The last act of the authorities’ complete takeover of the national media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS), has been carried out with the unanimous dismissal of the last troublesome element, Uroš Urbanija, from the position of Acting Director of Television Slovenija. “The enthusiasm of the Left Party, its Minister Asta Vrečko, and leftists in general for the RTV Council’s unanimous decision to dismiss the Acting Director of TV Slovenia, Uroš Urbanija, is proof of the renewed politicisation of the national media outlet, or rather of political staffing,” Jože Biščak, President of the Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists, commented on the recent rejoicing of the current auhtorities over the staffing purge at the national media outlet RTV Slovenia.
“The Council of RTV Slovenia has given its consent for the dismissal of Uroš Urbanija from the position of Acting Director of Television Slovenia. There were no votes against the decision.” This is how the Left party (Levica) welcomed Urbanija’s dismissal, and they also added a photo of Urbanija with an added inscription that reads “Goodbye, Urbanija” on top. “This tweet of elated jubilation should be carefully saved. It foreshadows the foibas,” former journalist Miro Petek commented on the Left’s post on Twitter.
“When one political party celebrates the replacement of the Director of a public media outlet, this is all the proof you need to know that what is happening at Radio-Television Slovenia is, once again, political staffing (or a showdown), and nothing else,” investigative journalist Bojan Požar wrote. Meanwhile, Dr Žiga Turk, former Minister of Development, Education, Science, Culture and Sport, pointed out that this response is very telling, as it shows that the ruling party is celebrating the unanimity of the decision. “We have a government that is openly working on the restoration of the previous system. Their instincts are totalitarian. Now and then, they accidentally let them show in public.”
Urbanija: “Even in the most totalitarian regimes, every convicted person has the right to defend themself in one way or another”
We asked Uroš Urbanija, who was replaced as Acting Director of Television Slovenia by Andraž Pöschl, the former editor of cultural and arts programmes at Television Slovenia, for a comment on Thursday’s developments. “The very reasons that the management came up with for the extraordinary dismissal – namely, the dismissal from the post of acting director of Television Slovenia, are bizarre in themselves,” he pointed out, adding that he was accused of giving some powers to a long-serving RTVS financier without the consent of the former RTVS Director-General. According to Urbanija, the financier in question was a woman who had been the assistant to the director of the media outlet for almost 30 years. “She was also the most experienced person there and had been doing this job for a very long time, so this is a rather bizarre reason for a dismissal,” Urbanija was clear.
Only one way of thinking is allowed
Urbanija says that Friday’s meeting of the RTVS Council was the one that shocked or surprised him the most. He had expected to be given the opportunity to defend himself. “Even in the most totalitarian regimes, every convicted person has the right to defend themself in one way or another. I was not allowed to do so while the RTVS administration was able to explain and even present additional documents at the session, which I did not even have the opportunity to read. I was not allowed to speak”, he was critical.
At the meeting itself, Urbanija had already compared it to the post-war political processes. A similar situation occurred when one of the councillors asked, very insultingly, if he was ashamed of what had been done in the last year. “So, this was really all on the level of prosecutors or judges of the former totalitarian regime. But, of course, this is all in the context of only one way of thinking being allowed, which is slowly being established at RTVS. As you can see, the world is functioning in a completely rigid way, with practically no deviations.” His dismissal was unanimously approved, the new acting Director General of Television Slovenija was unanimously approved, and the acting Director-General of RTVS was unanimously dismissed. Urbanija also highlighted another very bizarre situation. “When Andrej Grah Whatmough, the former acting Director-General, was on annual leave, they sent a detective to go look for him. Because they couldn’t find him, even the 8th of March Institute put out a sort of Wild West-style public inquiry: bring him in dead or alive. So, these are all signs of where not only RTV, but society as a whole is heading,” he pointed out.
No dictatorship, no totalitarian regime can survive for long
Regarding the indulgent reaction of the Left party, Urbanija said: “The Left party is an extremist party. They have every reason to rejoice, because they have taken 100 per cent control of RTV. RTV is theirs, but whoever is rejoicing over this rule of only one worldview that is being established at RTV, this rejoicing (at least I hope so) will be short-lived. No dictatorship, no totalitarian regime can survive for long, and this is also true of the Left party, which has, in a sense, usurped RTV.” When asked if he planned to appeal, Urbanija pointed out that the current President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, had set an example in these processes. “It is obvious that we need to do the same thing as she did,” he concluded.
Biščak: “As long as the majority of Slovenians are sheep, this government will have wool”
We decided to ask the President of the Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists, Jože Bišcak, for his comment on the situation in question. “The enthusiasm of the Left Party, its Minister Asta Vrečko, and leftists in general for the RTV Council’s unanimous decision to dismiss the Acting Director of TV Slovenia, Uroš Urbanija, is proof of the renewed politicisation of the national media outlet, or rather of political staffing. But the left is claiming that this unanimous decision by the councillors, which is a blatant example of only one worldview being allowed, without any critical distance, ‘depoliticisation’. Which is not surprising,” pointed out Biščak, adding that the awakened post-modernist left, which in this case has used completely totalitarian methods to get to this point, is misleading with its words, and their language leaves ideological fingerprints. “For example, when they talk about ‘depoliticisation’, they actually mean ‘politicisation’,” Biščak explained, adding that they reverse the meaning of words so that what they are talking about actually means the exact opposite of what the word actually means. “And people fall for it; they fall for it, even though it is clear to anyone with any common sense left that they are manipulating (to put it mildly). But you know: as long as the majority of Slovenians are sheep, this government will have wool.”
The only real depoliticisation would be the privatisation of the national media house
According to Biščak, the fact that they (especially the RTV Council, which is a kind of left-wing fist on national television) have totalitarian tendencies was shown when they did not even give Urbanija a chance to tell his side of the story. “This clearly shows that they are trying to nip in the bud any worldview that is different from theirs, or any developments that are not in line with their preferences. They don’t even want to hear about it. The plurality that the previous management tried to reintroduce at Kolodvorska Street 2 (which is also in line with the current legislation) is thus saying goodbye. And the leftists are no longer bothering to hide the fact that they are driven by hatred of the right, revenge, and the desire for uniformity of opinions and views at RTV Slovenia.”
“But, as I have said many times before, and I will say it again, politics cannot depoliticise what is fundamentally political (RTV Slovenia is owned by the state, state property is managed by the government, which is a political body),” he pointed out, adding that the only real depoliticisation would be privatisation of the national media outlet.
Tino Mamić, Editor-in-Chief of the weekly Domovina and Vice-President of the Association of Journalists and Publicists (ZNP), also commented on the situation, saying: “The government has carried out a brutal personnel purge at the national broadcaster RTVS. Just as Prime Minister Robert Golob promised after his election, they first changed the law and then replaced the entire management of the state media outlet. Media freedom has fallen below the level of the last years of communism, with more censorship and self-censorship at RTVS today than in 1988. There is fear among journalists. If the Council, or any other assembly body, decides on something unanimously, this is highly unusual. But if political parties are cheering the decision of the RTVS management, all alarm bells should be ringing. I expect that politicians will also inform the competent international institutions, especially the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, about this violation of the constitutional category of freedom of speech.”
We have also asked the Slovene Association of Journalists (DNS) for a comment on the politicians’ gloating over the personnel purges at the public broadcaster RTVS. When we receive a response, we will publish it.
Ž. N.
