“This is a very vile attack on the editor-in-chief of the news programme of TV Slovenia, with the intention of humiliation and contempt,” the Association of Journalists and Publicists responded to Miran Ališič’s inappropriate statements. They also strongly condemned the attack on Jadranka Rebernik, the aforementioned editor-in-chief, and any calls for a pogrom against the journalists and media outlets who think differently from the mainstream.
The Association of Journalists and Publicists strongly condemned journalist Miran Ališič’s article published on the Fokuspokus web portal, which is also being spread and published on social networks. The article, which was initially published behind a paywall, is entitled “Why didn’t we exchange Jadranka Rebernik for a herd of camels in Egypt that one time we were there!” The title itself is humiliating, but according to the Association of Journalists and Publicists, the rest of the article is also a vile attack on the editor-in-chief of the news programme on the national TV Slovenia, the intention of which is to humiliate her and express contempt.
The Association of Journalists and Publicists said that Miran Ališič’s article goes beyond what is legal and added that such attacks are unbearable. According to them, the article is proof that “the author obviously does not have any serious or well-argued criticism to share.” They also find it especially unacceptable that he chose such a “miserable way” to deal with a woman and exposed his attitude to the opposite sex, which he compared to the value of camels in the article. In addition to their criticism, members of the Association of Journalists and Publicists also called on other journalists’ associations, civil society and politicians to strongly react to the article; otherwise, such a level of communication will quickly become socially accepted.
They do not recall a time of such a backward and totalitarian mentality among their journalistic colleagues
“Contempt for journalists who think differently from them, the calls for a pogrom, saying that certain individuals need to lose their jobs at the national media outlet RTV Slovenia, was intensified by some political activists among journalists immediately after the elections, as they clearly understand the victory of the left-wing parties as their own victor and also an opportunity to deal with those who are not to their liking,” the Association of Journalists and Publicists wrote in a press release, also highlighting the attacks of the journalists of the Delo newspaper, Ali Žerdin and Janez Markeš, who called for Jadranka Rebernik and Jože Možina to lose their jobs on the public television. They described this as an outrage, unworthy of anyone, and reminded the readers that “we do not recall a time of such backward and totalitarian mentality among their journalistic colleagues.”
The association also assessed that “serious threats are being created to further narrow the already unbalanced media space in a way that would suppress those media and journalists who are in favour of more pluralism in the Slovenian media space.”
Tanja Brkić
