Psychoanalyst Roman Vodeb posted some critical thoughts on the media space in Slovenia on his Facebook profile. As a psychoanalyst, he says he does not want to associate with either of the political sides; however, he is a leftist at heart but a conservative because of the psychoanalysis. In his videos, he pointed out that the left gives itself the right to control the media space, as it knows that it holds all of the mainstream media outlets in its hands, from the newspapers (Delo, Dnevnik, Večer, Mladina) to the television stations, but now the left is suddenly angry because Nova24TV is exposing it. All of the mainstream media outlets are pretty unambiguous in their articles, just like the show prepared by Martina Tita Mayer from RTV, entitled, “Attacks on the Media Are Attacks on Democracy” (Napadi na medije so napadi na demokracijo). Only their left-wing colleagues were invited to the show as guests, forcing their opinion on the nation. They are not actually fighting for media freedom but rather for the freedom of the left-wing media outlets. And their approach is trying to convince people that “the journalists are all leftists and now the government wants to ‘settle the score with the journalists’ because we are biased in our reports.” RTV should be helping out right now, Vodeb pointed out, as it is clear that the government is not working “for its own benefit” or in order to win the next election with the measures it has been adopting but is actually doing everything in its power to curb the epidemic.
“And then Mayer prepares an article which failed completely and does not even realise that she is causing harm in the long run. These journalists are fighting against Janez Janša because he is fighting against the left-wing media monopoly and single-mindedness and is fighting for pluralism, for objective reporting. And Mayer reports with the intention of bringing down the government and slandering Janša. Call Delo’s journalist Peter Žerjavič, as he is known to be biased. And he is the one to talk about the government’s brutal settling of the score, and the leftists report that ‘Europe is stunned by our Prime Minister,’” Roman Vodeb was critical and added that Europe is actually uninformed, as it does not know what is actually going on. Janša is being accused of discrediting people who think differently than he does. But in reality, this is just the right’s fight for plurality, for freedom of speech of those who think differently, for the right-wing conservative-minded people as well, and not just the left-wing liberal-minded.
“As a psychoanalyst, I cannot choose a political side. However, I am developing this critical thought because I do not think it is right that continuity reigns in Slovenia – the left-wing single-mindedness,” Vodeb said in a video. The mainstream media control the entire political scene, as well as the ideological scene, with their own views and beliefs. They control it by imposing their opinion on people, and in these times when something like that should not be happening, they are actually fighting the government with everything they have got – fighting the right-wing government, which also includes certain leftist members, which is trying to lead the country to better times. “At this point, I support the current government, and not because I am right-wing, but because in these times, we must help those who are trying to lead Slovenia to better times, out of the crisis, we need to help those who are trying to limit the spread of the virus, not protest and take advantage of the Day of Uprising Against the Occupation for anti-government protests. In this case, I am against it. Because I am keeping one important fact in mind, psychoanalytically speaking – the principle of the comfort of a nation must be raised to a higher level. To preserve the nation’s health, and the political view of the whole covid situation is precisely like that. And these sheep, these anarchists, these “cultural workers,” want to criticise the government as much as they can, simply because it is not left-wing. This is unair,” Vodeb said.
The mainstream media is brainwashing the nation
With shows like this – “Attacks on the Media Are Attacks on Democracy,” Vodeb said, RTV and the Slovenian Press Agency are manipulatively approaching the nation and brainwashing it. “They unequivocally approached a show with an unfortunate title and were completely misleading in their choice of guests.” “They deal with topics in a very single-minded way, instead of the journalist also inviting someone from a different political option to the show.” And what is most bizarre is that we all pay for RTV, “but the RTV itself does not allow for anyone to criticise it. Not to mention the other media outlets, which are even capital-laden with the left-wing money and are therefore biased. The national television station, however, should not be biased, and we pay for it because we want it to be plural. To publish objective news, and if guests are invited to shows, they must be left-wing and right-wing. Slovenian national television, as well as the Slovenian Press Agency, is very biased in favour of the left,” Vodeb said.
The left-wing journalists quickly move up the ladder at times when the leftists are in power
The shows on the national television only employ very single-minded journalists, such as Petra Lesjak Tušek, Marko Milosavljevič and Nataša Pirc Musar. “They all get interest rates in their comfort. After all, the leftist scene immediately takes them under its wing because they are fighting the right-wing with all of their power, in the hope that the leftists will repay them as soon as they come to power. And then Nataša Pirc Musar can become the director of RTV, and Milosavljević will be employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences – he might even be the dean.” Vodeb added that it took six years for him to finally be invited back to the RTV again, as he was obviously too critical of the left last time he was there because, as a leftist, he said that such brainwashing was unacceptable. “You have fallen into anarchism, you are inciting the cultural workers, and their only task nowadays seems to be – being an activist of the left. And the left-wing scene is apparently bribing the electorate by paying them for their work and by saying, ‘When we are in power, all of your lies and art will be financed. Vote for us, protest, try to overthrow the government because you will live well with us.”
The Constitutional Arch Coalition and the left do not have a single reasonable man
The centre-left governments, LMŠ and the Constitutional Arch Coalition, no longer have a compass; Vodeb was critical. “And such a group of centre-left people cannot win, even if It consolidated for the next elections, because they are not led by someone who might be prudent, who would look at a situation with honestly and know that it pays to be loyal to the current government because it is leading us out of a crisis. And that it would pay to tame the anarchists who are protesting so fervently, with someone like Jenull leading them. However, they do not have a single person who would be at least a little bit smart and who would have the power of judgment.” Unfortunately, no one on the left has that; no one in the Constitutional Arch Coalition has been so prudent.
The President of the Slovene Association of Journalists is bothered by the fact that the media space will now be more plural
President of the Slovene Association of Journalists, Petra Lesjak Tušek, also appeared on the show, doing nothing but fighting against the right. “And now she is bothered by the fact that the right has helped itself with Hungarian capital, she is moaning and crying about it because she is bothered by the Hungarian capital which will ensure that the media scene will now be more plural,” Vodeb was critical. “Nova24TV is the only true right-wing media outlet. However, now, the Hungarian capital has supposedly also come to Siol and Planet, and pluralism is also beginning to appear there. And what if the Slovenian Press Agency shuts down – then we simply will not have enough left-wing media outlets, and people will start thinking pluralistically. At least the president of the Slovene Association of Journalists seems to think so,” Vodeb was sarcastic in his video. Tušek also said that a parallel media space is being established with the Hungarian capital (read – no longer only for the left-wing only, but also for the right-wing media), which is an extended arm of the government in power, and which wants to spread an ideology which is full of hatred. Here, Vodeb got upset and said that if someone has conservative worldviews, the leftists already think of him as hostile to them. “I applauded Orban for preventing the spread of feminism in universities. He curbed the brainwashing that is still happening in Slovenia, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Arts, at the Faculty of Social Work, where they have ‘abolished’ gender. They are brainwashing the students with the LGBT theories, the gender theory, and feminism. And they consider that to be hate.” As a president of the Association of Journalists, Tušek should not say that. “In reality, the deep state has power over the mainstream media. The left has so much control that only their single-minded information is left out into the public. And they only ever host the left-wing intellectuals in all of their shows.”
Instead of RTV helping stop conspiracy theories, exposing various people like Marko Potrč and others, in order to help curb the epidemic, Musar is complaining about how Nova24TV has now become a “government media outlet.” “During these times, RTV should be the one to help because the government is not trying to stay in power at any cost but to limit the spread of the crisis. However, this nation does not stand any inconvenience or any of the measures. The government is not working in order to win the next elections, but rather to stop the crisis, which is what Simona Kustec, Zdravko Počivalšek and Milan Krek are also doing. However, the left-wing media are trying to trip up the government by supporting the conspiracy theorists and anarchists, who annoy the authorities,” Vodeb also believes.
Anita Gužvič
