240313_Proposed changes at RTVS met with criticism
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The proposal by the Culture Ministry to change the management selection of the public broadcaster RTVS, was criticized by the opposition, the head of RTVS itself, members of the European Parliament, the Euro Commissioner for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourová, and the European Broadcasting Union. Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová has announced she will elaborate on her proposal at a press conference on Thursday.
The government has announced plans to change the way in which the management of the public broadcaster RTVS is appointed. The bill also includes the establishment of a programme council, whose members will be voted on by Parliament.
Prime Minister Róbert Fico said in an interview for the Standard online newspaper that there's a need to introduce more stringent supervisory mechanisms over RTVS. As an example, he cited a question by an RTVS journalist during a press conference in Prague on the future of the V4. "What's happening in Slovak television is outrageous," he said.
One of the coalition parties, SNS, has welcomed the proposal. Roman Michelko, a Member of Parliament for SNS, said it should bring greater balance, impartiality and objectivity. He said: "If the management will be elected by people who must not have any direct ties to political parties and will be experts, not politicians, I think it is rather a move in a good direction.“
The current general director of RTVS, Ľuboš Machaj, expects the opposite. "The proposal is a political intervention that will cause the public media to come under strong political pressure," he said.
A programme council, the majority of whose members are to be elected by parliament, reminds him “of the days of communism and censors”.
Several opposition parties immediately criticized the Tuesday proposal, and called it a move to create state media.
European Parliament (EP) is to approve new legislation on Wednesday to protect journalists and media in EU countries from political or economic interference. The vote on Tuesday was preceded by a debate with the Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.
She switched from English to Czech to talk about the situation of the media in Slovakia. Referring to planned changes for RTVS, she said it was worthy of attention not only by the European Commission. "It deserves the attention of anyone who understands that every country should have genuinely strong public service media and not media that serve as nothing but loud mouthpieces for the party and the government," she warned.
Member of the European Parliament Sophie in ‘t Veld also expressed her concern.
“There is this very sad tragic history in recent years in Slovakia with the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée being killed. Since the new government took office, we have seen constant attacks on journalists, verbal attacks, threats and now what seems to be frontal attack on the public broadcaster, independent, but rather the opposite apparently the intention of making it the propaganda channel for the government. We have seen similar situations in Poland, in Hungary. It’s extremely worrying… If the free media are undermined in Slovakia, they are undermined in the whole of Europe.”
RTVS, TASR
