Thousands of individuals took to the streets in Slovakia last Friday, voicing their opposition to a governmental proposal poised to dissolve the state-funded media organization, Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS). The critics of the proposed plan interpret it as a show of rising totalitarian and Russian influence over the nation’s government.
Under the new proposal, Slovak Television and Radio (STaR) would be established, offering the ruling coalition the power to dismiss the director of the newly formulated media organization. Slovakia’s Minister of Culture, Martina Šimkovičová, proposed the controversial plan following a period of heavy criticism towards RTVS, citing an alleged bias on the part of the media outlet against the ruling coalition. The accused RTVS staff members defended their positioning, maintaining that RTVS continues to champion Slovakian culture throughout its programming, free of any political bias.
However, global press freedom advocate, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), has presented claims suggesting that the proposed changes would contravene Article 5 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). The act specifies that directors of public media organizations can only be dismissed prematurely under exceptional cases where they are no longer fulfilling their nationally predefined legal obligations, or in situations of illegal conduct or serious misconduct.
The plan has also triggered backlash from Slovakia’s opposition political parties, Progressive Slovakia (PS) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (SaS). The main concern raised is over the potential risk of misinformation spread and bias towards the ruling coalition and the sitting Prime Minister Robert Fico.
This story was originally covered by JURIST – News.