• The Ministry of Culture wants to have an overview of who financially supports the media outside of the subscription.
• The state regulator should also assess the speed of financial resources, but for some media. Anonymous support should be disabled.
• One end-user benefits, a simplified owner who did not control more than 60% of the television, radio or streaming market.
• The current distribution of television and radio through terrestrial broadcasting will allow only a public server – RTVS.
• Even Slovak youtubers, who make money from their content, would have to comply with the new legislation.
• The state should receive statistics on content service subscribers on demand.

The state is going to regulate the distribution of content more and has the ambition to prevent the concentration of media in the hands of one owner. This follows from the drafts of new media laws – the Media Services Act and the Publications Act, which have been gradually approved.

In particular, the first of the laws has already passed the first reading in parliament, but the second is only in preparation – it has not yet been at government meetings, let alone in parliament. This is because the final texts may still change in some parts compared to the current version.

The Media Services Act passed earlier because the state presses time for it. At the same time, Member States should be required to transpose the European directive into their legislation by early autumn 2020. The European Commission has launched already in November 2020 ask why they didn’t make it. The Ministry does not press time for the Publications Act.

The responsibility for the content is clear

The Minister of Culture Natália Milanová told Živé.sk that the intention was not to find the entire internet space. Thus, they have not tried to solve the problems of Internet discussions, on which indecent solutions have recently begun to appear in larger numbers.

With responsibility for content, lawmakers have tried to put all types of media on one level. “For everything you have an editorial reach for, you should be editorially responsible for that. And where the reach is not 100 percent or none – because we have such types – then you should not mark yourself, “says State Secretary Radoslav Kutaš for Živé.sk.

He adds that a journalist cannot have something published without verifying whether the statements are true or not. “But if it is an opinion that is based on true factual statements and verified facts, you will not be responsible for it, because the opinion is not even defended in court, whether it is true or false. But if you deny the Holocaust, we are already saying that it is a criminal offense, “he explains.

Today, for example, on the website of the sports magazine Zem a vek, we find below the text notes: “The sole responsibility for the content of this article lies with the author. Sofian, s.r.o. is not responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect information in this article. this value.

Web media in a new way

The new legislation treats Internet servers as publishers of publications, so it does not matter whether the content is published in print or online. It is therefore only important whether the medium contains publications and the features of the publishing activity are supplemented during its creation.

However, Kutaš states that the first thing was to ensure that the media had the fairest and most equal “playing field”. It rules out that the state will go the way of blocking websites, for example at the domain level, because we would be like some countries in the east that do not respect democratic principles.

“It simply came to our notice then. You have the right not to disseminate information which, and which information, which you do not truly interfere with the security of a particular someone else or do not endanger the country, or which is not contrary to public morals, “.

Discussion mainly under the responsibility of the people

Examples where a publisher is not responsible for content are movie ratings or standard sites, where people can add reviews or award “marks.” Also a public interest notice or advertisement. “As a medium, you are unable to determine whether an advertisement is misleading or not because you do not have enough information. Only the client can really say that, “Kutaš explains.

On the sidelines of internet discussions, the department’s management agrees that it does not consider them part of the media content that the web operator should find. On the other hand, Kutaš points out that the operator may be “limitedly responsible to the extent of the provider of the content sharing platform, such as Facebook”.

Foreign currents do not cover

The Media Services Act also covers the aforementioned online video-on-demand platforms (streaming services) such as Voyo.

If there is a violation of the prescribed rules, but the title operates from abroad, the Slovak authorities will not address. However, it will also be important that the majority of employees work – it does not only matter the formal seat, the establishment of Kutaš. Therefore, if the content of Netflix or Go is decided by managers abroad, the Slovak regulator will not deal with them.

However, Slovaks must be careful when adding content to foreign services. Kutaš expressed that if the Slovak published on a foreign website, it would still be possible to prosecute, for example, for “hatespeech” (hateful, editor’s note).

At the same time, however, the new legislation may affect foreign and profile creators who publish works on platforms such as YouTube or Instagram.

“If the author creates videos, organizes and monetizes them, he will meet all the requirements for the video to be used on demand,” Kutaš method.

However, this should not apply to text content on Facebook, for example. In this case, the person should be considered as an ordinary natural person with his rights and obligations. it is also that he does not have a publisher above him who would guarantee the provided content for him.

Conspiracy lantern

Milanová confirms that one of the goals was to capture the conspiracy scene – accurate disclosure of donors and ownership structure.

“But I realize that their creativity and efforts to evade the rules and laws will certainly be there to some extent. It is difficult to estimate how much now, “he tells Živé.sk, adding that at the moment I cannot cover all possible bypasses. However, they are already open to debate during parliamentary debates – and to incorporating improvements.

The state wants to specifically push for the publication of owners and donations of all media, not only television, but also websites. He chose the procedure as in the case of companies that belong to countries – he wants to know the ultimate benefits of users, which are individuals. This should also apply to the publisher – a natural person. “Because there can also be a silent partnership agreement in the case of an entrepreneur,” Kutaš explains.

Anonymous donors to be banned plans are required to publish a list of investors or donors who participate in their collective financing. This should happen on the web within 60 days after the end of the financial year and return to the regulator by sending records.

In the case of donations from one entity, the lower limit should be EUR 1,200 per year, so that they are not obliged to publish overwhelmed serious media, he justified the determination of the limit by the Secretary of State. If someone tries to circumvent the condition through a fictitious subscription, Kutaš points out that a real consideration must be provided for a fee.

The state excludes from the requirements for disclosure of owners and donors the community media, which do not carry out the necessary economic activity.

In the Services Act, the authors also think about the creativity and background of media entrepreneurs. Based on the rules, the state regulator is to supervise. It will assess the property and personnel interconnection of content service providers. Checks the following conditions:

• transparency and speed of financial resources,
• whether there is a threat of misuse of services for the purpose of discrimination, incitement to intolerance or endangerment of democracy and fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the Slovak Republic,
• whether there is a risk of disrupting the plurality of information and content,
• whether the funding is not implemented by a terrorist organization or a person or state on the United Nations or European Union sanctions list.

Radio and TV from one? Only RTVS

Special conditions are contained in the Media Services Act. For the sake of completeness, we remind you that news sites deal with the Publications Act.

The state wants to set a new limit so that one person cannot be an end-user advantage for more than one content service provider if the total share of services in the advertising market exceeds 60%.

In addition, if the legislation was passed, one entity would not be able to broadcast radio on terrestrial broadcasting at the same time and broadcast a television program service at the same time. Only RTVS would have an exception.

Photo gallery

As early as 2018, a European directive defined that on-demand content services should provide 30% of works from Europe.

Source: istock

The state will have more insight

Other obligations are being adjusted or added. From the EU directive, let us recall that streaming services can be offered in catalogs at least 30% of European works. In its current form, it is 20%. Therefore, they had to keep statistics operators before so that the rule could be controlled. The percentages for programs with a multimodal approach are also increasing – for the deaf or blind.

In the presented draft law, at the same time, the operators of on-demand audiovisual services and video-sharing platforms send the state a regular overview of the number of users as of 1 January of the given year.

Ján Trangel and Filip Hanker collaborated on the article.