By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv
Even though the majority of Slovenian media are in favour of the left, some people obviously cannot bear the fact that there are also some who dare to show the other side as well. This is definitely true for a stranger who decided to vandalise the car of our media outlet, Nova24TV, which was parked in front of the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana. Is this the form of depoliticisation of the media which has been announced by the new government?
While the television crew of our media outlet was covering one of the events in the Presidential Palace, someone threw an egg at the official car of Nova24TV. It will be very interesting to see what the reactions of the leading politicians of the left will be when it comes to this attack on the media, as they made promises about a more tolerant society before the elections.
This event clearly demonstrates the much-lauded “tolerance” that the new government was supposed to bring about. However, since the announcements of revanchism were made even before the official beginning of the new government’s mandate, it is not surprising that people (or, more specifically, the supporters of the new left-wing government) are following this example. Namely, the President of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) and new Prime Minister, Robert Golob, recently said that the time had come to remove such media outlets as Nova24TV from the public space because apparently, this would also eradicate hatred. What they actually want to achieve, though, is going after anyone who dares to point out the irregularities of the chosen ones of the deep state.
In October 2015, the Nova24TV portal started operating, and shortly after that, the television channel followed, which brought a breath of fresh air to our media and political space. By talking about topics that the others “coincidentally” did not touch on, the media outlet gave citizens the opportunity to not always hear just one side of the story but also the other side, making it easier for them to form their own opinions. However, since the deep state cannot influence the editorial policy of Nova24TV, our media outlet is often the target of attacks by those who consider themselves to be the most tolerant, even though they are actually the most intolerant.
This is not an isolated case
What happened to our car is far from being the first form of attack. In the past, granite cubes were thrown at the building and the sign of Nova24TV, and the sign in question has been smashed more than once before. The protesters who are responsible for Golob’s victory have also shown what their conduct is like when it comes to those who think differently from them. Namely, one of them spat into our camera when we were reporting from the protests, and rapper Zlatan Čordić even wanted to take away our cameraman’s camera.
In November last year, the leader of the left-wing protests, Jaša Jenull, the son of the Supreme State Prosecutor, vandalised the official car of Nova24TV’s journalistic team – he put the protesters’ stickers on it, while the POP TV crew recorded the whole thing. And before him, others put stickers on our car as well.
With the Freedom Movement taking over the power, we cannot really expect the intolerance against our television to be sanctioned, as this is not in the interest of the ruling party. Everything is tolerated, as long as it is directed against those who are not “theirs.” This logic is also firmly supported by the government’s recent decision to amnesty the offences and fines imposed on Friday’s protesters during the previous government’s term.