the last six months, Janša "has immediately renewed long-standing grievances with the press and denigrated critical media outlets".

It adds that experts say he has launched a series of attacks on reporters on Twitter, enabling a wider increase in digital harassment from online trolls and contributing to an increasingly hostile climate for watchdog journalism.

Janša's attacks and willingness to denounce critical reporting as fake news have also drawn parallels with other leaders and brought Slovenia to the attention of press freedom groups, the OSCE and top EU bodies, IPI, headquartered in Austria's Vienna, says in its introduction to the report.

It points out that the ruling right-wing Democratic Party (SDS) is trying to exert greater influence over the country's small media market as part of what it claims is an effort to promote greater media pluralism.

It notes the government plan to introduce legislation to de-fund public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and Janša's attempt to expand his party's pro-government media system, chiefly NovaTV24.si, much of which are funded by Hungarian media linked to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The report says these developments raise concerns the Orban system of media control could be exported to Slovenia, although it believes it is premature to believe that Slovenia will become another illiberal democracy similar to Hungary.

Nevertheless, the export of Hungarian methods to Slovenia and other Central and SE European countries should worry EU leaders, so the report says the OSCE, the EU and the Council of Europe should carefully follow the developments in Slovenia and react to possible new violations of media freedom.

The media organisation says that while Slovenia was previously considered a relative safe haven for independent journalism, it is now witnessing "a worrying decline in press freedom" in a rather short period of time.

IPI says that journalists are now working in a far more antagonistic climate, one in which staunch criticism of the prime minister risks immediate rebuke, while Janša's attacks on journalists and media outlets are according to observers corroding public discourse and worsening polarisation.

Should only few changes be made to the draft amendments to the RTV Slovenija act and to Slovenian Press Agency act after the public consultation period for them expires on Friday, "the overhaul of the country's media space will have gained considerable momentum" in the coming weeks, says IPI.

Its report in English is available at https://ipi.media/new-administration-old-agenda-press-freedom-strained-again-in-slovenia-under-veteran-pm-jansa/