Uroš Urbanija

Ljubljana – Uroš Urbanija, the director of the TV arm of RTV Slovenija, has decided to cancel the subscription for Mladina over an editorial that criticises staffing at the public broadcaster. The editor-in-chief of Mladina retorted that by attacking the weekly, Urbanija was trying to cover up what was going on at TV Slovenija.

Ljubljana – Uroš Urbanija, who served as the head of the Government Communication Office (UKOM) under the previous government, will be appointed director of TV Slovenija by RTV Slovenija general director Andrej Grah Whatmough on Monday, RTV Slovenija said in a press release on Friday.

Ljubljana – Igor Kadunc, the director of the Slovenian Press Agency, and Uroš Urbanija, the head of the Government Communication Office (UKOM), signed on Tuesday a contract on financing the STA’s public service in 2022. The deal maintains a system for the calculation of the relevant fee that is based on the actual amount of content the STA produces.

Brussels – The European Commission said on Tuesday it would keep monitoring closely the situation of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) following the signing of the contract on the STA public service for the last two months of the year. The Slovenian authorities must ensure that the independence of the agency is fully preserved, it added.

Ljubljana – The Slovenian Press Agency (STA) and Government Communication Office (UKOM) agreed to resume talks aimed at signing the annual agreement to fund the STA public service as the two directors were hosted by President Borut Pahor for a meeting at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

Ljubljana – The government has asked its communication office to transfer a EUR 845,000 advance to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) for the expected expenses related to the performance of public service once the STA provides UKOM with access into business documentation for the last ten years and if a contract on public service is signed.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Commission for Oversight of Public Finances urged the government on Thursday to resume STA funding as set down in a coronavirus relief law in three days. A Culture Ministry official meanwhile announced that the ministry would like the funding dispute to get resolved and was thus drafting a decree.

Ljubljana – An NGO that offers legal support to individuals and organisations that find themselves in legal proceedings because of their non-violent public activity has filed a criminal complaint against the head of the Government Communication Office (UKOM) over suspension of funding to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor insists that financing of the public service performed by the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) must be restored, his office told the STA after the president yesterday tweeted that the agency plays an irreplaceable role.

Pahor served as prime minister when the act governing the STA was adopted, securing the agency’s editorial and financial independence.

Ljubljana – The ZRC SAZU, the Scientific and Research Centre at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, is worried at escalating attacks on the STA, urging by the Government Communication Office (UKOM) to stop threatening and financially draining the news agency. UKOM denied the allegations.