By:Gašper Blažič
“The RTV Slovenia does not humiliate or seek revenge against the Panorama team members,” reads the title of the press release published by RTV Slovenia on Friday, January 19th.
“With the new year, the public institution RTV Slovenia temporarily could not provide work for 15 employees, as stipulated by the Employment Contract, so they were temporarily put on temporary layoff and work from home. Their status is being regulated, and some have already received new employment contracts, placing them in new positions. We emphasise that the vast majority, even with the new contract, are employed in the same pay grade as they were before. We strongly reject allegations that RTV Slovenia is “humiliating” former Panorama collaborators or “taking revenge” on them with the new employment contracts,” they wrote among other things in the public institution’s statement. The entire statement is available HERE.
However, the developments show that the management of RTV Slovenia is blatantly lying. Namely, regarding contracts and payrolls, it has become clear that this is by no means true regarding the same pay grades. For example, Jaka Elikan, an experienced journalist to whom Jure Janković threatened with death, has fallen 14 grades lower, Ana Gajič and Tjaša Platovšek 12 grades lower, Marko Milenkovič two grades lower, as revealed by Bojan Požar.
Even the employees themselves have pointed out that the RTV management is telling lies:
The biggest humiliation was experienced by Dr Valentin Areh, whose new contract will reduce his salary by a whopping 17 pay grades! This means that the long-time war correspondent, Ph.D. holder, former acting director of TVS, former editor of Odmevi show, and the author of numerous documentary shows will have to work for a beginner’s salary (34th pay grade). In plain terms: they have degraded him to the level of an ordinary third-rate cuck. Perhaps this is not even a coincidence because Areh, ever since he produced a highly watched documentary film about the YPA (Dossier: YPA), has become the target of furious attacks by leftists. This was in 2016. They even tried to censor and delete the mentioned show from the online archive, but the public disclosure of these attempts prevented it.
The film is available here:
Attacks on him intensified when he became the acting director of TVS in 2021, as left-wing portals competed with each other to vilify him. Igor Mekina publicly called him a “reinforcer of right-wing stereotypes” on the Insajder portal.
It should be noted that Areh was not part of the staff working on the Panorama show. Nevertheless, he is labelled as a “Janšist”. Even though he has never publicly declared his political stance. However, for the new masters, it seems that anyone who does not publicly appear as a leftist surely has something to do with “Janšism”.
Regarding the new salary and personnel policy of the RTV management, specifically the director of administration Zvezdan Martič, the president of the RTVS Council Goran Forbici, the director of TVS Ksenija Horvat, and the editor of the news programme Polona Fijavž, Valentin Areh addressed himself. We publish his letter in its entirety:
Letter from Valentin Areh: They sent me a mean and cowardly contract!
Dear, I, Dr Valentin Areh, former acting director of TV Slovenia, inform you that the RTV management has sent me a decision via email that they no longer have work for me on public television. They have placed me on furlough. At the same time, they have prevented me from entering the workplace and accessing my personal belongings.
Apparently, the management is conducting a personnel purge even among those who did not work for the Panorama show. Despite having a Ph.D. and more than 33 years of journalistic and editorial experience, working for POP TV, TV Slovenia, Associated Press Television News, ZDF, CNN, and other major foreign media outlets, Director Ksenija Horvat claims that they no longer have work for me.
Unreachable for me is also the position of the editor of Dnevnik and Odmevi, which I have held for the past 15 years. This position is now easily entrusted to journalists without any editorial experience and with a high school education by Polona Fijavž, the responsible editor of the first news programme.
Today, the members of the management, Zvezdan Martič, Andrej Trček, and the workers’ director Franci Pavšer, sent me a mean and cowardly contract, demanding that I accept a salary 17 pay grades lower and start working as a beginner journalist. At the same time, I must renounce any lawsuit against RTV. No one has personally or in writing explained the reasons for the lower salary, job loss, and the ban on entering the television building.
Individual colleagues have simply told me: “Revenge is sweet!” They claim to have the support of constitutional courts, courts, media, unions, and politics. Unfortunately, they are not aware that tomorrow others may come who will treat them in exactly the same way as all those who carry out purges and silently agree with them. With this, the current management has driven the last nail into the coffin of RTV.
The RTV management, with the support of political activists among journalists, continues brutal purges of those journalists who did not want to politically align themselves. According to the principle: if you are not with us, you are against us! The RTV management is increasing pressure on individual editorial offices, journalists, and other programme creators, engaging in harassment, and interfering with journalistic work. Employees on Panorama are subjected to psychological violence, threats, and insults. There is no legal basis for threatening selected journalists with dismissal. This is an obvious and gross violation of labour law and legislation against those colleagues who insist on respecting programmatic and professional standards.
Despite this, labour inspectors remain silent. Despite violence, intimidation, and threats to journalists, the public has not witnessed protests from the RTV Workers’ Council, public sector unions, the Association of Journalists of Slovenia, RTV journalist unions, the Ministry of Culture, professional associations, and non-governmental organisations, which have regularly commented on events at RTV in the past. Everyone is silent. With this, they have allowed the management to become the first in the history of RTV to radically cut programmes, significantly reduce culture (even though RTV was once primarily a cultural institution), and unlawfully deprived its employees of entry to TV Slovenia and their jobs through an illegal decision.
Dr Valentin Areh, TV Slovenija