Slovenian Government ‘Eroding Media Freedom’, Report Warns

A new report published on Wednesday says that Slovenia, which takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on Friday, "has seen press freedom deteriorate ever since [Prime Minister Janez] Jansa returned to power in March 2020".

"Since then, the ruling SDS [Slovenian Democratic] Party has embarked on a multipronged campaign to reshape the media landscape in favour of a pro-government narrative, renewing tactics successful during previous administrations and forging ahead with new forms of pressure," said a press release for the report by Media Freedom Rapid Response, a group of press freedom organisations and journalism groups.

The report says said that the ruling party has been making "an aggressive attempt to seize greater control of the country's public service broadcaster and national news agency using a mix of legal and administrative pressure".

In late May, Slovenian journalists' unions criticised the Culture Ministry after it revealed that several radio stations, well-known critical newspapers and investigative media outlets will no longer receive state funds.

These media outlets were defunded for their alleged "partiality", but unions maintained that the Culture Ministry's assessment was arbitrary. The Ministry insists the funding decisions were based on expert opinions.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response claims that at the same time, "propaganda media are being rewarded with lucrative state advertising contracts".

Slovenia's government also suspended financing for the Slovenian Press Agency, STA from the beginning of the year, alleging that the agency failed to deliver documents based on which it would be possible to determine a fair financing arrangement.

But some suspect that Jansa's government is putting...