Every Friday we witness how the public RTV Slovenia reports on anti-government protests – they did not even forget to report about the bizarre protest at the gas station and the miniature rally of climate protesters, which took place a week ago. However, apparently it is impossible to expect from the national broadcasting company, whose activities are financed by all Slovenian households, to dedicate a few minutes in Dnevnik (evening news) to the March for Life 2020, where despite the gloomy weather and heavy rain, about 500 people gathered. They do not seem to have the same problem when they need to report on the Pride Parade.
On Friday, in Dnevnik’s segment on the topic of Friday’s anti-government protesters, a journalist reported from the field, which indicates that RTV Slovenia considers the protests very important. They did not forget to mention that this was the 24th consecutive anti-government protest, which was – this Friday – dedicated to healthcare. “The protesters believe that the government of Janez Janša is to blame for the catastrophic situation in the healthcare and not the current COVID-19 pandemic. The protesters believe that the government wants to destroy public healthcare, i.e. privatise it and fill its own pockets with money,” protesters said.
A group of pro-life advocates gathered in Ljubljana on Saturday. As a group they try to persuade pregnant women to not have abortions, wish to offer support to mothers and ensure the right to mourn to all of those women who have had an abortion is recognised. The organisers of the march presented a Declaration for Life, which advocates for the protection of human life from conception to natural death. They emphasised that the right to life is a fundamental right protected by the Slovenian Constitution, which does not distinguish between born and unborn children. Obviously, this does not seem important enough to RTV Slovenia to mention it, even with a single word, during Dnevnik.
If one might think that RTV Slovenia decided not to report on the event because fewer people gathered at the rally than at the anti-government protests, where turnout is also constantly declining, it is worth noting that the number of gathered people did not bother them in the case of a bizarre protest at a gas station and a miniature rally of climate protesters. In fact, in the case of the protest at the gas station it was obvious that only a handful of people participated in the rally, even though the mainstream media, in coordination with the opponents of the government, attempted to create an impression that many oppose the government. Social networks have shown that this was not the case.
People are noticing that reporting is not impartial
Citizens who regularly watch RTV are increasingly dissatisfied with their selective reporting. Comments appeared on social networks saying: “RTV SLO reports on Friday’s protests every week, they reported about a bizarre protest at the petrol station and a small rally for ecology, as well as about every pride parade, yet nothing about today’s gathering of about 500 people. Balanced and impartial “my ass”; “If they were to report about this rally, and I don’t agree with any of the protests, they should also report on the primitives who attacked them. But they are not allowed to do that”; “Completely impartial in the service of people!”; “They are horrible… biased. Declared. Provable! ”; “I don’t know why people are surprised … they clearly and loudly stated that RTV is theirs… thus it is logical that they will only report about their protests and not about those of their opponents…”.
The STA struggled with the announcement of the event
Even before the meeting, organised by the Institute for Family and Culture of Life, Aleš Primc critically observed that the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) had to decide whether to include the March for Life 2020 in their event schedule at an editorial meeting. “STA daily routinely announces at least 30 events, but there must have been an editorial meeting regarding the March for Life. Why was the STA afraid to report on the rights of unborn children? ”Primc pointed out. It is even sadder, given that there was no need for an editorial meeting when the recent Pride Parade was announced.
Given that RTV Slovenia reported on the formation of a government in Belgium, it is difficult to understand how it is possible that they failed to say anything about a protest emphasising the importance of human life that took place in the middle of Ljubljana. Therefore, we decided to contact RTV Slovenia to get some answers. According to the content of the Radio and Television Slovenia Act, National Television should provide credible and impartial news programs, which comprehensively inform the public on political events at home. It is obvious that the latter does not happen in practice, as RTV Slovenia reports selectively. Does anyone else wonder why there are more and more people who are upset with the payment of the obligatory RTV fee.
