You haven’t seen such a tight butt for a long time Slovenia. The parliamentary elections on Sunday, April 24 promise a decisive outcome unsure and to fight the majority of Državni zborthe lower house of the Slovenian Parliament, which is the only elective body, are two: the Party of Slovenian Democrats of the current Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the Movement for Freedom, a political group born from the ashes of the Greens and run by the Manager Robert global. Precisely the descent into the field of the native entrepreneur of the province nova Goricawhich was mainly active in the energy sector, made the competition much tighter, as they show latest pollswho give the premier’s party to them 26 percent and that of Golob al 25. All others are decidedly more distant: Historical political formations such as the Social Democrats, New Slovenia and the Left are given 9, 7 and 5 percent, respectively.
Janša’s nervousness and the war against the media
The result of the polls does not seem obvious and the danger of falling into the opposition is quite real for Janša, who has started to fight back against his opponents on Twitter to mock their leader for the surname, surname (Golob means in Slovenian Dove). Not a new fact, considering that Marshal TwitoNickname given to Janša for his well-known passion for Twitter has often led to his own media campaigns against one of his favorite targets: i journalists. “Our Prime Minister has explained it war on the media in a lengthy post that appeared on the government website in Can 2020“, He tells Spela Stay, General Secretary of the Slovenian Association of Journalists. The post in question is a lengthy statement by Janša, then prime minister for just two months, in which he theorized disintermediation between politicians and the electorate to the detriment of the media, which are considered irrelevant and afraid of “pogrom media“For those who disagree with the Prime Minister’s mindset. “An atmosphere of intolerance and hatred is perpetuated by a small circle of women editors who have both family and financial ties to the deep state, and a handful of mediocre or worse journalists and freelancers, in this case men and women, in a normal They shouldn’t write newspapers about the country’s farmers’ market,” wrote Janša.
Since then also the definitions offensive, towards the media, there was no shortage. “It was special in his last tweets critic against the journalists of the RTV Slovenija channel publicly of our country that he defined Putinists. He also insulted colleagues from the commercial television channel Pop TV, who dared to raise gods doubt about his decision to visit Kyivand claimed that they had faithfully followed the instructions of the Kremlin and attack those trying to help Ukraine. He called the media one national disgrace and even blamed the category of being prevented against him and to be responsible for the dissemination infections during the pandemic,” says Stare. Victims of his tweets are above all journalistsboth national and international, as in the case of Eugenia Karl and Mojca Setinc Pašekaccused by Jansa in 2016 of being prostitute in the service of the former President of the Republic Milan Kucan just because they signed a report on the party of the then opposition leader. Instead, they have become a genuine international case offenses Uprisings of the Slovenian Prime Minister a Lili BayerReporter for the Belgian newspaper Politico Europe, who signed a report on the state of the media in the country in February 2021. As usual, Janša’s response was confided in Twitter, where she wrote that the journalist was “paid”. LieAnd that Politico “had to tell lies to survive” and received a harsh response censorship also by theEuropean Union.
The challenge to Golob and the pro-government media
For this reason, the election campaign in the country was rather atypical. “Up until last week, Janša systematically declined invitations pre-election debates most Slovenian media, with the exception of broadcasters pro-government. According to him, the country’s “mainstream media” is biased towards him and condescending towards the left, which is controlled by centers of power dating from the communist era. Trouble is, that’s hers third government and his third attempt to subdue the media. Politicians have always wanted to assert their own interests influence the media, but they’ve never been like this brutally as in the past two years. Janša follows the recipe of other politicians populists of mold conservative present in the region who win the elections by controlling the media,” Stare points out. The reference, not too obfuscated, is a Victor Orbannewly confirmed prime minister in Hungary e great friend by Janez Jansa. It’s no coincidence that the financing for the pro-government TV channels like Nova24 TV and Planet TV, and that for some time now a kind of “Orbanization” of Slovenia has been underway, in which there is an atmosphere of perpetual civil war, with the prime minister attacking anyone who is against expansion journalists speak out about their radius of action at the European summits in Brussels, which have repeatedly questioned health rule of law in Ljubljana and criticized Janša for the freedom of the press. This is the point made by Golob, who based his own on opposition to the prime minister’s actions election campaign and his new party, since he was appointed Vice President of the Movement for Freedom Urska Klakočar Zupančiča former judge expelled from the Ljubljana court for posting some insults against the prime minister on social media.
The future of media
Regardless of who wins the elections, some will be inevitable changes in the industry, now regulated by law obsolete. What will really make the difference will be who will make those changes: a not secondary detail in a country that has collapsed thirty-sixth place for press freedom according to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. “There is no point in denying it: if Janša wins, we can expect a hold tighter in the media. The current government has completely politicized Management and editorial decisions at RTV Slovenija and further media subordination can reasonably be expected publicly in case the majority parties win the elections,” says Stare. What if Golob wins? For the General Secretary of the Slovenian Association of Journalists there is no doubt. “The opposition parties promise it reform of the system, depoliticization of the public media and promotion by subsidies market support. Of course we are with the association very worried that the processes initiated by the Janša government go further, but we also feed gods doubt to the promises of the opposition. Slovenia still has media laws from Janša’s first government from 2004 to 2008, and since then we have had so-called left-wing governments. they haven’t changed anything“.