Pay attention to what information the “free” and “independent” media outlets offer you – the media outlets that are paid for by all taxpayers, who are supposed to be transparent in their reporting. One of the latest manipulations was published by the Slovenian Press Agency, which is supposed to be a good example for other media outlets. Prime Minister Janša commented on what happened, writing: “Compare the messages of the AFP News Agency and the Slovenian Press Agency about the same information, and the sad political manipulation of the agency’s director Bojan Veselinovič at the expense of children’s health will quickly become apparent to you.”
Prime Minister Janez Janša pointed out the case of “free” and “independent” Slovenian media outlets manipulating foreign news. He looked at how the same piece of news was presented in the Slovenian Press Agency (Slovenska tiskovna agencija – referred to as the STA) and in the AFP News Agency, where they wrote that “Teachers and school staff should be among the groups prioritised for Covid-19 vaccinations so that schools can stay open, the WHO and Unicef say.”
A message in the style of the trade unionist Štrukelj
The STA, however, adapted the news a little bit: “WHO and Unicef call for schools to remain open despite the pandemic.” With this, the agency omitted the key information – priority vaccination of employees in education. The devil is in the details. The information could now be interpreted as support for anti-vaxxers and harassment of the government at the expense of the safety of children and school employees. Considering that the director of the STA, Bojan Veselinovič, has in recent months constantly been misleading the public, and even held the Slovenian Press Agency and all its employees hostage, in order to maintain the privilege of a salary of several thousand euros, the STA reports are not all that surprising. Instead of the STA performing the function of a professional news agency, more and more anti-government articles are being published in the media outlet, which are making the current situation even worse, especially in the field of healthcare.
And let’s not forget: our media outlet has repeatedly pointed out the misleading articles published by the mainstream media in the past. We gave an example of how the national RTV Slovenia “adapts” the translations of speeches of foreign statesmen. During the speech of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who said the following sentence in English: “Slovenia is taking the helm of Europe’s leadership at a turning point of our Union,” they broadcast subtitles with a completely different meaning. Instead of translating what was said, they wrote the following: “We need to trust the free, independent and properly funded media outlets. Equality must be respected.”
Domen Mezeg
