By: Združenje novinarjev in publicistov / Association of Journalists and Publicists
The Higher Labour and Social Court in Ljubljana recently issued a final ruling confirming that the termination of journalist Valentin Areh’s employment contract, with an offer of a new, significantly inferior contract, was unlawful. The court found that there were no business-related grounds for the termination, despite this being the reason cited by the management of TV Slovenia.
With this ruling, the court has formally confirmed the warnings of the Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP) that the termination of employment contracts, accompanied by offers of significantly inferior contracts, given to the creators of the Panorama show on TV Slovenia in 2023 were unlawful. It also directly supports our warnings that there were no business-related grounds for the dismissals, despite this being the excuse used by TV Slovenia’s management to carry out a political purge of Panorama’s creators. That there were no business grounds for the dismissals was indirectly confirmed in court by Polona Fijavž, the editor-in-chief of the news programme, who, despite her position, was unable to explain why the services of Areh and other news staff were no longer needed.
Her inability to clarify why certain journalists were deemed “technological surplus” is, in fact, understandable. The sole purpose of the terminations and contract changes was to remove journalists and editors who, in the view of TV Slovenia’s new leadership, did not ideologically align with the political left. For the current leadership, whose performance as a public broadcaster is increasingly poor and drifting toward ideological uniformity, certain journalists and editors were evidently seen as “ideological surplus.” This reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of public media, which is a prerequisite for its abuse – an abuse that is indeed occurring under the current leadership.
In light of the labour court’s ruling, we demand the resignation of TV Slovenia’s director Ksenija Horvat and editor-in-chief of the news programme Polona Fijavž, whom we consider most responsible for the unlawful dismissals and the resulting debacle in court. We also expect them to personally reimburse all costs incurred by TV Slovenia due to Areh’s lawsuit, as well as those that will arise from the remaining five lawsuits filed by Panorama’s creators, thus assuming personal responsibility for their unlawful actions.
We once again call on the Constitutional Court to conclude its review of the amendment to the RTV Slovenia Act, which enabled the government of Robert Golob to politically infiltrate RTV Slovenia and carry out purges of the so-called “unacceptable journalists.” It is clear that the Constitutional Court is deliberately stalling the review of this amendment, allowing the Golob government to continue exerting political influence over RTV Slovenia. In doing so, the court shares responsibility for everything currently happening at RTV Slovenia.
Executive Board of ZNP, 24 September 2025
