By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
Well, the “depoliticisation” of public broadcasting is proceeding more than successfully. After the ruling authorities, through a law hastily adopted, changed its governance structure, and filled the new management bodies with loyal and ideologically aligned personnel, they promptly appointed leadership that, in turn, selected appropriate editors.
They have cleansed the programme of “inappropriate” shows, while bringing back the deserving personnel with their shows – for example, Marcel “damn-more-of-us” Štefančič with his show Marcel. In the process, they had to get rid of those whom Marcel labelled as a negligible minority. They disabled their work (or euphemistically put, “put them on standby”), denied them access to workspaces, and, to top it off, drastically reduced their salaries. This seems to be an attempt to force them to leave on their own. Well, some have already done so.
This “normalisation” of conditions is already evident in programme content and reporting style. It is returning to old tracks. If the previously criticised leadership ensured at least a bit more political and ideological pluralism, it is now quickly disappearing. We are again dealing with the dominance of orthodoxy, which is more or less on the same wavelength as left-wing politics. Finding guests in shows who openly oppose its “canon” is becoming increasingly rare. They also ignore or report only incidentally on public events organised by the “unreal”, while closely monitoring non-governmental organisations close to the ruling politics. They even go so far as to invite a failed director and leader of the former Friday cycling protests to shows dedicated to solving healthcare problems. This is nothing more than the promotion of amateurism (if it has the right political colour).
THOSE WHO ARE ON THE CORRECT SIDE ENJOY UNCONDITIONAL PROTECTION. A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THIS WAS THE DEFENCE OF THE “IMAGE AND WORK” OF JOURNALISM LECTURER MARKO MILOSAVLJEVIĆ IN ONE OF THE MAIN NEWS PROGRAMMES OF THE NATIONAL TELEVISION. HE PORTRAYS HIMSELF AS AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA EXPERT YET HIS VIEWS ARE CONSISTENTLY ALIGNED WITH THE LEFT POLITICAL OPTION.
Those on the correct side receive unconditional protection. A typical example of this was the defence of the “image and work” of journalism lecturer Marko Milosavljević in one of the main news programmes of the national television. He presents himself as an independent media expert (as portrayed by dominant media, practically seeing him as an unquestionable authority in this field), yet his views are consistently aligned with the left political option. For this purpose, he has openly misled not only the Slovenian public but even the European public. For instance, in the European Parliament, he claimed that under the previous government, they prematurely removed the Director-General of RTV Slovenia, Igor Kadunc, even though his term had naturally expired. Now, for Radio Voice of America, he stated that some journalists in that institution during the previous leadership were hired based on political criteria and engaged in programmes favourable to the then Janez Janša government. He did not substantiate this claim, provoking sharp reactions from those it targeted, including former television director Valentin Areh.
In one of the broadcasts, they aired a report on the condemnation of “attacks” on the mentioned lecturer. However, the style of the report was distinctly manipulative. Normally, they should have first presented the content of the accusations and then the reactions of Milosavljević’s supporters. However, the critics did not get a word; only apologetic statements from his ideological allies were presented. Among them was the “depoliticised” leadership of the national television. Instead of defending the attacked journalists, it took the side of the one who attacked them. In doing so, it took an absurd stance. For them, accusing their journalists – without any substantiated evidence – is not an “attack on RTV Slovenia”, but accusing the one who accuses them is an “attack on RTV Slovenia”.
“Our side” apparently needs to be defended at all costs, even if truth is trampled upon and common sense is disregarded. All of this is the price of “depoliticisation” in the style of “the rule of freedom”.