The new legislation, pushed for by PM Robert Fico’s ruling party, SMER, will disband the public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with an entirely new public TV and radio station.
Slovakia’s opposition parties have accused the government of attempting to restrict media freedom after a new law came into force which would give parliament more control over public broadcasting.
The new legislation, pushed for by PM Robert Fico’s ruling party, SMER, will create a new Slovak Television and Radio station, which will replace RTVS and dismiss the broadcaster’s current director, Lubosz Machaj.
The Slovakian government will then elect a new director selected by a council whose nine members will be nominated by the Culture Ministry and parliament. Machaj still has a parliamentary mandate until 2027.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital, Bratislava, in protest rallies organised by the major opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party and others against the plan.
PS representative MEP Zora Jaurová said it’s not just public media that’s affected. The government is also taking steps against private media.
“We also can see that the private owners of the media are being blackmailed by the government in order to create a different approach to, for example, political debates”, said Jaurová.
‘Resisting censorship’
The legislation has also been widely criticised by local journalists, the opposition, international media organizations and the European Union.
Journalist Ivan Brada, who is also a board member of the Slovak section of the European Federation of Journalists and took part in last month’s strikes, said he’s concerned that Slovakia is on the same path as Hungary.
“Fortunately, we are not yet where our Hungarian colleagues are, where the public media is fully controlled by the government, but we are moving in that direction. That’s why we wear badges, to show that we are resisting censorship”, Brada said.
The chairman of parliament’s culture and media committee defended the new law, telling Euronews RTVS was an “activist TV” and claiming its editors were not politically neutral.
