“The Association of Journalists and Publicists distances itself from media manipulations regarding the fate and threat to the Slovenian Press Agency. The fact is that our distinguished member, the late Borut Meško, after whom the award given for journalistic achievements by our Association is named, in addition to the beaten journalist Miro Petek, was the greatest victim among Slovenian journalists of the modern era. Therefore, we find it particularly reprehensible that the current director Bojan Veselinovič, who pays his journalists miserable wages and has a higher salary than the president of the republic, politicises the Press Agency, instead of simply providing the necessary documentation to the signatory of the public service co-financing agreement, without referring to unreasonable formalisms, which only prolongs the dispute, as the government, the sole Slovenian Press Agency shareholder, justifiably requested the data,” the Association of Journalists and Publicists wrote on the World Press Freedom Day, adding that the media space has never in all of the years of our independence been subjected to so much abuse for political purposes.
On World Press Freedom Day, the Association of Journalists and Publicists expressed satisfaction with the fact that Slovenia has been offering formal conditions for plural media development for the last three decades, since the fall of communism and the establishment of an independent state. At the same time, they noted with regret that the state of the Slovenian media, from the point of view of pluralism and professionalism, had not been in a crisis this deep since the year 1990 and has also never been subjected to as many abuses for political purposes as we are currently witnessing.
The Association of Journalists and Publicists not only pointed out the fact that more than 90 percent of the most influential Slovenian media outlets are closer to the Slovenian political left but also drew attention to the unprecedented professional slips, when individual media outlets, including the largest POP TV and the national RTV Slovenia, are completely openly, rudely and uncritically abusing and using their media influence in support of the political left – due to their common desire for the left to regain power in the country. They are also doing this at the cost of demolishing efforts to contain the covid-19 epidemic and the protection of human lives, which is extremely dangerous and worrying. “In the Association of Journalists and Publicists, we therefore emphasise that those editors and journalists who deliberately created confusion and obstructed the efforts to make our country more successful in the fight against the covid-19 epidemic are partially responsible for the increased number of deaths from this disease.”
According to the Association of Journalists and Publicists, freedom of the press also means a great responsibility, which some Slovenian media outlet employees, owners, directors, editors and journalists have not been able to cope with in the last year. We are mainly thinking of those who, during the worst times of the epidemic, gave priority to the overthrowing of the government and the spreading of lies about the Slovenian media landscape abroad over the protection of human lives due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Director of the Slovenian Press Agency, Bojan Veselinovič, is politicising the Agency
The Association of Journalists and Publicists distances itself from media manipulations regarding the fate and threat to the Slovenian Press Agency. The fact is that our distinguished member, the late Borut Meško, after whom the award given for journalistic achievements by our Association is named, in addition to the beaten journalist Miro Petek, was the greatest victim among Slovenian journalists of the modern era. Therefore, we find it particularly reprehensible that the current director Bojan Veselinovič, who pays his journalists miserable wages and has a higher salary than the president of the republic, politicises the Press Agency, instead of simply providing the necessary documentation to the signatory of the public service co-financing agreement, without referring to unreasonable formalisms, which only prolongs the dispute, as the government, the sole Slovenian Press Agency shareholder, justifiably requested the data.
Sara Kovač
