By: Gal Kovač (Nova24tv)
When our media outlet was created seven years ago, it brought the end of the media single-mindedness. We celebrated our seventh anniversary in Stična this weekend, together with our most loyal supporters. The event took place in a wonderful atmosphere, accompanied by the music of the “Juhu” ensemble.
The tone of the event was set by the patriotic performance of the National Anthem and a prayer for our homeland. The prayer was called for by the priest Branko Petauer, a Cistercian and monk from Stična. The audience was then welcomed by the Vice-Mayor of Ivančna Gorica, Tomaž Smole. He stressed that Nova24TV brings hope to Slovenians that one day, things will be better, it brings information that others want to keep hidden, and therefore, the public knows many things that they would otherwise never know.
This was followed by a musical performance, and then by the screening of an article (prepared specifically for this occasion), which showed those gathered at the event the seven-year journey that our media outlet has taken. Nova24TV was the first media outlet in Slovenia to embark on a media project modelled on those of the big news outlets abroad. Our main goal was to report what others do not report on and to present the other side of the coin. Both of these things were undeniably missing from our media space, dominated by the interests and thoughts of the left-wing political community.
Aleksander Rant, the editor-in-chief of Nova24TV, said in his article that our television station reports on events as they happened, Boris Tomašič, the Director of the media company, commented that Nova24TV belongs to all those who want freedom, and Jože Biščak said that Slovenia needed a media outlet with a conservative orientation, which the left is now afraid of, and what is more, they have set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry in parliament in order to silence our media outlet. “They said that this is nothing but a fad that will be very short-lived; that this television will come into being and die, and nothing good will come out of it. We were created, but we have not died; we are still developing, we are getting better every day, and we have more and more viewers every day,” said Tomasič, adding that at Nova24TV, “we ourselves determine what is important and what is not.”
Tomašič described the early days of the media house, the cramped quarters on the fourth floor of an office building, and the first days of reporting, which were sometimes awkward. “I look back on our journey with enthusiasm,” Tomašič said in the piece.
We are special because we are being persecuted
Rant and Tomašič then talked about what makes our media outlet special – it is the fact that we are a media outlet that is actively persecuted by the authorities. “It has been a difficult road, especially because of the pressure on my colleagues… We are one of the few media outlets that are persecuted by politics,” said Rant, while Tomasič said, “In no country in the world has there been a commission of inquiry set up by the authorities to investigate a media outlet that criticises them. This has only happened in Slovenia. We are used to living under pressure, to criticism of the authorities, and the abuse by public institutions. People know how to appreciate what we do, they continue to support us and help us. We will survive. We will develop even further, regardless of what the authorities do.”
Aleksander Rant’s speech followed: “We are celebrating our seven years because the politics in power is doing everything it can to prevent us from getting to eight years. They are full of complaints about Hungary, Poland, they are interfering with the freedom of the media a hundred times more than ever before, they are pressuring us a hundred times worse, and they are draining us financially a hundred times worse. We are still here, and we will continue to be here – because we know why we are here. We are here because of you, the viewers, because of your support.” Rant also thanked his colleagues for persevering in the face of turmoil – both staff-related and financial, in addition to all the slander and threats. He also specifically thanked Boris Tomasič, the Director of the television station.
Are the lives of the elderly any less valuable?
Tinkara Rant, the editor of the second programme of Nova24TV, then took the floor and said that the second programme of our television, which is dedicated to parliamentary content, often exceeds the viewership of the third programme of the public media outlet, Radio-Television Slovenia. “In the future, we would like to strengthen our staff, so that we can offer even more programming,” she said, thanking both Aleksandar Rant and Boris Tomašič, without whom she said the television station would have fallen apart long ago. She also touched on the left’s lie that only the elderly watch our media. She said that this was not true, and even if it were – the attacks of this kind coming from the left show that the elderly, with all their wealth of experience, are not respected in Slovenia.
Then the Director of the media outlet Boris Tomašič presented a special award to Bine Gegič, the head of the TV’s streaming department, who has been with us since the very beginning, and to the well-known television show host Aleksandra Jug, who also joined the team at the beginning of the operation and now hosts the show “Tema dneva” (Topic of the Day).
The winners of the “Demokracija” weekly’s competition were then drawn. The winners received various prizes, and the lucky ones received a year’s subscription. “When you become a Demokracija subscriber, you help make the Slovenian media space more plural and more balanced in terms of world views,” said Metod Berlec.
You don’t even realise the importance of the work you are doing
The keynote speech of the evening was given by Boris Tomasič. “I had a dream that we would set up a media project that would tear down the nasty, lying, evil government… I don’t know why, but it seems to me that the dream is coming true.” He then addressed the audience, “I don’t think you realise what a great job you are doing by being here today, supporting the only television project that can turn Slovenia into what we wanted in 1991.”
He recalled the times of Slovenia fighting for its independence, when our country was united, and compared those times with today, when we have rulers who have crawled to power through lies, exclusion and malice. He spoke about the fact that in Slovenia, the media space and the school space are stolen, which makes it difficult to change for the better.
“When we set up the Nova24TV project seven years ago, we set ourselves some goals. We wanted to survive, to be noticed, to be a media outlet that would mean something in this space. Today, we have forged special bonds with friends, who are actually our colleagues, and because of that, we can do things that no one else can. Thank you to our friends who are helping us to move the political space.”
He then reiterated the fact that Nova24TV is the target of direct political attacks by the authorities and asked rhetorically whether there is any other country in the world where the ruling coalition, through parliamentary commissions of inquiry, is investigating a media outlet that they claim is obscene.
Klakočar Župančič, Šetinc Pašek and Fajon did not respond
Tomašič then revealed that prominent representatives of the left, including the Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, the Chair of the Commission of Inquiry investigating our media, Mojca Šetinc Pašek, and President of the Social Democrats party (Socialni demokrati – SD), Tanja Fajon, had also been invited to the anniversary ceremony. “Let’s stay positive, these are our promoters, without Mojca Pašek Šetinc. She’s great, she’s amazing, I can’t wait for her to invite me to the commission of inquiry,” joked Tomasič, underlining the democratic character of our media, which does not silence dissenting ideas. “We want to create a society in which those who think differently can talk to each other in a normal way,” he said.