Golob’s march through the institutions and the media is slowly coming to an end, as is our transformation into a mini version of the Russian Federation (even the language is similar!). The next victim of Slovenian Putinism is the Siol.net web portal.
As reported by the web portal Požareport, Irma Giubanec, the new Acting Director-General of the TSMedia company, which also owns the Siol web portal, sent an invitation to the journalists of Siol.net via e-mail on Friday for the vote on the new editor-in-chief, without writing down who the candidate is, or who even proposed them for the position, because the aim is to keep the name hidden until the end.
A far-left editor? It is rumoured that the new editor will be Mihael Šuštaršič, the foreign policy editor of the Slovenian Press Agency News, an extremely left-wing journalist known for spreading and inciting hatred on social networks. Apparently, Golob was afraid of appointing the agitprop journalist from the Necenzurirano.si web portal (Uncensored), Primož Cirman, to the position, as he is probably already a bit too notorious, while Šuštaršič is still unknown and thus more acceptable to the general public.
The fact that he is actually a known brutalist who makes vulgar insults has also been confirmed by the Director-General of the national media outlet Radio Television Slovenia, Uroš Urbanija. “Well, among other things, the candidate is also a known bully. He is the only one I can think of who has ever threatened with a physical attack in the newsroom,” Urbanija wrote in his response to the news.
From a centrist to an extremely left web portal Therefore, we can see that this is a complete left-wing takeover of the Siol.net web portal, which is one of the last islands in the sea of the Slovenian news internet that is not yet under the complete control of the far left. It is important to stress that under Peter Jančič, the web portal has not in any way turned into a “right-wing” portal, but it has also conscientiously attacked left-wing politicians, which is obviously a taboo topic for the Slovenian media space and political suicide in the long term. The portal was known for being visited by both the left-wingers and the right-wingers, but at the same time, it was declared in polls to be the portal that most Slovenians consider to be “centrist” (even those on the left side of the political spectrum).
Back to the past Now, of course, things will be completely different. Siol.net will turn into Slovenian Press Agency news – a thinly disguised institutional propaganda against the right-wing opposition and in support of the left-wing government. Which is what it already was under former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and his infamous State Secretary Damir Črnčec. At that time, the duo took over the portal in such a fierce manner that even Marko Milosavljević reported on it in the Rule of Law report issued by the European Commission.
The new editor will not have to work too hard Of course, for Slovenia, as a country firmly in the hands of the successors of the Communist Party, it is no wonder that the editorial policy of a media outlet can change overnight. Let us just remind you of the Mag magazine and the tragic story of Reporter, which was taken over by the media and garbage tycoon Odlazek. Slovenian journalism has always been that of the working-class king and has always been able to send itself for a handful of tolars and later euros. What will make the transition at Siol easier is, of course, the fact that most of the editorial staff is hard left and that the new editor will not have to try so hard to report from the centrist point of view. Thus, the new far-left editor will have time to work on inertia and just let the journalists be what they are – activists who want to report good things about the left-wing government and bad things about the right-wing opposition.
In conclusion, we can only say: goodbye, Siol! It was nice knowing you when you were not just a government bullhorn.
Andrej Žitnik
