At Monday’s meeting, the Slovenian Press Agency Supervisory Board appointed Igor Kadunc as the new director of the agency. His full term will begin on the 1st of January next year, and until then, he will be running the agency as acting director from the 31st of October onwards. Kadunc recently left the position of director-general of the national public broadcasting organisation RTV Slovenia, leaving the organisation in shambles. In addition, his education – namely, his knowledge of a foreign language – does not meet the conditions for the position of director of the Slovenian Press Agency (Slovenska tiskovna agencija – referred to as the STA).
What does the appointment of Igor Kadunc as the new director of the Slovenian Press Agency, which is in violation of the rules of the tender, mean for journalistic freedom in our country? Nothing good, as the leftists are hijacking the media again.
Not long ago, we reported on the poor results – both financial as well as in terms of ratings – that were the result of Kadunc’s reign on RTV. This is also the reason why he did not even qualify for the second round in the election process in January this year when he ran for the position of RTV director again.
Is Kadunc really what Slovenian media need right now?
However, this did not deter Kadunc from trying his luck at the Slovenian Press Agency, which was recently abandoned by its long-time director Bojan Veselinović. Kadunc turned out to be the only candidate for the position of director of the agency, but in addition to fulfilling the legal conditions, the candidates must also have at least a university degree, at least ten years of work experience in the media or with media, of which they have to have at least five years of managerial experience, and they must also be fluent in at least one world language at a higher level. And this is where the problem lies.
Namely, Kadunc does not meet the condition of being fluent in at least one foreign language at a higher level. However, he seems to disagree – as proof, he provided a certificate of attending a French language course as part of his job application, which he attended back in 1981. It is not known exactly where he attended this course, but it is supposedly recorded that he reads and writes a bit more slowly in French. He supposedly already faced the same problem at RTV, as his knowledge does not even reach the basic level – but they obviously decided to overlook this. Given that the Slovenian Press Agency Supervisory Board is controlled by supervisors appointed by the previous governments of Miro Cerar and Marjan Šarec, our predictions of Kadunc being elected director of the agency, despite not meeting all the necessary conditions, have come true.
The decision was reached by a majority vote of the supervisors, the President of the Supervisory Board Mladen Terčelj told the STA. Terčelj also said that he believes the new director will bring new strengths to this position and will be able to continue talks with the government, which he hopes will be constructive. If Kadunc is what Slovenian media need right now, then we are really not doing so great.
Sara Kovač
