By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
As expected, debates about the endangerment of the media have flared up again. This happens every time a government is formed with the “wrong” political sign. We witnessed this during the first, second, and third governments of Janez Janša, and it is clearly happening now as well, during his fourth government. It is enough for criticism of the reporting of mainstream media to appear within a political circle that most journalists are not close to, and the latter immediately begin to express shock over how threatened media freedom supposedly is. And those who deserve criticism the most are usually the loudest.
Recently, the national television broadcast a round‑table with a very telling title: “Are the media once again a target of politics?” This programme clearly demonstrated the mindset within Slovenia’s mainstream media. And it showed everything that is wrong with them.
Already from the selection of guests, one could conclude in which direction the discussion would go. There was no trace of pluralism. It consisted of three “orthodox” journalists and a host who all “played the same tune” the entire time and eagerly nodded to one another. For them, journalistic reporting is more or less entirely fine. If mistakes happen, they occur for objective reasons. Whatever is bad in the media space is thanks to the “rogue” media and journalists – who, in their view, do not deserve that name. These are – you guessed it – the media that are not on their wavelength, that promote “wrong” ideas and support the “wrong” politics. But the main culprit for the problems the media face is politics, which supposedly pressures the media. However, not just any politics, but precisely the wrong one. The reference is, of course, to the right‑wing pole of Slovenian politics, which after several years has once again formed a government. Hence the word “again” in the title of the programme. During left‑wing governments, there is apparently never any need to alarm the public about such pressures.
But does left‑wing politics actually interfere less in the media? This certainly did not apply to Golob’s government. On the contrary, it completely subordinated the public broadcaster on the basis of a new law, appointing its loyalists to all decision‑making positions in the institution. They then set about purging those journalists and editors who were, in their view, close to the previous government. Some of them were driven out of their jobs. But this did not interest the self‑declared fighters for press freedom. They did not make a single gesture to defend their colleagues. In addition, the previous ruling coalition clearly abused the instrument of parliamentary inquiry to harass and obstruct the work of those media allegedly connected to the right‑wing option. Again, there was no reaction from the media moralists. Rogue media deserve such treatment, do they not?
Slovenian media are characterised by extreme selectivity in reporting on politically relevant events and in evaluating the actions of political actors – depending on their political colour. The bias of most mainstream media in favour of the left option has been present throughout the post‑independence period, reaching its peak during Golob’s government, when double standards were particularly evident. These media, which proclaim themselves “guardians of democracy” because they are supposedly indispensable for overseeing those in power, did not “look under the fingers” of key representatives of the left‑wing ruling cadre. They did not investigate Golob’s questionable private dealings, such as the obvious conflict of interest when, as prime minister, he owned a company that did business with the state, nor his actions at the helm of Gen‑I, such as the account in Romania (the explanation about “identity theft” is a fairy tale for children) or the transfer of a large sum to a certain journalist who then – purely coincidentally – became his main political operative. Not to mention the majority ignoring of the misdeeds of Ljubljana’s mayor Janković. Such media certainly do not fulfil a democratic mission.
