Director of the Slovenian press Agency, Bojan Veselinovič, does not dare face the director of the Government Communication Office, Uroš Urbanija, on the television screen. “Today, I was invited on the show Topic of the Day (Tema dneva) on Nova24TV to talk about the Slovenian Press Agency. Just like last time, with the show Odmevi on RTV Slovenia, Bojan Veselinovič is once again unavailable… This is one long vacation,” Urbanija commented on the situation. So, what is director Veselinovič afraid of if he claims that the arguments are on his side?
Calls and accusations are coming one after the other in Slovenian, as well as foreign media outlets, claiming that the current government wants to destroy the Slovenian Press Agency (Slovenska tiskovna agencija – referred to as STA). The Department of Journalism from the Faculty of Social Sciences once again spoke up on social networks, with the latest call for the preservation of the STA. With all of their media machinery and various appeals, they are trying to kill the truth, which is that the director of the STA, Bojan Veselinovič, has been refusing to hand over the required documentation, requested by STA’s owner, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, for several months now, even though this is part of the contractual obligations between the STA and the government.
The director of the Government Communication Office (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za komuniciranje – referred to as UKOM), Uroš Urbanija, wants the director of the STA, Bojan Veselinovič, to finally deliver the documents which he has been requesting for several months now. The central Slovenian media, which cover more than ninety percent of the media space, are trying to portray Veselinovič as a “national” hero simply because he is resisting the current government. However, not even a single media outlet owned by the transitional tycoons has pointed out that the real culprit for the situation is actually Veselinovič. On top of that, he does not even dare to face Urbanija in public but only communicated with him individually, with mass media coverage. Namely, Veselinovič refused to face Urbanija both on RTV, as well as POP TV, and now also Nova24TV.
Veselinovič plays the victim in the mainstream transitional media
The STA has long ceased to be a national agency, which it should be, in terms of its status. During the decade of Bojan Veselinovič’s rule, it turned into another satellite of the network of the transitional left. It is trying to pass off as “independent” and a necessity for the Slovenian society. The on-call media experts from the Faculty of Social Sciences are also trying to make us believe that. Thus, in recent days, we have been listening to Marko Mirosavljević, Igor Vobič, and Jernej Amon Prdodnik talk about this.
Unfortunately, these experts never seem to ask themselves why Veselinovič refuses to show UKOM the documentation it has requested. Any individual with some logic can quickly figure out that the disclosure of these documents would apparently cast doubt on the “successful” leadership of Veselinovič as the director of the STA. However, he does not want to give up his position, as he currently earns a little less than 100 thousand euros gross per year.
Members of the Association of Journalists and Publicists of Slovenia also disagree with Veselinovič’s actions and are urging him to resign. They believe that in the current dispute, the director of the Slovenian Press Agency, Bojan Veselinovič, “failed to demonstrate the ability to communicate and negotiate with the Government Communication Office, and instead, even seemed to deliberately and consciously exacerbate the dispute.” To further explain what they mean, the ZNP cited UKOM’s allegations that the director of the STA refuses to grant the state administration a 60 percent discount due to an unknown reason.
This week, the government wanted to pass a law on the Demographic Fund. The purpose of the law is, among other things, to ensure that all state property would be operationally managed from one place. Among other things, the STA would also join this fund. This greatly bothered the left-wing opposition parties, as they would lose their influence over the editorial policy with a possible sale or change of leadership. At the beginning of its term in office, the current government, which is the owner of the STA, wanted to appoint lawyer Radovan Cerjak as its supervisor, but the opposition prevented it with several manoeuvres. So, ask yourselves, how you would feel as the owner of a business in which your own employees would do things their own way? Bojan Veselinovič has once again proved that he is a coward, as he only appears in the media, which kindly present his aspect of the story.
Luka Perš
