Five years have already passed since the establishment of Nova24TV, which provoked a strong response from the public and also shook up the media scene. Nova24TV was primarily created as a response to the media, which should be neutral but are not, and also do not hide their support for left-wing politics. After five years of frequent attacks by politics, the media, and stressful periods, Nova24TV remains part of the scene and is successfully trying to curb the spread of lies coming from the other side. Intellectuals who follow our programme believe that there is still a lot of room for improvement, but this is still a critical contribution to the citizens gaining the right to getting information from the other side as well, through which they can form their own opinions, which are not subject to a single media or political option.
In 2015, a new pioneer media project was launched, which continues to exceed all expectations to this day. The people simply had enough of the media unanimity, and because of this, they responded to the invitation to financially support the new television in large numbers, as almost a thousand people contributed just over 800 thousand euros to launch the project. As the director of Nova24TV and host of the show Who is Lying to You (Kdo vam laže) Boris Tomašič explains, this project received more support than any other newly established company in the history of independent Slovenia. “So nowadays, when I hear accusations that our financing is not transparent, I think, how sad are these critics, who must resort to lies and discrediting to try and secure a media monopoly. In 2015, people created the most transparent media project in Slovenia,” Tomašič explained. Nova24TV was thus created with an investment with minimal resources and has gone through many stressful periods already, but Tomašič sees all of this as positive.
According to Tomašič, the establishment of Nova24TV provoked a strong response from the public, as it broke the media monopoly. “Something happened that the transitional left was not prepared for. They could no longer spread lies without any consequences,” he explained. “First, they made fun of us, then they tried to discredit us, then with the help of the Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, they tried to destroy us financially, and now they want to liquidate us. This is a proven dictatorial way of dealing with enemies, which the last head of the Communist Party, Milan Kučan, also spoke about.”
As he pointed out, they did not give up, even though things were hopeless at times. “We survived and are evolving. We became one of the most influential media in the country.” Due to Nova24TV, the MPs of the failed coalition convened extraordinary sessions and discussed the media outlet in question for more than five hours, and all of the regime media still seem preoccupied with it. “Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone for the free publicity. We have reached a record number of people.” The most watched shows on Nova24TV are Who is Lying to You (Kdo vam laže) and Topic of the Day (Tema dneva), and, of course, the news. “Launching a television station is a huge project, especially if you are extremely limited, financially and in human resources. The success is due to the exceptional dedication of the employees. Without it, we would never have succeeded. The support of the people was also very important. Once again, thank you, everyone,” Tomašič added.
Sara Rančigaj
