The Slovenian left promotes a law that will ensure the editorial autonomy of the national public radio and television: Peoples Dispatch
Slovenian Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko. Photo: Twitter
The Left party in Slovenia has once again emphasized its determination to speed up and quickly implement reforms in the management of the national public radio and television. RTV Slovenia (Radio and Television of Slovenia). Last week, the leadership of the Left, which is part of the current coalition government in the country, claimed that the current executives RTV Slovenia they are trying to resist the progressive changes proposed by the government to ensure the independence and editorial autonomy of public broadcasting.
Act on the proposal for changes to the management structure RTV was adopted by the National Assembly of Slovenia and confirmed by the people in a referendum on November 27. On December 29, the Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko from Left stated that “the opposition parties and the current politically appointed leadership RTV we are trying in every way to prevent legislative changes, with which we want to remove party politics from the management of public RTV.”
The law is opposed by the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), led by former Prime Minister Janez Janša, and part of the current government. RTV the executive director appointed by the previous government. Some of the current ones RTV council members turned to the Constitutional Court to rule on the law.
On November 27, we Slovenians voted in a triple referendum, in which we overwhelmingly supported three laws – on RTV, on the arrangement of the cabinet and on long-term care. The referendum was promoted by the coalition government of the Freedom Movement-Social Democrats-Levica led by Prime Minister Robert Golob. Act on changing the structure of company management RTV to eliminate the direct influence of politicians received 62.8% support in the referendum.
The law proposes “the transformation of the two current management councils into a single supervisory body, whose 17 members will be appointed and composed of representatives of civil society and RTV Slovenia employees.” The majority of the members of the board of directors RTV they were appointed by the National Assembly.
The law was welcomed by progressive sections and various journalist unions in Slovenia and abroad. RTV staff had previously protested, including on strike, against the Partisan leadership RTVwhich strives for greater journalistic and editorial autonomy and calls for an end to the politicization of public media.
RTV currently provides national, regional and international radio services, national and regional TV services and a multimedia portal.
Vrečko said in a television debate on December 29 that “the constitutional review of the new RTV the law is another delaying maneuver. The new law on RTV was first approved in the National Assembly, and then the people approved it by a large majority in a referendum. The basic purpose of the law is to ensure the institutional and programming autonomy of RTV and to protect journalistic and editorial independence. This is a prerequisite, yes RTV can carry out its statutory mission, which is based on the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression and information to the public.”
The Left has already stated that “the current management of society RTV Slovenia is determined to use all available resources to stay in their positions as long as possible. After the defeat in the referendum, the settlement was supposed to move to court. But the will of the people was clear. Instead of mixing politics, those who are most interested in the normal functioning of public media will have the decisive say: employees and civil society.”