Journalists and other employees of the Slovak television and radio broadcaster RTVS came to work in black to protest against a new law by the government of Robert Fico. It gives the authorities more control over the media.
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“Black day” on RTVS: Employees of the Slovak public television and radio broadcaster came to work in black on Thursday to protest against a new law that significantly changes the structure of the company. It was adopted the day before, despite mass protests in the country.
Among the key points of the reform is the dismissal of the current director general of RTVS and giving the board, partly appointed by ministers, the right to choose a new leader. In fact, this means destroying the old structure and creating a new one called STVR.
More than 1,200 broadcaster employees signed a petition against the bill. They also published a YouTube video in which they stressed that free and independent public media “should serve all citizens of Slovakia, not just the power ambitions of any party.”
The government of populist Robert Fico claims that RTVS is now “politically biased”, which contradicts its state status. In turn, the opposition believes that with the help of the law the authorities want to “put an end to free media” and gain full control over public broadcasting.
The authorities’ idea was also condemned by Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, international media and the European Commission. More than 80 thousand people signed an open letter to Brussels asking them to support the independence of the channel.
