The organisations and individuals that have recently expressed their support for the strike of the coordinated journalists’ unions of the national media outlet, RTV Slovenia, were the Trade Union of Slovenian Police Officers, the President of the Confederation of Public Administration Trade Unions, Branimir Štrukelj, and some others – and on Wednesday, the Union of the Associations for the Values of the National Liberation Movement of Slovenia joined them. The Association expects the new government to improve the situation in the public media outlet, to ensure that the public is informed, as well as support the independent and professional work of journalists, Slovenian Press Agency reports. Members of the Association believe that the fundamental right to free and critical reporting is not in the domain of all journalists, which was clear from the attack on journalist Dr Jože Možina – he was accused, among other things, of falsifying history. The Association has, once again, expressed the hope that voters would entrust the positions of leadership to the people who would stop the conversion and falsification of national history and the spreading of lies and hatred.
For some time now, the Association has been following the situation at RTV Slovenia with concern, which, in their words, “is pushing the institution into a similar sad story that the Slovenian Press Agency had already experienced beforehand.” Because of this, the Association expressed support for all journalists who are fighting for the fundamental right to freely and critically report on the state of our society. According to members of the Association, the autonomy of journalists is absolutely vital for such work, as objective reporting is in the best interest of the people and not the state as an institution. With this, the members also expect that a social dialogue with negotiations will be established as soon as possible, which will contribute to better working conditions for RTV Slovenia employees and, at the same time, break the direct influence of politics on editorial decisions at RTV. Which is downright bizarre, as they actually want to use politics to silence certain journalists and shows.
“Based on the current situation on RTV Slovenia, the Associations for the Values of the National Liberation Movement of Slovenia also expect the new Slovenian government to improve the situation in order to ensure that the public is being informed, as well as support the independent and professional work of journalists. The current situation at RTV represents the work of the outgoing government, and this undemocratic practice of suppressing media freedom in Slovenia, which is a member of the European Union, must stop,” the President of the Association, Marijan Križman, wrote in a press release. While the Associations for the Values of the National Liberation Movement is supposedly “fighting” for journalists, it should also be pointed out that in the past, they attacked certain journalists
For the representatives of the communist guerrilla, media pluralism is not an option
For example, not long ago, they went after journalist and historian Dr Jože Možina, saying that his episode of the show Utrip (Pulse) was an example of “an unheard-of falsification of history, the humiliation of partisans, and insulting of the victims of Nazism and fascism.” They also wrote that new “truths about Dražgoše” can apparently be published without any journalist or historical criteria being taken into account and that just anyone can come up with them – even though they believe that the statements are not based on any historical facts.
Sara Bertoncelj
