Slovenska različica

Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije objavlja zahtevo za popravek vašega članka, objavljenega na spletni strani Neue Zürcher Zeitung 20. 2. 2021, z naslovom  "Marschall Twito kämpft gegen Geister des Kommunismus".

Članek vsebuje napačne navedbe, na katere opozarjamo.

"Janša je odstopil, ker je bil obsojen korupcije in je zato moral leta 2012 v zapor."

Janez Janša ni odstopil, "ker je bil obsojen in je moral v zapor leta 2012", kot napačno navaja članek. Sploh ni odstopil. Parlament je glasoval o nezaupnici, dva člana njegove koalicije pa sta se odločila, da koalicijo zapustita, saj sta v tem času z drugimi strankami v parlamentu gradila novo koalicijo. Leta 2014 je bil Janša res obsojen in poslan v zapor, vendar je sodba na višji instanci padla, on pa je bil oproščen vseh obtožb.

"V kulturnih ustanovah je prišlo do čistk. Tako je dal šest od sedmih direktorjev državnih muzejev zamenjati z upogljivimi kandidati."

Nobene čistke ni bilo. Noben direktor javne kulturne ustanove ni bil zamenjan. To je popolna izmišljotina. Novi direktorji javnih ustanov, kot so muzeji, galerije itd., so bili izbrani šele po tem, ko so prejšnji direktorji dopolnili svoj polni mandat. Vlada je povsem zavezana predpisanemu postopku in namenja veliko pozornosti pravilom in predpisom, ki urejajo imenovanje direktorjev javnih zavodov. Za vsako imenovanje je bil izveden javni natečaj s strogimi merili in pravili, ki določajo, kdo se lahko prijavi na to funkcijo.

Vsi novi direktorji so ugledni mednarodno priznani strokovnjaki, brez zgodovine političnega udejstvovanja. Govoriti, da so "upogljivi", je velika žalitev za njihov ugled.

 "Janša se bori proti komunistom, ki ne obstajajo več. Tudi ponoči, npr. na Twitterju. Tam rad širi teorije zarote in retvitira desničarske ekstremistične izjave. Zato ga imenujejo tudi `maršal Twito´."

Premier Janša ne širi "desničarskih ekstremističnih izjav". To je popolna izmišljotina.

"Z osebnimi napadi poskuša ustrahovati novinarje javnih radiotelevizijskih postaj, ki kritično poročajo o njem. Pravi jim prostitutke, lažnivke, lažne novice. Tudi to spominja na Trumpa."

Premier ni nikoli ustrahoval novinarjev. Pogosto je kritiziral medije, vendar si nikoli ni prizadeval za uredniško avtoriteto nad njimi, niti nima nobenih vzvodov, da bi lahko kaj takšnega sploh počel – česar pa kot demokrat in ugleden član EPP zagotovo ne želi. Ker so mediji v Sloveniji pretežno povezani z levimi centri kapitala in politične moči, je samoumevno, da so pristranski do desnice (ne do vlade, saj so do vlade popustljivi takoj, ko je na oblasti leva koalicija). Da to drži je pred kratkim empirično dokazala analiza medijske pluralnosti, ki jo je izvedla Fakulteta za medije v Ljubljani, ki je pokazala, da imajo slovenski mediji pretežno levo uredniško usmeritev. To se ne bo spremenilo, tudi če premier občasno kritizira publikacije kot zasebni državljan na svojem zasebnem tviter računu. Skoraj ni voditelja držav EU, ki ne bi nikoli kritiziral medijev. Konstruktivna kritika pa ne pomeni, da drsimo proti Putinovi Rusiji.

Naj navedemo nekaj dejstev. V času mandata premierja Janše:

• ni bil napaden noben novinar, razen fotografa, ki so ga napadli skrajno levi protivladni izgredniki na nezakonitih protestih in snemalec Nova24TV, ki ga je prav tako napadli protivladni aktivist;
• noben novinar ni izgubil službe (tudi zaradi robustnega odziva vlade na covid-19, ki je medijem podelila več deset milijonov evrov nujne pomoči, pa še 2,6 milijona evrov iz javnega razpisa);
• indeks demokracije po poročanju časopisa The Economist se je zvišal (medtem ko je v času mandata prejšnjih levih premierjev indeks demokracije iz leta v leto nazadoval);
• za razliko od prejšnjih treh vlad, ki so bile sestavljene izključno iz levih strank, Janševa koalicija ni homogeno desna, saj jo sestavljata dve stranki EPP in dve ALDE (ena je medtem zapustila koalicijo, a se pogaja o mogočem izven-koalicijskem sodelovanju).

Angleška različica

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia is issuing a request for a correction of your article published on the website of Neue Zürcher Zeitung on 20. 2. 2021 originally titled "Marschall Twito kämpft gegen Geister des Kommunismus".

The article contains factual errors which we are pointing out.

"Janša resigned because he was convicted of corruption and had to go to prison in 2012."

Janez Janša did not resign "because he was convicted and had to go to prison in 2012", as the article states. He did not resign at all. The parliament held a no-confidence vote, and two of his coalition members decided to leave the coalition, while building a new coalition with other parties in the parliament. He was indeed convicted and sent to prison in 2014 but has since been cleared of all charges.

"There was a purge in cultural institutions. He had six of the seven directors of the state museums replaced by compliant candidates."

There was no purge. No director of a public cultural instruction has been replaced. New appointments of directors of public institutions such as museums, galleries etc., have only been selected after the previous directors completed their full term of office. The Ministry of Culture was thoroughly committed to following due process and paid utmost attention to rules and regulations that govern appointments of the directors of public institutions. All the new appointments are distinguished international experts in the field, with no history of political engagement. Calling them "compliant" is a huge insult to their reputation.

"Janša fights against the communists who no longer exist. Even at night, for example on Twitter. There he likes to spread conspiracy theories and retweet right-wing extremist statements. That is why he is also called `Marshal Twito´."

Prime-minister Janša does not spread "right-wing extremist statements". This is a complete fabrication.

"He himself tries to intimidate the journalists of the public broadcasters who report critically about him with personal attacks. He calls them prostitutes, liars, fake news. That too is reminiscent of Trump."

The Prime Minister has never intimidated any journalists. He often criticized the press, but he never pushed for editorial authority over them, nor does he have any leverage to do that, even if he wanted to – which he, as an EPP democrat certainly does not. Since the media is predominately connected to the left centers of capital and political power, it goes without saying that the media is heavily biased towards the left. This has been empirically proven by an analysis on media plurality conducted by the Faculty of Media, which concluded that Slovenian media has an overwhelming left-wing bias. This will not change even if the Prime Minister sometimes criticizes certain publications as a private citizen on his private twitter account. There has hardly been an EU leader who never criticized members of the free press. Criticism however does not mean, that the country is heading the same direction as Putin’s Russia.

Allow us to state some facts. During the tenure of prime minister Janša:

• no journalist has been attacked, except a photographer, who was attacked by far-left, anti-government rioters and a cameraman of Nova24TV station, who was also assaulted by an anti-government activist;
• no journalist has lost employment (also due to Government’s robust covid19 response which handed out tens of millions of euros in emergency aid to the media industry, as well as 2.6 million euros from a public tender);
• the democracy index according to The Economist has risen (while during the tenure of previous left-wing prime-ministers, the democracy index regressed every year);
• unlike the previous three coalitions, Janša’s government is not homogenously right-wing, but is a partnership of two EPP and two ALDE parties (one has since left the coalition but is in talks for further cooperation).