The new European Media Freedom Act could save Slovakia’s politicized public broadcaster, say some media experts. 

By Simona Strejckova

As veteran Slovak journalists jump ship from their country’s public broadcaster amid growing political and editorial pressure, some experts believe that a European Parliament effort could help to prevent the further erosion of media freedom.

The EU Media Freedom Act, which was approved in March and is set to come into force in August 2025, aims to protect European journalists from government pressure and increase the transparency of media ownership. In Slovakia, the potential loss of EU funding for non-compliance could put the brakes on the government’s efforts to control the media, say some Slovak journalists.  

“With public television, technically, we can have hope,” said Barbara Zmuskova, a senior editor for Euractiv.com who is based in Bratislava. “The [Slovak] government listens quite a lot to the threat of the suspension of EU funds – it can be seen that they are afraid of losing the money.” 

The EU legislation aims to protect, among other things, editorial independence, so that public service stations are not exploited for political purposes, and that managers and board members are selected through transparent and non-discriminatory procedures. If governments act contrary to those principles, the European Commission has the right to initiate infringement proceedings.

Strengthening the State’s Grip

The trepidation about the future of public broadcasting in Slovakia comes in the wake of moves earlier this year to, critics say, increase government control. In the process, new media legislation abolished Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS), replacing it with a new entity, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR). The director general, who was appointed in 2022, lost his job. Budget cuts left the institution receiving only one-12th of 1 percent of GDP, dependent on a direct state subsidy instead of the traditional revenue mix of license fees, state support, and its own revenues, for example from advertising. And while in the past, parliament chose the director general following a public hearing of candidates who presented their plans and vision for RTVS, now a nine-member board – meant to be non-partisan and independent but with four nominees from the Ministry of Culture – will select the broadcaster’s head. 

Despite government assertions that such moves would increase the impartiality of the public broadcaster (Prime Minister Robert Fico had complained that RTVS was in “permanent conflict” with the government) and ensure some sense of stability, huge outrage erupted among civil society groups, the mainstream media, and some other segments of society, but protests ultimately led nowhere. The coalition tactically waited for the start of the term of the new president, Peter Pellegrini, an ally who had been in office since June. He signed the new law.

Jakub Hankovsky, a sociologist and director of the Slovak branch of the Ipsos research and polling agency, said the moves would essentially turn the broadcaster into a propaganda tool for the government.

“Low trust in the media is good grounds for making them a target and for the attack itself to score political points,” Hankovsky said.

He, too, sees hope in the Media Freedom Act, saying that at the least, it will enable means to identify problems associated with attacks on journalists, the media, or freedom of speech. “We will see how actionable this initiative will be and what it will bring in individual countries, including Slovakia,” he said.

Based on experiences with the new criminal code, some assume that the government will be willing to negotiate and back down on some of the more controversial points in the STVR law. At the time, after criticism at home and abroad over reductions in the penalties for many crimes, the government reworked the parts in question in the face of threats from the European Commission that Slovakia could find certain EU funds suspended.  

“They will try [to negotiate with the Commission] in such a way that they can have as much influence as possible, but they still won’t get fined,” said Zmuskova, adding that the EC will need to figure out how much it’s willing to dance around the topic or act more assertively.

Too Little, Too Late?

The problem is that the new European media law – which for the first time has put into European legislation definitions of free media and public service media – will not come into force until next year. But this year has seen the resignations of a number of STVR reporters, presenters, and section chiefs. Some editors say they have felt political pressure ever since the government took office. 

The biggest crackdown came in January 2024 after new appointees took over. 

“I have seen four changes in the leadership of the RTVS newsroom in two years, and this year’s is the worst,” said a domestic news editor, who has been working in television for two and a half years. She wished to speak anonymously for fear of possible repercussions for speaking openly about the situation. 

“We had the problem that suddenly more top government officials were being inserted into our reports,” she added. 

Whether to stay in television is a big dilemma for her, because her job at public television was a dream come true. On the other hand, she knows what she doesn’t want. “I won’t stand up for someone who does what he wants and who inserts opinions that are one-sided and propagandistic. If someone fires me for being inconvenient, it will be the best firing I’ve ever received,” she concluded. 

Her colleague, also an editor, who has been at the broadcaster since 2023, sees it similarly. “I could not stay in an institution that puts its people there who are inexperienced and incompetent, to occupy higher positions than people who have been there for several years and deserve something. I would find that offensive and leave,” he said.

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Simona Strejckova is in her last year of studies in international relations at Masaryk University in Brno and works as an intern at Euractiv Slovakia. She is currently at SciencesPo in Paris for a semester, studying public and European policies.