The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join its affiliate, Sindikat novinarjev Slovenije (SNS), together with the other signatories below, and reiterate our serious concern over proposed amendments to Slovenia’s RTV Act, which threaten to dismantle the financial and editorial independence of the country’s public service broadcaster.

The amendments, proposed by the Ministry of Culture, would fundamentally change the governance structure of RTV Slovenia, strengthen government control, curtail employee participation in supervisory and governing bodies, and threaten institutional and editorial autonomy.

“Whenever someone attempts to alter the foundations on which the independence of a public media organization rests, they are interfering with the constitutional rights of all citizens, not only the rights of journalists and other employees; they are interfering with the public’s right to be informed, freedom of expression and editorial autonomy. In the event of the repolitization of public service broadcasting, this would also amount to circumventing and ignoring the democratic will of the people, clearly expressed in the referendum November 2022,” says SNS and other signatories in a statement, which can be read in its entirety below.

The EFJ and the IFJ express their grave concern that these amendments would breach Article 5 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which guarantees the institutional and editorial independence of public service media and requires transparent, adequate and sustainable funding. A governance model that lets one government appoint six of seven supervisory board members puts RTV Slovenia’s leadership, budget and editorial line at the mercy of whoever holds office. That is a loss for every citizen who relies on independent information, not only for journalists.

The full statement is available here