By: Sara Bertoncelj / Nova24tv
The Slovenian Press Agency (STA) was eclipsed from the social network yesterday, and they decided to remain silent on the day of the EU-Western Balkans summit. “To reflect on how the government has not paid the fair work of 100 employees for 279 days,” they wrote – raising the question, what do they actually live on? Their director has conveniently resigned to make the story they have been selling for a year all the more heart-breaking. STA did not go completely silent yesterday, as a journalist or activist appeared at the press conference of the EU summit and presented the story, which has been heard countless times, to the leaders of the EU member states. The events have already been faithfully summarised by the Politico portal, of course according to its own script.
Despite the importance of the event and the fact that she could ask something much more relevant, RTVS journalist Helena Milinković decided to vent all her anger on Prime Minister Janez Janša. At the press conference of the EU-Western Balkans summit, she was probably accredited as a journalist, but she acted as an activist for the Slovenian Press Agency (STA). This was also evident from her work, namely she was wearing a T-shirt “STA is serious”, as well as some of her colleagues, for example Mihael Šuštarič and Boris Jaušovec. In a shaky yet aggressive voice, she asked the Prime Minister, among other things, when the government would start fulfilling its obligations to the STA – to which she received a clear answer that on the same day as the STA will sign the agreement.
Public relations consultant Mitja Iršič reminded on Twitter that the journalist Milinković was the one who accompanied the foreign journalist Valerie Gauriat when the latter came to ask questions to the Ministry of Culture. Namely, she researched alleged and then very current government pressures on the media. “The radical part of RTV is directly involved in the export of fake news abroad. The journalist asked questions where it was clear that she had received deliberately misleading information,” he described the situation. It is therefore clear from where and in what way misleading information is roaming to foreign journalists.
With a network of foreign activists, they tried to divert attention elsewhere
The politico.eu portal and the local journalist Lili Bayer are once again full of work with Slovenia these days. European leaders are still supposedly concerned about media freedom in our country. The journalist wrote that the leaders gathered to talk about the accession of six Balkan countries to the EU, but it so happened that Slovenia was in the spotlight due to alleged failures in respecting the democratic principles of the EU. So they wanted to achieve that the political themes of the summit would not be central, but they failed.
What was going on anyway?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference that funding was important for the agency’s independence, stressing that the media and their plurality were crucial to democracy. Janša then explained that everything was launched into the Slovenian political space as part of a political game. He said that the court’s decision was not what European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova wrote in a letter to Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti. Janša also explained that the former director of the STA, Bojan Veselinović, was politically appointed ten years ago and that everything is a game that now burdens people who have significantly more responsible work. “However, Slovenia will expect respect for the rule of law from the countries that join the EU,” the Prime Minister was determined. The media would like to show once again that the EU is extremely concerned about the situation in Slovenia – not about the real situation, but about what is being conveyed to them by the left opposition and its media. Who have an absolute majority in the Slovenian media landscape. This is one of the reasons why they are actually the last ones to advertise on the topic of pluralism. Not to mention credible, objective and balanced reporting.