SLOVAKIA: Govt Meddling with Public Media

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Jan 16 2007 (IPS) - The Slovak government headed by social democrat Robert Fico is said to be pressuring the country’s public media to take more pro-governmental stances.

Slovakia, a former socialist country of five million born from the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993, is ruled by a three-party coalition which includes the left-wing social democrat party Smer (Direction), the People’s Party (LS-HZDS) and the extreme-right Slovak National Party.

Since the June 2006 legislative election, each of the three coalition partners has been active in positioning its allies into influential posts in media and other institutions.

Last week HZDS deputy Chairman Milan Urbani even admitted his party’s desire to “have news programmes” and promised to make sure Slovak Television (STV) “will produce such news programmes that should be on a public television station.”

The recent replacement of the STV top management sparked unprecedented controversy over relations between power structures and the media.

New managing director Radim Hreha, elected Dec. 12 2006 by the STV Council following a reportedly intensely lobbied election, is said to be dissatisfied by what he called the frequent bashing of politicians on state media.

“Any form of biased or tabloid attempts to discredit politicians will be banned from the station,” he announced following his election.

But the appointment of this Czech native was received with suspicion by much of the country, and many voices accuse him of serving the ruling Smer (Direction) Party above everything else.

“There are clear efforts to strengthen the ruling coalition’s influence in media space, especially in public television,” Grigorij Meseznikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs told IPS.

The news programmes were the first affected by management changes, with the replacement of Roland Kyska, chief editor of the STV news department.

Government politicians had previously criticised Kyska, who had been involved in open confrontation with Prime Minister Fico over the state television’s lack of coverage of his visit to Italy.

Eugen Korda, the head of ‘Reporters’, a controversial current affairs programme, was the next victim.

Giving an account of his last discussion with STV’s new director, Korda claimed Hreha “told me that political pressure on him was quite strong and he was unable to withstand it.” Korda added that he was happy with the dismissal as “I would not be able to work if any attempts to censor us were made.”

Hreha admits meeting with politicians to discuss views on STV but denies the accusations of political pressure, and claims lack of professionalism led to Korda’s dismissal.

The press believes more changes can be expected, especially in the news department where many journalists are said to be looking for other jobs.

Opposition representatives see Fico’s government behind the latest moves. They claim Hreha’s statements can be interpreted as an admission of political pressure, and that he should resign.

STV Council Chairman Miroslav Kollar said in a statement that “if it turns out that STV’s personnel policy is not made in the director’s office, but instead by party secretariats, I view this as the end of the independence of the public media in Slovakia.”

His concern was mirrored by most of the 14-member STV supervising council, but council member Peter Malec told journalists that “political pressure has always existed and also exists at the present time.”

Fico’s complicated relationship with the media dates back to his time as opposition leader, when he complained the press was hostile to him.

“Fico is a quite a good communicator with voters, but not with opponents, and media play the role of opponents very often,” Meseznikov told IPS. “He considers the media as something that complicates his situation, an obstacle to his direct communication with the population.”

Fico has been speaking only to domestic media, and despite the countless offers from the public and private sector, has refused to hold any televised debates with political opponents.

“Thinking about the fact that we did not have much media support when we were in the opposition, I am now looking with a smile at how many media are falling over themselves to interview me,” he said in a recent statement.

But Meseznikov says the media is not biased against him. “There’s a normal competition between politicians and the media to interpret reality,” he told IPS, “but media don’t put in question his legitimacy; they just do their job.”

Behind the dispute lies what Meseznikov calls a “traditional and obsolete understanding of the role of the public media” in countries where officials see the media as a tool to “deliver their political message.”