Proposed Changes to Public Broadcaster Bill Cause Stir Among Journalists

Ljubljana, 8 April

The government committee for state administration and public matters on 5 April approved a new bill on public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, which was released last week and already drew criticism from the ranks of journalists.

Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti was adamant that the bill in no way curbed journalist autonomy and that the state was indeed "withdrawing" from the programme council, although the bill says that parliament will appoint 21 of its 29 members. However, in the wake of strong protests, the minister on 6 April announced he would delay a cabinet vote on the bill so that he could first discuss it with the trade union and management of the RTV Slovenija. After talks with the Slovenian Association of Journalists on 8 April, he said the ministry would make changes to the controversial bill. A number of Slovenia's leading journalism experts, journalists and RTV editors criticised the ministry's intent to discuss the bill in emergency procedure and strongly opposed a new concept of management and organisation structure of the public broadcaster envisioned in the document. The RTV management opposed the proposal that the supervisory board should adopt the RTV statute and annual programme and financial plan. It also disagreed with the powers envisioned for the director general in editorial appointments. Slavko Splichal, a professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, said the bill was trying to quash civil initiatives at the public broadcaster. Another professor, Sandra Basic Hrvatin said the bill encroached on the right to the freedom of speech. This view was echoed by her colleague Marko Milosavljevic, who claimed the document was "dangerous and undemocratic".

Proposed Changes to Public Broadcaster Bill Cause Stir Among Journalists

More articles from this issue:

Archive