By: Sara Bertoncelj / Nova24tv
The president of the Gibanje Svoboda party, Robert Golob, surprised many with his statement that he will not create a Twitter account – today there are practically no politicians who would not use the social network as a channel for the most direct communication. But on the other hand, his decision does not surprise some: “If a politician has the media, he does not need Twitter,” said the former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Dr Žiga Turk.
“I will not have a Twitter profile because I would like to avoid the temptation of quick fingers. This will be a small step for democracy, but I believe it will be a big one for Slovenia,” said Robert Golob, president of the Gibanje Svoboda party, and surprised many with his statement. Not only because he studied at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, but also because practically every politician who counts something nowadays also has a Twitter profile through which he can communicate important news as quickly as possible. “In the virtual world of Mediana and Ninamedia, this is possible, but not in the real-world of government and Europe. All EU Presidents and EU Prime Ministers have a Twitter account. Being without it today is the same as being illiterate in the past. The role model Janković also says that he does not use a computer,” commented Prime Minister Janez Janša, who uses Twitter regularly, which some also reproach him of.
But on the other hand, Golob’s decision is not surprising: “If a politician has the media, he does not need Twitter. If he does not have them, he can only pass on his opinion quickly and without falsification and manipulation to the public via Twitter,” explained Dr Žiga Turk, who is a kind of pioneer among the users of this social network. And if we only remember how passionately the host of the show Marcel Štefančič stood up for Golob – he directly shouted that they would have Golob, even if someone “forbids” him – it is quite clear that the president of the Gibanje Svoboda party has media – and that the most influential. From the very beginning, Golob has been making only controlled statements to the public. After he said that he would not take part in the pre-election confrontations on Planet, it turned out that the schedule of confrontations on RTV had been arranged in such a way that he would elegantly avoid certain interlocutors – the official reason was that the Gibanje Svoboda is a non-parliamentary party.
The EU Council posted on Twitter a list of European leaders that the public can follow on social media. Among them we find names such as Petr Fiala, Sanna Marin, Charles Michel, Karl Nehammer, Xavier Bettel, and of course Janez Janša. Golob will obviously not be on this list, but the Twitter profile was created by the Gibanje Svoboda, which was as such inviting to visit the round table on the rule of law.
Nataša Pirc Musar, Peter Čeferin, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, Peter Premk, and Lucija Tacer spoke about the rule of law on the day when journalist Bojan Požar was threatened with detention, which could last up to 30 days, i.e., the entire pre-election period. And that is only because he was absent from the high court hearing – although his participation was not even mandatory. “If this happens, it is a reckless attack on media freedom. Apparently, the deep state, with the help of its judicial exponents, is trying to disable a journalist who is a thorn in the side of the left at the beginning of the election campaign,” commented Matevž Tomšič, president of the Association of Journalists and Publicists (ZNP). While other journalists’ unions and ardent fighters for media freedom and the rule of law remained eloquently silent.