By: Spletni časopis
The Association of Journalists and Commentators strongly condemned the management of RTV Slovenia’s plan to change the concept of the show Tarča ahead of the elections.
“It is more than obvious that behind the maneuver of RTV Slovenia’s management and the leadership of TV Slovenia’s news programme stands government policy. That policy seeks to silence the show through people whom it appointed to editorial and director positions after the adoption of the RTV Act amendment,” they wrote, adding: “The show has until now scrutinised both right‑wing and left‑wing governments, so no one can accuse it of bias. Its dismantling by RTV Slovenia’s management is therefore a service to a (very specific) political interest.”
They summarised who is abusing their positions for the interests of the governing parties ahead of the elections: RTV Slovenia CEO Natalija Gorščak, TV Slovenia Director Ksenija Horvat, and TV Slovenia Head of News Polona Fijavž.
As I reported, RTVS leadership also intends to carry out the governing parties’ policy by cancelling cooperation and the broadcast of Eurovision, because Israel will participate there, due to extremists in our government who, in the Middle East conflict, strongly support the Palestinian side, which launched a war with terrible consequences on Vladimir Putin’s birthday. That war, and its worst horrors, was halted through mediation even in wealthy neighbouring Arab states by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Our government, however, had previously poured fuel on the fire by supporting the creation of a Palestinian state as a reward for the war they had started.
I do not fully agree with ZNP’s statement in the part where they claim that Tarča cannot be accused of bias. In recent years I have warned in numerous articles that in selecting studio guests and concealing their political ties to today’s ruling parties, the show has often been biased.
The most notorious example of how serious such mistakes can be was when, with the help of respected doctor Rihard Knafelj, they attacked the SDS government over the import of Geneplanet respirators from China, but concealed that Knafelj had previously authored the programme for LMŠ leader Marjan Šarec. Alongside Knafelj, they also overlooked the fact that a far greater professional problem was the import of Bellavista respirators from Gorenje (Hisense), for which the U.S. FDA, Canada’s health authority, and our own agency for medicines and medical devices officially issued warnings that certain series were deadly due to software defects. At that time they heavily promoted “whistleblower” Ivan Gale, who imported Bellavistas in violation of professional rules that Geneplanet had respected, so their use was later even officially banned for a time.
ZNP wrote about Tarča:
“RTV Slovenia’s management does not dare abolish the show, because it clearly judged that this would provoke too great a public revolt. So it has now invented its transformation. Under the guise of changes it intends to alter it so that in the end it will achieve practically the same effect as if the show had been abolished. From the management’s explanation, written in RTVS’s draft program‑production plan (PPN) for 2026, this is crystal clear.
It is more than obvious that behind the maneuver of RTV Slovenia’s management and the leadership of TV Slovenia’s news programme stands government policy. That policy seeks to silence the show through people whom it appointed to editorial and director positions after the adoption of the RTV Act amendment. It cannot be ignored that political ambitions to abolish the show began immediately after its creators critically examined certain government measures and actions, and when the show began to be attacked on social media by prominent government representatives and members of the Freedom Movement.
The show has until now scrutinised both right‑wing and left‑wing governments, so no one can accuse it of bias. Its dismantling by RTV Slovenia’s management is therefore a service to a (very specific) political interest. Especially because the show is the flagship of RTV Slovenia’s news programme, which only someone with political interests in the background could abandon.
Because the show is currently the only programme on RTV Slovenia that practices genuine investigative journalism, its transformation is also an attack on investigative journalism, such as still exists in Slovenia at all, and an intrusion into the autonomy of the show’s creators. A particularly unacceptable intrusion into editorial independence is also the decree of TV Slovenia’s management that Žan Dolajš may no longer prepare investigative reports. There is no reasonable justification for such a measure.
If changes do occur, those primarily responsible will be RTV Slovenia CEO Natalija Gorščak, TV Slovenia Director Ksenija Horvat, and TV Slovenia Head of News Polona Fijavž. This must be clearly known and stated.
Editorial Board of ZNP, 1 December 2025”
