The purges at the national media outlet Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS) continue, even before the appointment of regular editors has taken place. Following the appointment of the new RTV Management under the leadership of Zvezdan Martič, preparations have started for the appointment of the directors of Television Slovenia and the National Radio, with the first appointment being that of the Acting Director of TV Slovenia, Andraž Pöschl, who until now headed the culture editorial office at the national broadcaster. But the main target of purges was the news programme.
Apparently, the “children’s counting rhyme” recited by Simon Kardum, a member of the Management Board, at one of the meetings of the Council of RTV Slovenia not long ago, is now coming true. On the 19th of September, Jadranka Rebernik, editor of the TVS news programme, resigned – apparently after severe pressure. Martič’s administration had, about a week before, started checking whether the editor in charge of the programme was fulfilling her duties, following a call from the members of the institution’s workers council – those who, according to Marcel Stefančič‘s diction, “there are f*cking more” of them. Rebernik was appointed in 2021, after Manica Janežič Ambrožič resigned. Well, with the new management, the part of the RTV staff that struck before the former’s appointment, has apparently been given new flight – especially the members of the journalists’ activists (who are, of course, part of the regime’s Slovene Association of Journalists – DNS), who have been stressing all along that the situation under the previous management was unsustainable, mainly because of the allegedly incompetent management. At the same time, they called on the management to investigate and answer their question of whether the news programme of the 1st Television Slovenia programme is still functioning in such a way that it is able to perform its legal and statutory duties, and whether such duties are also being performed by the editor-in-chief Jadranka Rebernik.
When the Berlin Wall comes down on both sides
The pressure then took its toll: Rebernik resigned and was replaced by former Berlin correspondent Polona Fijavž, who is now Acting Editor-in-Chief, but apparently with enough authority to comply with the directive of the “Ministry of Truth” (first introduced by Orwell). Polona Fijavž made history as TV Slovenia’s Berlin correspondent, with years of experience, but above all, with her political activism. Let’s look at an example: in February 2019, Fijavž tweeted that “the German government is setting up a state investment fund to prevent foreign takeovers of major German companies. So, they are engaging in protectionism. They surely know why.”
Well, it should be noted that the German government at the time was still headed by Angela Merkel (CDU). Of course, the correspondent missed the point that the German government only wanted to prevent China from strengthening its economy at the expense of the German economy, and it was not at all about establishing a kind of state capitalism, as we are used to in Slovenia, which would then be justified by the ‘guardians of the grail’, because that is what Germany does, too. Of course, this is just one of the slips – Fijavž’s emphasis was on topics that would otherwise belong in the left-wing weekly Mladina – for example, support for multiculturalism (that they are building housing for “refugees” in Berlin), the scaremongering about the far right, a conversation with a former BBC journalist about his book “How to Stop Fascism”, etc. It is, therefore, not surprising that last week, Mladina wrote an article filled with praise for the new masters at RTVS, saying that they are finally bringing normality and professional journalism back to the public institution. Apparently, they are also looking forward to the imminent return of the man who said that there are “f*cking more of them at RTV” and his show. They are not too interested in the fact that an autocratic purge in the style of Vladimir Putin or, in the past, Slobodan Milošević is taking place at RTV Slovenia. Nor do they seem to care about the bizarre change in the rules of procedure, which has ensured that Zvezdan Martič can decide on virtually everything with the help of just one other member of the Management Board.
Shows for “vetted” staff only
The effect of the “new broom” in the news programme has been very rapid. The first to feel the censor’s intervention was Luka Svetina, until now the presenter of the show Odmevi (Echoes), but others followed soon, as Fijavž, who in 2007 was also a signatory of the notorious petition against censorship, also removed Vida Petrovčič, Jaka Elikan, Igor Pirkovič, and even Nejc Krevs and Valentina Plaskan. The latter two stand out because they come from the circle of the late Sašo Hribar – Nejc Krevs is even his relative, but this did not help them. The public went wild, especially after Požareport reported that Valentina Plaskan had to be taken to the hospital because of a sudden deterioration in her health. It turned out that this was the result of mobbing and very stressful communication, in which Helena Milinković, who at the time of the strike was the leader of those who “there are f*cking more of”, apparently played the main role.
And since the RTVS management is aware that attack is the best defence, this was followed by a predictable response from Polona Fijavž in the media outlet Slovenske novice (Slovenian News), saying that in the pool of people who want to be the presenters of the shows Dnevnik and Odmevi, she has chosen those who really have a lot of professional experience in presenting and who have also proven themselves as journalists in the past years. “At a public service broadcaster, we build our news programmes on journalistic credibility. I also believe that we cannot have 15 faces of the news programme, but four for Dnevnik and three for Odmevi are enough, especially since there is a lack of journalists. And from among these people, together with the editorial team, I have chosen the best.” Well, that is what Fijavž told the media, but behind the scenes, things are supposedly very different – allegedly, she was heard saying that urgent changes are needed, which must also be seen on the screen, and that’s why Odmevi and Dnevnik will be staffed exclusively by “proven personnel”.
Well, what is most striking about the interim first lady of the news programme is the fact that she is now declaring herself to be the victim of severe pressure and threats, even to the point of filing a police report. She did not mention who threatened her, but apparently, there is a hint that can be detected between the lines that there is a “Trump syndrome” going on at RTVS and that, according to her, the supporters of the largest opposition party are trying to defend their positions, while Polona Fijavž and her team are supposedly finally “normalising” the supposedly politicised national television (well, that’s also the opinion of the journalists’ activists’ group, which is, of course, a branch of the regime’s Slovene Association of Journalists).
Management lied at a press conference
The way the current RTVS management is engaged in a pattern of mimicry, where they are the victims and others are the attackers, is also shown by the way they tried to manipulate the outcome of the vote on the support of the editorial board of the news programme led by Fijavž, with some mainstream media proclaiming that she had received “plebiscitary support” (59 out of 60 members of the collective), but in reality the vast majority of the collective did not vote at all (there are a total of 143 voting members of the news programme, which means that more than half of them did not vote at all). The mimicry syndrome was even more evident on Monday, the 2nd of October, at a hastily called press conference of the RTVS Management, where the allegedly poor financial situation of the public institution was shown and, of course, blamed on the previous management. Well, the former Director-General of RTVS, Andrej Grah Whatmough, hit right back at the current Chairman of the Board, Zvezdan Martič, who at the press conference lied to the public, saying that they had to break into Grah’s former office; that there was no handover, etc. Well, Grah Whatmough nicely explained who had the keys to the office and that there was no reason for the commission to break into the office in the first place. But the main thing is that they are now trying to hang a huge financial loss on the old management, even though the public body made a positive profit for the first time last year.
In short, the Orwellian scenario of the creation of a new “Ministry of Truth” is clearly coming true, and the “vanguard” in power wants to do everything possible to make the former leadership and all of the journalists who are not of the same political belief as them hated by the people.
The Slovene Association of Journalists and Publicists: A call for the RTVS management to restore the rule of law
“The Slovene Association of Journalists and Publicists (ZNP) is calling on the management of Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS) and the Acting Director of Television Slovenija (TVS), Andraz Pöschl, to restore the legal situation in the editorial office of the news programme of the 1st programme of Television Slovenia, where Polona Fijavž has been appointed Acting Editor-in-Chief. The management did not obtain the necessary majority approval of the programme staff in the editorial office for her appointment, which makes the appointment illegal.
The Director of TV Slovenia, following pressure on the previous Acting Editor-in-Chief, Jadranka Rebernik, and her subsequent resignation, appointed Polona Fijavž as her successor, without first obtaining the opinion of the editorial board, which is required by law. The illegality was then resolved by the editorial board subsequently conducting a vote of the programme staff on Fijavž, but even then, the necessary majority consent of the staff was not obtained.
Article 21b of the Radio-Television Slovenia Act stipulates that in order to appoint editors-in-chief, directors must obtain the favourable opinion of a majority of the programme staff in the editorial department for which the candidate is proposed. If the Director does not obtain a positive opinion, the Management Board must obtain the approval of the Council for the appointment of such a candidate. In this case, the editorial board shall also have the right to propose its own candidate for editor-in-chief to the Board for its approval.
The right to vote on the suitability of Fijavž is held by 134 programme staff in the TV Slovenia 1 news programme. Out of those, 60 voted, of whom 59 supported Fijavž. That number does not represent the necessary majority (68 employees) of programme staff in the editorial office required by law.
In view of this, the appointment of Fijavž is still illegal, and we, therefore, call on the Director of TVS to restore the legal situation in the news programme – either by appointing another candidate instead of Fijavževa, who will have the support of the majority of the programme staff or by following the procedure laid down by the law in cases where the candidate does not have the necessary consent of the staff; i.e. the Management Board should obtain the consent of the Institution’s Council for the appointment of Fijavževa.
The Association of Journalists and Publicists’ Management Board on the 2nd of October 2023″
Did Matej Tonin shed crocodile tears?
Last week, the President of the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi), Matej Tonin, posted a rather harsh message on the social network X about the developments at RTVS, saying that we have never seen such a harsh political intervention in the media and the public RTV. “They are not just changing the management of RTV or the programming scheme, as has happened in the past. This time, in addition to all that, they are also removing all those who were promoted during the period of a government that was not ‘ours’. Their expertise, professionalism and achievements do not count. This sets a dangerous precedent that any government in the future can appoint only ‘our’ journalists and brutally deal with the others. The mission of a public institution is professional reporting and the balanced presentation of different opinions, not the concern for ideological orthodoxy. When politics starts installing ‘our’ judges instead of honest and professional ones, the rule of law is over. When politics starts appointing ‘our’ journalists instead of professional and objective ones, it is the beginning of the end of democracy,” he wrote, which apparently irritated the former TV Slovenia Director Natalia Gorščak, who wants to return to her previous post. But as it turns out, Tonin’s intervention was just, as it is called in journalism, “damage control” caused by Ljudmila Novak after she decided not to work together with the other Slovenian MEPs from the European People’s Party in holding the European Commission accountable for what was happening at RTVS. Well, either way, it is bizarre that the NSi party is now negotiating extensively with the ruling coalition for constitutional changes – to such an extent that even the young MP of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), Lucija Tacer, accidentally “let the truth slip out” at one of the Constitutional Commission sessions last week, when she virtually declared the NSi party a coalition partner.
Gašper Blažič
