By: e-maribor
Mojca Pašek Šetinc, one of the most recognisable faces of the public media outlet RTV, a highly professional, objective and independent journalist, became an MP of the left-wing Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) on Wednesday. In actuality, she was not independent before, and she is not independent now, because she was always involved in politics, SDS MP Žan Mahnič said to her, while Pašek Šetinc just smiled, as she was visibly embarrassed.
After the deputies of the SDS party submitted a proposal for a consultative referendum on the amendments to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Act, they have now submitted another proposal for the amendments to be made in the Radio-Television Slovenia Act. This is one of the two proposals for amendments to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act that have been submitted by the SDS party. With the submission of the proposals, they were faster than the parties of the future coalition, meaning the Freedom Movement, the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and the Left party (Levica), which also submitted their proposal for the amendments to the said law to the National Assembly.
According to the Freedom Movement, the purpose of their amendments is to depoliticise the public RTV Slovenia, as they want to reduce the influence of politics on the appointment of members of the Programme Council. The National Assembly could only appoint two members from now on, instead of the current 21. This sounds nice, but is it actually true? It is interesting that the amendment to the law was submitted by a party, of which Mojca Šetinc Pašek, now a former journalist of the news programme on RTV, is also a member. How can RTV be independent if the former journalists of the national media outlet are now members of parliament?
Žan Mahnič faced Mojca Šetinc Pašek with the truth
Slovenian Democratic Party MP Žan Mahnič told Mojca Šetinc Pašek that it is clear from the fact that the most well-known faces from the “independent” Radio-Television Slovenia are now members of several political parties that this is not, in fact, an independent institution. He also pointed out that they will not find any former RTV journalists in the SDS party, as there are “so fucking few” right-wing people at RTV, borrowing the infamous words of Marcel Štefančič. This, therefore, clearly shows that this independent institution is not all that independent and that Šetinc Pašek never was independent and never will be, as she is a politician who is now a member of parliament. Mahnič also pointed out that it is clear from old recordings of television shows that Šetinc Pašek was, in fact, never independent, and reminded everyone that lots of people who were appointed to high positions at RTV got there because of her husband, Mile Šetinc.