In recent days, Director-General of RTV Slovenia, Igor Kadunc, has been acting as if he is the last soldier left defending the independent media fortress. We are revealing how he transformer RTV Slovenia into a radical left-wing media stronghold, which has been acting as an »anti-Janšaistic« opposition party ever since the beginning of the new Government’s time in office.
This week, the National Assembly will decide on eight new councilors from the civil society, as the previous councilors’ four-year term on the RTV Slovenia Programme Council has ended. The election will be all the more interesting, as it is expected that the balance of forces within the Programme Council could partially change. RTV Slovenia, as we know it today, is considered to be a solid ideologoical fort of the leftist political, social, and economic trends. The current composition of the Programme Council confirms this. »The hard transitional left controls two-thirds of the RTVS Programme Council and the entire leadership of RTV Slovenia,« Požareport reveals.
There are only eight vacancies, with 62 candidates applying for the position of Programme Councilor. The Programme Council is the most important body in the operation of public service broadcasting, as it elects the management of the media outlet, and also appoints editors of individual newsrooms within the public institution. That is why many anti-Janšaistic journalists and editors are afraid that they will have to say goodbye to their position. One of them is also the Director-General Igor Kadunc, who believes that the current Government wants to subjugate the media and bring Slovenia to authoritarian times. He forgot to mention that out of 100 million euros of taxpayer money, 75 percent goes to employees’ salaries. Bojan Požar also touches on RTV Slovenia’s online channel, MMC, which he believes has become the media cell of the Levica party.
RTV Slovenia seems like a television and radio version of the radical magazine Mladina
The Programme Council should ensure that the mission of RTV Slovenia remains independent reporting. But according to Požar, during the time of the Current Government, RTV Slovenia has changed into a media propagandist for the radical Mladina newspaper. »The editors and journalists who report on the work of Janša’s Government, do it in a way that makes them seem like the Mladina magazine or even an opposition political party, and not in a way that would be fitting for a public or state-owned television and radio, which are paid for by all taxpayers,« Požareport writes.
The Programme Council claims to be independent of politics, despite being run by the leftists
The Supervisory Board of RTV has still not approved the financial plan, so they are being financed by the twelfths. Kadunc also spoke about this on the last joint meeting of the committees on culture and foreign policy. In his speech, he complained, stating that he does not know if they would have enough money for the wages of all employees in June. According to Požar, the problem of the unconfirmed financial plan also lies in the fact that former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec was not fond of Kadunc. “Only in such bizarre conditions can a man like Igor Kadunc declare himself a fighter for the freedom of the press,” Požareport writes.
The Programme Council consists of the following members: there are 29 councilors. Three representatives are elected out of all the employees. The members of the Italian and Hungarian minority nominate their own councilor. Two representatives of religious communities are elected at the proposal of the President of the country. One representative is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti – SAZU). Five representatives are elected at the proposal of political parties, and sixteen members at the proposal of the civil society. They are confirmed by a vote in the National Assembly.
In the current composition of the Programme Council, the mandate has ended for the following representatives of the civil society: Branka Bezeljak, Alojz Bogataj, Marjan Dora, Damir Orehovec, Matevž Podjed, Mitja Rotovnik, Jaroslav Skrušný, and Matej Weissenbach. Most of them belong to the left-wing political option. “A more detailed analysis of the composition of the Programme Council shows us all of the tricks and frauds used by the (left) transitional politics in their recruiting,” Požar criticizes the current composition.
RTV Slovenia has revealed itself as a highly political media, calls for the abolition of the mandatory monthly contribution and the reorganization of a public institution grow louder
In the last month, RTV Slovenia has shown what its true mission is. With its reporting, it has generated a large number of critics on social networks who refuse to continue paying the mandatory monthly contribution for the public radio-television.
A civil society movement called Glasno (Loud) has also been established, highlighting the errors in what is supposed to be impartial reporting in the posts and publications of the public institution. Many critics of the current work of the public media outlet believe the problem is overstaffing, as there are more than 2300 employees at RTV Slovenia, and they also pay hundreds of outsiders. In the past, Slovakia, which has a significantly larger population, has been singled out as an example of good practice, as their national media outlet only has 300 employees.
Luka Perš