(Bloomberg) — Slovak lawmakers approved a public media reform, effectively placing broadcasters under government control, in a move criticized by the opposition and international organizations for undermining the independence of the press.
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From July, the ruling coalition will nominate its own candidates to the governing bodies of Slovak public television and radio, after lawmakers in Bratislava supported the move on Thursday.
The main opposition party has said it will challenge the law in the Constitutional Court. Lubos Machaj, the current head of public media who will be automatically removed once the law comes into force, said it was “a dark day for the media landscape and civil society in Slovakia”.
Anti-media sentiment intensified following an assassination attempt last month on the prime minister Roberto Fico, which he attributed to a hostile atmosphere fueled by the press and opposition. His administration has consistently criticized coverage in the European Union member state, calling it biased or anti-government.
“Public media are not objective because they are in direct conflict with the Slovak government,” Fico said in April when proposing the bill. He stated that “the basic right of Slovak citizens to access objective information is violated”.
The minister responsible for social media criticized the public broadcaster for unbalanced reporting, particularly on the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, claiming that they only present the dominant view.
At the same time, Fico and his allies praise “alternative” media outlets that avoid critical coverage and echo the prime minister’s main narratives, including criticism of pandemic measures and vaccines during Covid-19, as well as spreading conspiracies about the war.
The administration has also faced criticism for using financial pressures to soften the private media, mirroring the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Slovak journalists warned against the “organization” of the media. The presenter of the most watched private television channel recently accused the management of political pressure in favor of the coalition in power in an unexpected comment on air.
Reporters Without Borders also warned that the law could violate the European Media Freedom Act, which came into force last month to guarantee media pluralism and independence within the EU bloc.
Slovakia’s prime minister has been the target of scrutiny from Brussels since returning to office in October, while his decision to revise the criminal code and abandon a special prosecutor’s office sparked a public outcry.
Fico’s previous term in government ended five years ago when he was forced to resign amid national outrage over the murder of an investigative journalist.
Slovakia has fallen from 17th to 29th place in the press freedom index since Fico’s return to power. Pavol Szalai, head of the EU-Balkans department at Reporters Without Borders, sees the risk of an even greater decline.
“A battle is going on in Slovakia over whether the media will remain pluralistic and impartial,” Szalai said in an interview last week.
(Updates with opposition, media reaction in third paragraph.)
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