By: Pavel Gorenčič
There seems to be no end to the burlesques regarding the never to be prime minister Karl Erjavec, but some sources warn that this may just be a distraction trick, as KUL or the “burek-coalition”, as it is called by some commentators as a link between the four parties and the “trailer” DeSUS party, is preparing the ground for “securing the independence of the public institution RTV Slovenia” in the background. Or to put it politically incorrectly: KUL is paving the way for the politically “blessed” successor of the director general of RTVS Igor Kadunc, whose term expires in April this year and is supposed to run for office again, but will obviously remain without support.
For some time now, information has been circulating that the SD party is trying to force the current director of TV Slovenia, Natalija Gorščak, into Kadunc’s position, and an agreement on this was reached at a meeting just before the new year, on December 30th, 2020 at the SD headquarters, which the Požareport portal also reported yesterday. SD president Tanja Fajon, SD general secretary Dejan Levanič and Gorščak supposedly met there, and RTVS programme council president Ciril Baškovič, who is also a prominent SD member “purely by chance”, was also expected to attend the meeting. And already the third president of the (programme) council so far, who has a membership card of the legal successor of the Communist Party. Let us remember: in the past, this body was headed by Jernej Pikalo (who was also a minister) and before him the now deceased Janez Kocijančič. Baškovič, a political scientist and former state secretary for culture, also happened to be a member of the ZKS Central Committee in the past (ZKS = League of Communists of Slovenia).
For Gorščak, in fact, no one knows how she even made her way to the high position of TVS director, as she was practically unknown to the public until then, she was otherwise the programme director of Kanal A. According to the Požareport portal, edited by Bojan Požar, Gorščak at Fajon (who was once a journalist on TVS and even a correspondent from Brussels, but is also connected to RTV with family) “obviously made good use of her recent personal programme intervention, when she made sure that – in November last year – an extremely unusual inscription was shown on the screen between the well-known documentary (as a production of the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence) on the 30th anniversary of the independence events in Poljče, where the decision on the plebiscite was made. The inscription said that this show “does not express the opinion of Television Slovenia”, otherwise they consider Gorščak inside the RTV Slovenia building at Kolodvorska 2-4 to be even more politically inclined than Kadunc, but also covertly quite characteristically corrupt and terribly gossipy.”
Of course, the question arises as to why the KUL members should choose Gorščak for the highest position on RTVS. Of course, first with the intention of maintaining the status quo on RTVS and continuing the practice carried out by national television, and the latter did another almost cliché favour to the transitional left in the show Politično with Tanja Gobec last Sunday, when Karl Erjavec was a guest. Almost certainly Kadunc will not get another term, considering that in the last term he twice remained in office by a whisker, given the obvious no-confidence from the RTVS. Gorščak, on the other hand, seems to be well acquainted with the internal structure of RTV and is relatively “immaculate” on the outside, but the whole process would of course be carried out in such a way that it will seem that politics has nothing to do with her appointment. As is well known, KUL has been pointing fingers at the government and the government coalition from the very beginning, claiming that the latter is undermining media freedom and interfering with the autonomy of the public institution RTVS. But given the behind-the-scenes political developments, such accusations are very serious.
According to Požareport, everything now depends on the members of the programme council from the SMC. If they are consistent and vote for Andrej Grah Whatmough, otherwise the chairman of the RTVS supervisory board, who also comes from the SMC quota, then the scenario with Gorščak could go wrong. But given the latest bribery, you never know.
Now, pay attention – namely, last week we sent Gorščak a question about whether she really attended the meeting on December 30th at the SD headquarters, but we did not receive an answer. Therefore, we tried again with a journalistic question, which we addressed to the public relations service on RTV Slovenia, and asked whether Baškovič also attended the meeting. The answer came surprisingly quickly, within a few hours. The Secretariat of the Programme Council responded to our inquiry: “The President of the Programme Council, Ciril Baškovič, was not present at the meeting at the SD headquarters on December 30th, 2020, and therefore does not know who attended it and what it was intended for.” So, denial at any cost. Gorščak’s answer, which was sent to us by the public relations service, was a bit more picturesque – she replied that she was on holiday that day. Which is supposed to mean that if she really circled around Moskovič’s villa that afternoon, she was doing so entirely privately and not in her capacity as TVS director. If of course you believe that. However, all those who know that the meeting really happened can only giggle at such answers…