By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
Sometimes those who shoot at the target miss the real goal. Recently, the show Tarča (Target) on TV Slovenia discussed the controversial funding of political parties. The apparent target of this “coverage” was the SDS party. The basis for this was a report from a parliamentary investigative commission that claimed to have uncovered a sort of criminal network. However, within this network cantered around financier Rok Snežič, who they were desperately trying to link to Janez Janša and his associates, they ultimately stumbled upon the partner of Prime Minister Robert Golob, Tina Gaber. Snežič himself labelled her as his friend, and suspicious dealings with people connected to her were revealed. Instead of hitting the top of the opposition, it ended up targeting the top of the government.
The work of the investigative commission was, in fact, a complete charade. Officially, its purpose was to investigate suspicions of illegal financing of political parties. However, they exclusively focused on the current largest party and media allegedly connected to it. They showed no interest in how the Gibanje Svoboda, which was formed just a few months before the last parliamentary elections, acquired the funds to finance a lavish election campaign. Similarly, they did not inquire into how the current Secretary-General of the largest government party, Vesna Vuković, received around two hundred thousand euros when she was still an “independent” journalist, with about half of that sum transferred by none other than the current prime minister when he was leading the state-owned company GEN-1. Neither of them has made an effort to explain the purpose of this transaction to the public.
This investigative commission, with the assistance of dominant media, proclaims that media associated with the SDS received millions of euros from Hungary. The money was allegedly transferred by businessmen from the circle of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. All of this is supposedly politically conditioned, as it is known that Janša and Orbán are close friends and allies. The left-wing politicians highlight the danger, claiming that Slovenian sovereignty is threatened by Hungarian capital expanding its influence in the neighbouring country.
However, this is a significant amount of deception. The labelling of certain media as associated with SDS serves the purpose of misleading. While it is true that some of these openly support the party’s policies, party officials, and the party itself are shareholders or co-owners in some places. However, this is in accordance with the rules. After all, a political party can establish its own media. This may be a problem in terms of its credibility, but formally, there is nothing wrong with it.
Yet, this labelling, in terms of attaching a party label, is also used for media like Požareport, which has no ownership-management connections with SDS. But if we take favouritism toward a particular political party or option as a criterion, then the majority of Slovenian media should be labelled as “connected”. However, there is no mention of, for example, Mladina being associated with the Levica party, even though its writing almost entirely aligns with the views of that party. While media that favour the left option may not have as many connections to specific parties, it is because parties do not mean much in this context; they are more or less “disposable material” for election purposes.
Certainly, connections between politics, capital, and the media exist. However, it is very disingenuous to highlight only certain media, certain capital, and certain politics. Hungarian capital is no more controversial than any other. As if Slovenian media owners (such as the infamous tycoon Martin Odlazek) are not connected to politics, in this case, the one currently in power. As long as the media space remains as unbalanced as it is now, with the vast majority of media closely connected to the left-wing, the issue of funding for “Janša’s” media is entirely irrelevant.