By: Celjski glasnik
Despite all the figures that, in ordinary mathematics, show how much media space each side receives and the clear dominance of the political left, RTV Slovenia attempted during the recent campaign to convince people of its impartiality.
Likewise, RTV Slovenia invited Janez Markeš to comment on the results. He spent two hours arguing that RTV Slovenia had been fair during the latest campaign, despite a widely held perception that the broadcaster’s work is far from balanced.
Criticism that RTV Slovenia primarily serves left-wing political interests has existed for a long time and is one of the reasons behind initiatives to abolish the RTV licence fee. A recent parliamentary session appeared to reinforce that perception. SDS MP Žan Mahnič later argued that an incident involving the filming of MPs demonstrated that the broadcaster serves only one political side.
Mahnič explained that, for the first time, MPs were being filmed from the side while speaking, and that he immediately took advantage of the situation. He turned his laptop, displaying a slogan for an upcoming referendum, toward the camera. RTV Slovenia then immediately changed the camera angle, preventing the slogan on his laptop from being visible on screen. Based on this incident, Mahnič stated that they had demonstrated that RTV Slovenia is, in his view, an “ultra-left-wing media outlet” rather than a national public broadcaster.
