By: Ana Hribar / Nova24
“They already have everything they demand; such never-never lands in terms of journalistic freedom are probably nowhere to be found on RTV Slovenia, neither in Slovenia nor elsewhere,” said RTV Slovenia programme councillor Slavko Kmetič, who commented for Nova24 TV on the RTV strike and the strike demands, which he described as absurd and even perverted.
As special strike demands, they cite the resignation of all editors, which has absolutely nothing to do with autonomy, but with the protection of privileged positions of some employees of RTV Slovenia, who took their jobs for granted. Slavko Kmetič, programme councillor of RTV Slovenia, is convinced of their journalistic freedom and guarantees it. Kmetič said that “their journalistic freedom is complete, they have an editorial meeting in the morning, where the editor-in-chief determines the topics, but they decide on the article themselves.” He added that they have been asking them for three months who demands anything from them in terms of censorship or something else, but they have not received an answer. Of course not, because it is not there.
After the coordination of the RTV Slovenia journalists’ unions and the journalists’ union announced a strike, the negotiation process has already begun. With a warning strike announced on May 13th, they demand journalistic, editorial, and institutional autonomy, an agreement on personnel policy, negotiations on raising the minimum wage at Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenia) and social dialogue. Let us remind you that they live at the expense of taxpayers’ money, regardless of whether they work or not, they talk about autonomy and independence, but the Slovenian public is constantly witnessing even more dependent leftist ideologies on their channels. It is not surprising that the strike is also supported by the prominent left-wing Confederation of Trade Unions, represented by none other than Branimir Štrukelj, who claims that it is about protecting autonomy and democracy.
They chose this day on purpose
The reason that the strikers on RTV Slovenia chose a specific day is because, according to RTV Slovenia programme councillor Slavko Kmetič, a regular session of the programme council was held to discuss topics on the programme’s agenda for the whole year. “And they stand in front of the entrance and prevent entry into the building, intentionally or unintentionally”. “They used this day for a strike, which is basically not, because they are at odds with their own minds, this is nonsense per cubic meter, no one is pressuring them, the fact that the situation on RTV is difficult in terms of finances has been known for ten years, and it will not improve for the time being,” said Kmetič, adding that he did not know what to expect. The fact is, however, that they are putting pressure on the management and the programming council, which, however, has absolutely no intention of resigning, as they stand by what they accept, which no strike will change.
They presented their strike demands to the Slovenian public to convince them, but Kmetič believes that the people of RTV Slovenia are already “disgusted” with their beliefs and that they do not even watch or listen to the “public house”. “For their fans like Val 202 and Mladina, I do not know how much they accept their theory, but the rest is divided, there are a lot of people who want to cancel the RTV contribution,” said Kmetič, who announced a “turbulent period”.
They already have everything they demand
“They already have everything they demand; such never-never lands in terms of journalistic freedom are probably nowhere to be found on RTV Slovenia, neither in Slovenia nor elsewhere,” said Kmetič. He stressed that the required higher salaries are a legitimate matter that they will be able to negotiate with the management, even though they have a public salary system, which is already one of the problems so that anything can change here. “Other things are irrelevant, they demand the resignation of the president of the programme council, they demand the withdrawal of the adopted decisions, which is absurd, and no normal trade unionist would make such strike demands. Obviously, nothing matters in our country.”
“90 percent of RTV Slovenia’s strike demands are absurd and completely unnecessary, perverted,” concluded Kmetič, who commented on the claim of the participants in the strike “that they do not want to be farmhands”, saying that he did not know who they could be farmhands for. All what is happening, in his words, is “praise for the madness that is happening in the media space”, especially after the events with the alleged cancellation of the Studio City show, which Kmetič says has not been cancelled. “It was frozen six times due to electoral confrontations, and today it is back with the new head of Studio City,” he said, adding that Marcel Štefančič had not been fired, as some say, but his contract had simply expired. The Programme Councillor denies any recruitment with the help of federations on public television and ensures that all recruitment procedures are carried out through a fair recruitment process through public tenders.
Nataša Pirc Musar said years ago that public television is strongly influenced by the Social Democrats, with which Kmetič agrees, as Ciril Baškovič, a high-ranking SD official, was the president of the programme council in the past. “Officially, they do not influence now, they influence through other like-minded people, who then do it on RTV until the end,” concluded Kmetič, who also pointed out Robert Golob’s rhetoric, which is not supposed to indicate anything good, because we all know these clichés, “we know everything, but then everything failed, we know that”, he said, adding that if Golob’s predictions come true, Slovenia is on its way to becoming Cuba or Venezuela, which people will not agree with.