As we have already reported, the National Assembly’s Commission of Inquiry, which is supposed to investigate suspicions of illegal party funding, questioned the former Editor of the weekly Demokracija (Democracy) and former Director of the Nova obzorja (New Horizons) publishing house, Jože Biščak, on Tuesday, who repeatedly stressed that Demokracija is not a party weekly. Former Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs did not attend the hearing.
What is Tamara Vonta fantasising about?
The Commission of Inquiry thus pointed out that during the government of Janez Janša, the volume of public resources increased for the media outlet, both directly, as the application for the portrayal of public money spending – Erar shows, and indirectly – through advertising by various companies. As suggested by propaganda of the ruling Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), individual construction companies allegedly transferred money to media close to the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), including Nova obzorja and Demokracija, in exchange for concessions to clean up watercourses. The amount of their regular transfers is said to be well above the prices of advertising on the media market, raising suspicions that they were paying for fictitious services, the Commission found.
Jože Biščak, who was the Editor of the Demokracija weekly between 2018 and 2022, and for a shorter period of time, also the Director of the Nova obzorja publishing house, did not want to answer most of the questions, saying that he had already answered them in his previous testimony before the Commission of Inquiry. He did not recall any business dealings with the construction companies in question. He attributed the increase in funding from budget users to the fact that Domen Rant, “who is an expert in marketing and advertising”, had been appointed Marketing Director at that time. And they worked with all the media agencies that were willing to work with them, he added.
The business relationship between Nova24TV and Nova obzorja “is about the same, if not the same, as that between Reporter magazine and Svet24”, Biščak said. He did not want to talk about the business with Nova24TV, “because they are two private companies”, but Nova24TV has advertised with Nova obzorja before. By the way: in addition to book publishing, Nova obzorja also publishes the print edition of Demokracija and owns the online platform of the portal you are reading.
Fantasies about Hungarians
“You are not like Nova24TV, which could not survive without Hungarian money and money from state-owned companies,” said the chair of the National Assembly’s Commission, Tamara Vonta (Freedom Movement party – Gibanje Svoboda), because Demokracija is partly financed by subscriptions. However, she pointed out that money from Nova24TV was also coming to Demokracija. “Where the money came from to Nova24TV, I don’t know,” Biščak said in response. He disagreed, however, with MP Vonta’s claims that Demokracija was a party newsletter. Vonta also reprimanded Biščak’s lawyer, Janez Stušek.
He has “as much communication with SDS President Janez Janša as with anyone else”. They never discussed Demokracija’s editorial policy and what articles Demokracija should publish, but they did talk about the number of subscribers and readership of Demokracija – “of course, as a representative of the owner, he was interested in how we conduct business”. Dejan Kaloh, a former SDS MP and currently an unaffiliated deputy, was only a co-owner, Biščak said. The SDS party was buying books from Nova obzorja, Biščak said.
He did not recall any cooperation with the company Mediaworks Hungary. Biščak is also the owner and director of the Gideon agency. When asked by Vonta whether the agency pays “well-known faces from the SDS media sphere, for example, Boris Tomašič, Miro Petek and Edvard Kadič”, he replied: “We work with those with whom we agree to cooperate.”
There’s no end to the insinuations
After the 2022 elections to the National Assembly, however, he stepped down as the Director of Nova obzorja for health reasons, not because of the company’s financial problems, he insisted. He commented on the pay cuts to employees during that period, saying that salaries depended on the business. “When business was good, we increased their salaries, when business was bad, we reduced their salaries,” he said.
“The only one who had to provide money for Nova obzorja was me as the Director,” he said when asked by Vonta if the SDS party Secretary-General, Borut Dolanc, “should have provided money for Demokracija before the 2022 elections, but in the end, he didn’t”. When asked if the company’s liquidity was saved just before the elections by Dari Južna, who is also a co-owner of the energy company Petrol, Biščak replied that he had “dealt with him once, but not anymore”, and that Petrol is a regular advertiser with them.
“So, we can come to a relatively logical conclusion that Nova obzorja does very well when its co-owner is in power, and then when its co-owner is no longer in power, it is a bit worse,” Vonta pointed out, but Biščak replied that this was her conclusion. The hearing continued in closed session.
It should be recalled that Vonta often referred to “her sources” in her questions, who had so far apparently been heard in closed session.
Demokracija
