The last terrorist attack in Berlin and the recent presidential elections in the USA are exposing the actual state of the Slovenian media. We need no quantitative analyses for it is evident that the Slovenian media environment was in favor of Clinton by 9:1. In the local spotlight was Edo Žitnik, our correspondent in the USA, who throughout the elections kept his hopes high, waiting for a miracle – Trump’s defeat. These days, we have been collecting the remainder of such wishes and hopes for the electors to decide differently.
Similar holds true for reporting on the refugee crisis. A critical discourse analysis of reports by the Slovenian media would reveal how mainstream media journalists use a vocabulary which bears an extremely negative connotation, attacking those who dare to publically claim that the refugee wave is bound to bring terrorists, that mass migrations of nations are threatening the future of Europe, and that Islam is destroying the foundations of the European culture and civilization. These people are marked as xenophobic, fascist, intolerant, barbaric, etc. The array of hateful vocabulary being spread by self-proclaimed tolerant leftists is, of course, much broader. The Slovenian media are constructing an environment where each individual concern about whether or not we should welcome the refugees is immediately subjected to an orchestrated attack. The prevailing media are creating stereotypes and hatred towards those who dare publically express their concerns that the migrations and Islam in its radical form are no good for our future.
The first response to the terrorist attack in Berlin by the Slovenian media was that the attack is similar to the one in Nica. However, the media added that the possibility of a traffic accident is has not been excluded. We also came across sentence describing how the truck driver drove into the crowds of people – after all, someone had to be driving the vehicle. Journalists, who were supposed to be reporting on facts, tried to tone down the event by pushing terrorism into the background and convincing people that this could just be an unfortunate event that claimed lives and caused many an injury. On Twitter, one could also stumble upon tweets by people who think that the terrorists and their actions should be understood.
In the Slovenian media environment, it is reasonable to expect the same commentators whom the media always invite to make an appearance at certain events. Especially with terrorist attacks and certain military missions, the media are always overrun by the same names – e.g. Klemen Grošelj, Denis Čaleta, former director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service Marjan Miklavčič, and former director of Sova Andrej Rupnik. That basically makes the list. It is not up to the media to protect us from the truth – on the contrary, they should report on it. Those media who do not realize that will soon be history.
Miro Petek