The tip has come for the general public media / Article of the state

July 1 was a black day within the historical past of the general public media, the top of the Slovak public broadcasting firm stated about today, when the media he managed was formally dissolved. The general public had quite a lot of belief within the media, however due to his criticism of the federal government, Prime Minister Robert Fico named him in opposition to the federal government and even accused him of complicity within the tried assassination of face

“Public tv and radio can’t be truthful if they’re preventing the Slovak authorities. They’re violating the human rights of Slovak residents to truthful info,” stated Fico.

The intention of the federal government to exchange the present head of the broadcasting firm, Luboš Mahaj, was felt for a very long time, however there was no cause for it, as he had a mandate from the parliament for a number of different years.

Nonetheless, an answer was discovered when the parliament accepted a legislation to fully dissolve the media and as a substitute create a brand new one, which might be nearly the identical or the identical, however by way of content material, one thing to fully totally different.

“For my part, the legislation has just one purpose – to take over unbiased public media and produce it below the management of the federal government,” stated Lubos Mahaj, former director normal of Slovak Public Tv.

And this step was taken regardless of the protests of the general public and media employees, the threats of the opposition to go to courtroom and in addition the complaints of the European Union. After the legislation was accepted in parliament, the opposition was nonetheless making an attempt to persuade President Peter Pellegrini to not signal the legislation, however such a step was not anticipated from Fico’s pal.

“What this legislation actually means is the creation of a brand new state tv, a medium of propaganda. Media that assist the federal government, whose representatives will probably be introduced in a greater mild, with out political opponents and context. Just like the Hungarian scenario. the federal government goes in opposition to European legal guidelines and it’s conscious of it,” stated Michal Šimečka, Slovakia’s opposition consultant.

The opposition has promised to attraction to the Constitutional Court docket, they usually have additionally proven that they’re prepared to attraction to European courts. Specialists additionally level out that the media analysis institute had not discovered any violations within the operation of the previous media, so this measure can solely be handled as a political motivation.

“There are not any indicators that the present political illustration is making an attempt to make Slovakia’s public media unbiased. “This proposal was accepted mainly with none actual cause. [..] And if the politicians of the governing coalition are already indicating which journalists they want there, which of them they’d not like, this confirms their efforts to regulate tv. So make it a state medium, not a public medium anymore.”

This isn’t solely the tip of the general public media, however a risk to unbiased journalism as an entire, Slovak journalists are satisfied, indicating that the federal government is placing strain on the non-public media as properly.

So Slovakia has change into one other drawback little one of the European Union and never solely due to the media, but additionally due to the authorized reforms that weaken the combat in opposition to corruption.

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