STA

The International Press Institute, IPI, on Friday accused Prime Minister Janez Jansa of putting intense pressure on Bojan Veselinovic, director of the Slovenian Press Agency, STA, saying that this pressure "reaches worrying new heights".

Ljubljana – Slovenian PM Janez Janša rang up Šefik Džaferović, the Bosniak member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina presidency, on Friday to explain that there is no non-paper containing border changes or efforts to undermine Bosnia-Herzegovina’s territorial integrity that could be linked with the Slovenian government.

Ljubljana – Slovenian Press Agency (STA) director Bojan Veselinovič has told the government he is granting it access to all books of account and documents, even though the STA has never received a formal request to that effect. He said the government should say, in writing, who will access the documents on its behalf and in what way.

Ljubljana – The prime minister’s office maintains that the Government Communication Office (UKOM) does not need any special authorisation from the government to act as the government’s representative in relation to the STA.

Brussels – Slovenian representatives presented differing views on the media situation as they attended Friday’s public debate at the European Parliament in Brussels. The head of the Parliament’s democracy monitoring group, Sophie in ‘t Veld, wanted to know what criteria are used as basis for journalist in Slovenia to be classified as “left”.

Ljubljana – Two months after the expiration of public and commercial news service contracts between the STA and the government, which had previously been renewed annually, the STA restricted access to its news items for the government administration on Monday. Parliament Speaker Igor Zorčič believes the time has come for the matter to be resolved in court.

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.

"Russophile" NATO ambassador accused of spying

LJUBLJANA -- Slovenian Ambassador to NATO Andrej Benedejčič has been called for consultations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after media reports accused him of spying.