Mass media in Slovenia

Ljubljana – The National Assembly passed in 53:26 vote on Thursday changes to the act on RTV Slovenija with which the government would like to reduce what it sees as the influence of politics on the public broadcaster. The changes come after RTV journalists recently went on strike twice demanding editorial autonomy.

Ljubljana – Boris Tomašič, executive director of NovaTV24.si, has commented on reports that he has acquired a stake in the media company running the news channel Nova24TV from Hungarian owners by saying that no transaction has been finalised yet. He said the company was a target of political pressure by the ruling coalition. “The information you have is inaccurate.

Ljubljana – The government adopted and filed to parliament on Friday a bill to reform the model of management and oversight at RTV Slovenija to reduce what is perceived as political meddling with the public broadcaster. This comes after RTV journalists recently went on strike twice demanding editorial autonomy.

Ljubljana – If election was held this Sunday, most respondents in a poll conducted by pollster Parsifal would vote for the ruling Democrats (SDS). The party’s support rose by 3 percentage points to 22.9% in the past month. The Freedom Movement party headed by Robert Golob would come second, on 13.2% support, up by 2.8 percentage points.

Ljubljana – The Judicial Council has urged Supreme Court judge Branko Masleša to provide an explanation about his law graduation diploma and the bar exam. This is after Masleša has been making headlines in some pro-government media about the level of education, and passing the bar exam a year earlier after graduation than possible under the law.

Ljubljana – Total revenue from advertising in leading media in Slovenia dropped by a good 10% to EUR 250 million in 2020 compared to the pre-Covid year 2019. The biggest drop was recorded in outdoor advertising and the smallest in print media, according to an annual report compiled by the magazine Marketing Magazin.

Ljubljana – The coming months will be difficult for public broadcaster RTV Slovenija as the government intends to undermine it similarly as it strives to ruin the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), says the weekly Mladina in its latest editorial, noting that RTV Slovenija’s greatest ally in this fight will be the public.

Brussels/Ljubljana – The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a coalition of press freedom organisations and journalism groups, stressed on Monday that media freedom was at risk in Slovenia. Attacks on Slovenian media take place at multiple levels, both legislative and administrative, and on social networks, the group said.

Ljubljana – The Slovenian government is overseeing an increasingly systematic effort to undermine critical media, a coalition of press freedom organisations and journalism groups warned in a report released on Wednesday after conducting a virtual fact-finding mission to Slovenia in late May and early June.

Ljubljana – The opposition Left filed on Wednesday criminal complaints against the ruling Democrats (SDS) and “its media network” for suspicion of a systemic spread of non-truths, leader of the Left’s deputy group Matej T. Vatovec said. The party also pressed charges against Police Commissioner Anton Olaj for suspicion of abuse of office.