Slovenia Govt Condemned for Cutting Funds to Public News Agency

The Slovene Journalists' Association, DNS, said on Tuesday it was "appalled" by the government decision to stop funding the Slovenian Press Agency, STA, the independent public news agency, allegedly because it did not file the requested documentation to the Government Communications Office, UKOM.

"This is yet another attempt to destroy the national press agency, which is a pillar of high-quality and unbiased reporting. We have seen the same thing happen in neighbouring Hungary," the DNS said in a press release.

As local media - but not the government press release - reported on Tuesday, the UKOM informed the government of Janez Jansa that it was unable to implement a contract with the STA for the rest of this year or conclude a contact for next year.

The STA as a result has not received any monthly compensation for October from UKOM, which its leadership says threatens its future, and is a serious threat to media pluralism and media freedom.

Suspension of financing of independent Slovenian press agency though it's part of government's contract. This threatens agency's future work! Great threat on #medaipluralism & #mediafreedom in #Slovenia @MediaFreedomEU @CmpfEui @EFJEUROPE @IFJGlobal https://t.co/ObaHPiuwWi

— Renate Schroeder (@renatemargot) December 1, 2020

BIRN asked UKOM to respond to these accusations but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

However, UKOM director Uros Urbanija told public television on Tuesday that there had been "no decision to stop funding the STA", and that UKOM had only informed the government about the impossibility of financing the agency because it "did not get the information we need to be able to verify the credibility and sustainability of ...

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