By Tanja Brkić (Nova24tv)
The Slovenian Union of Journalists demands that the show Studio City return to the national television RTV Slovenia, and in addition to the show, they also demand that Marcel Štefančič returns as the host of the show in question. That is why they decided to address a public letter to the management of the national media outlet, in which they tried to relativise and justify the hostile and impatient activist cries of Štefančič, which even bordered on threats. Interestingly, in the case of one of the statements made by Prime Minister Janez Janša, they did not see it as a “warning” but described it as a “serious cause for concern.” So much for objectivity.
“There are fucking more of us than there are them. There are only a few of them, and we know exactly who they are,” was Marcel Štefančič‘s statement at the public tribune of RTV Slovenia, which obviously borders on threats made against anyone who thinks differently from them, which is clear to anyone who reads or hears the statement in question. There are clear boundaries between hateful and impatient speech and a “warning,” which is what the Slovenian Union of Journalists called Štefančič’s hateful activist cries in its statement, as they wanted to justify his behaviour by any means possible. Of course, it is clear that the definition of hate speech for them depends on who is speaking; at least, that is what we can conclude based on the past facts.
Collective protection
Helena Milinković, head of the Coordination of Journalists’ Unions and RTV Slovenia, has thus already announced the collective protection of “colleagues who are the targets of attacks,” but we all know she was certainly not thinking of the actual targets of attacks, for example, Igor Pirkovič, Jadranka Rebernik, or Dr Jože Možina, who became targets because they dared speak the truth. In light of the “collective protection,” the Slovenian Union of Journalists also addressed a public letter to the management of the national television, in which they wanted to justify Štefančič’s hostile behaviour, saying that these were merely “warnings.”
In the past, Janša’s statement caused an uproar
The reaction of the trade unions is incredibly hypocritical, given that the Prime Minister’s statement made on Twitter two years ago was immediately considered a threat, without a second thought about whether or not it actually was a threat – and the public can judge for itself whether it was even comparable to Štefančič’s hateful cries. Janez Janša posted an article from TV Slovenia on Twitter and added: “Stop spreading lies, TV Slovenia. We pay you to inform the public during these times, not mislead it. There are obviously too many of you, and you are all overpaid.” This was his reaction to a conversation between TV Slovenia and the President of the Youth Plus Trade Union (Mladi plus), Tea Jarc. At that time, the Union of Journalists responded to his tweet sharply, saying that “these statements were understood as a threat to the employees of RTV Slovenia,” and they assessed that the statement gave them a reason for concern and was worrying. Considering the number of times RTV Slovenia did not report on certain information, both in Slovenia and abroad, Janša rightly pointed out that it was actually misleading the public. Let us remind you that right before the elections, RTV Slovenia stopped broadcasting the show Parallel Mechanism (Vzporedni mehanizem) about the deep state and wanted to prevent people from seeing and hearing the truth before the elections, as they are desperately trying to hide it.
This time, the statement in question is supposed to be just a “warning”
And when it comes to Štefančič’s statement – “There are fucking more of us than there are them. There are only a few of them, and we know exactly who they are,” the Union of Journalists calmly wrote that “reading the entire statement shows that Štefančič was not threatening or insulting at the public tribune, but was warning about the need to resist attempts to limit journalistic and editorial autonomy on Television Slovenia and was wondering about the business damage being done to RTV Slovenia,” the Slovenian Union of Journalists wrote in a public statement that it sent to the management team of RTV Slovenia, in an attempt to defend Štefančič’s hostile statements made at the public tribune of RTV Slovenia. Journalist and editor of the MMC web portal Igor Pirkovič also commented on the letter, describing the union’s words as relativising the intolerance and writing on Twitter: “when the Union of Journalists relativises hostility and intolerance: …reading the entire statement shows that Štefančič was not threatening or insulting at the public tribune, but was warning about the need to resist attempts to limit journalistic and editorial autonomy on Television Slovenia and was wondering about the business damage being done to RTV Slovenia.”
Judging by the public announcement they made recently, the editors of the RTV news programme decided to bring back the show Studio City, but with a different image and journalists. This was announced a few days after the public learned that Štefančič’s contract had not been extended.