Zahteva za objavo popravka članka, objavljenega v reviji The Economist
Slovenska različica
Ministrstvo za kulturo objavlja zahtevo za popravek članka, objavljenega v časniku The Economist dne 9. 4. 2021, z izvirnim naslovom "Populists are threatening Europe's independent public broadcasters", neznanega avtorja.
Članek vsebuje napačne navedbe, na katere opozarjamo.
Članek navaja naslednje (citiramo):
"Njegova vlada noče financirati proračuna RTV-SLO in želi sprejeti nov zakon o medijih, ki bo olajšal nadzor. V Sloveniji takšen politični nadzor nad proračunom in nadzornim svetom ogroža neodvisnost javne radiotelevizije."
Iz odstavka je razvidno, da neznani avtor ne ve popolnoma nič o ureditvi slovenske javne radiotelevizije in njegovega financiranja. Slovenska vlada neposredno ne financira RTV Slovenija. Javna radiotelevizija je popolnoma neodvisna, tako finančno kot uredniško. Vir njenega proračuna je mesečni RTV prispevek 12,75 evra, ki je obvezen za vsakogar, ki ima radijski ali televizijski sprejemnik ali drugo napravo, ki omogoča sprejem radijski ali televizijski program – kot določa Zakon o RTV Slovenija (ZRTVS-1). Proračun RTV Slovenija je leta 2019 znašal 137 milijonov EUR. Od tega je 122 milijonov EUR prišlo iz mesečnih plačil RTV prispevka, preostalih (približno 11 odstotkov) pa iz prihodkov od oglaševanja. Izjava, da "vlada noče financirati proračuna RTVSLO", je torej povsem absurdna.
Res je, da nova medijska zakonodaja predvideva drugačen sistem prerazporeditve RTV prispevka, saj bo 5 odstotkov prispevka namenjena zasebnim medijem (od tega večina medijem posebnega pomena).
Pomembno pa je poudariti, da bo Vlada javnemu zavodu RTV Slovenija v celoti nadomestila izgubljena sredstva, ki jih bo s tem utrpela. Javni medij bo tako dobil priložnost, da letno ustvari vsaj 11 milijonov evrov dodatnega dohodka in sicer z višjo dovoljeno kvoto oglasov. RTV Slovenija je bila doslej krivično zakonsko omejena pri trženju oglasnega prostora. Zasebne televizije zato obvladujejo več kot 80 odstotkov prihodkov iz oglaševanja. Novi Zakon o avdiovizualnih medijskih storitvah (ZAvMS) bo oglaševalsko kvoto javne televizije in komercialnih televizij izenačil, kar bo RTV Sloveniji omogočilo znatno večje prihodke. Če vlada ne bi uspela dokazati, da lahko RTV Slovenija zagotovi ustrezno nadomestilo izgubljenega dohodka, bi ustavno sodišče noveli Zakona o medijih in Zakona o RTV razveljavilo, saj je javna radiotelevizija ustavno zaščitena.
"Predlagani novi zakon o medijih bi politikom omogočil, da imenujejo več članov upravnega odbora, del prihodkov pa bi namenili drugim medijem, tudi tistim, ki objavljajo propagando za Janšo."
Nova medijska zakonodaja nima nikakršne povezave z nadzorom nad RTV Slovenija, kot trdi članek. Zakonodaja ne določa, da lahko "politiki v RTV Slovenija imenujejo več članov uprave." To je povsem neresnično. Ni povsem jasno kaj je avtor sestavka želel povedati, ko piše o "članih uprave" – RTV Slovenija ima namreč dva nadzorna organa, programski svet in nadzorni svet, a nova medijska zakonodaja ne posega v nobenega od teh institutov.
Kot rečeno, bi bila izguba iz drugačnega načina porazdelitve RTV prispevka v celoti nadomeščena. 5 odstotkov, za katere zakonodaja predvideva, da bo namenjeno drugim medijem, nikakor ne bo namenjeno "medijem, ki objavljajo propagando za Janšo." (karkoli naj bi že to pomenilo) Če bi spoštovani anonimni novinar preveril, kaj piše v Zakonu o medijih, bi ugotovil, da so vlade medije s podobnim zneskom financirale že do zdaj v obliki razpisa za medije. Tako bo še naprej, edina razlika je vir sredstev – doslej je bil vir državni proračun. Odslej pa bo vir majhen znesek RTV prispevka – taka ureditev je pogosta v evropskih državah. Lajša breme davkoplačevalcev, hkrati pa še vedno ne povzroča neto izgube javni radioteleviziji.
Medijski razpis nikoli ne bo orodje politike, saj veljajo stroga pravila za dodeljevanje sredstev zasebnim medijem. To potrjuje medijski razpis za leta 2020, ko sredstev ni dobil skoraj nobeden medij iz desnega svetovnonazorskega spektra, medtem ko so levji delež sredstev dobili veliki mediji, ki so izrazito protivladni.
"Novinarji RTV-SLO so se bali za svoja delovna mesta. `Le malo nas je še vedno kritičnih, a nas želijo utišati,´ pravi starejši novinar."
RTV Slovenija je neodvisna in na noben način neposredno povezana z vlado, niti vlada (posredno ali neposredno) ne more odpustiti kogarkoli, ki je tam zaposlen. Na RTV Slovenija ni bilo prav nobenih napovedi o zmanjšanju števila zaposlenih. Nasprotno. Število zaposlenih je v zadnjem času znatno naraslo, vlada pa je RTV Slovenija lani namenila dodatne milijone evrov, da bi lahko javna radiotelevizija med pandemijo covid-19 normalno delovala.
Trditve, da se želi novinarje javne radiotelevizije utišati, so nesmiselne za vse, ki so kdaj vsaj teden dni preživeli v Sloveniji in vsak večer spremljali TV Dnevnik. Vsakemu neodvisnemu gledalcu je hitro jasno, da je RTV Slovenija izrazito politično levo usmerjena in pretežno protivladna. A dokazi za to niso le anekdotični, temveč tudi empirični – nedavni medijska analiza Fakultete za medije je pokazala, da je RTV Slovenija med vodilnimi vladnimi kritiki v državi (celo bolj kot spletni portali medijskih tajkunov povezanih s tranzicijsko levico).
Zgroženi smo, da ugledni medij, kot je The Economist – nekoč zaščitni znak zanesljivih in nepristranskih informacij – objavi tako očitno napačne informacije, da bi jih bilo mogoče zlahka zavreči že s petminutnim guglanjem. Na svoji domači strani pravite, da: "za obveščanje uporabljate objektivne podatke in raziskave in da so vsi vaši uredniški izdelki preverjeni z dejstvi." Očitno ta sestavek ni bil. V našem pismu vam posredujemo objektivne podatke in vam s tem odrešujemo napornih raziskav. Vse, kar morate storiti, je preveriti dejstva, ki smo jih navedli. Naše trditve so zlahka preverljive s podatki na spletu. Nato pa upamo, da bo članek ustrezno popravljen.
Angleška različica
The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia is issuing a request for a correction of your article published in The Economist on 6. 4. 2021 originally titled "Populists are threatening Europe's independent public broadcasters", written by an unknown author.
The article contains factual errors which we are pointing out.
The article claims (sic):
"Janša’s Government is refusing to pay RTV-SLO’s budget and wants to pass a new media law that will make it easier to control. In Slovenia such political control over the budget and supervisory board threaten the public broadcaster’s independence."
From the paragraph it is clear to see that the unknown author is utterly unfamiliar with the system of Slovenian public broadcasting and its financing. Slovenian Government does not finance RTV Slovenia's budget. The public broadcaster is entirely independent, with its own budget, which it mostly acquires from the so called monthly license fee – a payment of 12.75 euros, which is mandatory for every inhabitant of Slovenia that has a radio or television receiver or other device that enables the reception of radio or television programs – as stipulated by Radio and Television Corporation of Slovenia Act (ZRTVS-1). For instance, in 2019 RTV Slovenia’s budget was € 137 million. € 122 came from monthly license fee payments, the rest (approximately 11%) came from its advertisement business revenue. The statement that "Government is refusing to pay RTVSLO's budget" therefore makes no sense whatsoever.
While it is true that the new Media Act proposes a different system of redistribution of the monthly license fee – namely 5 percent will be dedicated to media outlets.
However, the Government intends to fully compensate RTV Slovenia for the loss of income. Hence the Government will provide RTV Slovenia with an opportunity to make at least 11 million euros more per annum by granting them more advertising allowances. RTV Slovenia has thus far been unfairly restricted from ad revenue (private broadcasters take up 80% of the advertising revenue). This will be achieved by the new Audiovisual media services act, which will accompany the trio of Media acts. If the Government fails to prove that it provided proper compensation, Media Act and RTV Corporation of Slovenia Act will both be annulled by the Constitutional court, since the public broadcaster is protected by the constitution.
"The proposed new public-media law would let politicians appoint more of its board members and give some of its revenues to other news agencies, including ones that serve up propaganda for Mr. Janša."
Nothing whatsoever in the new media legislature has anything to do with control over RTV Slovenia, as the article claims. The media legislature does not stipulate that "politicians can appoint more of its board members" to RTV Slovenia. This is completely inaccurate. It is unclear what the writer even meant with "board members". RTV has two supervisory institutions, the Programming council and supervisory board, yet the new media legislature does not change the structure of either.
As already stated, the loss of income from the novel proposal of monthly license fee distribution would be fully compensated. The 5 percent of the license fee, which will be dedicated to other media outlets will in no way be handed out to "news agencies that serve up propaganda for Mr. Janša". If the honorable journalists checked what the Media Act states he would realize that this money has already been handed out to private media for years in the form of a media tender. This will continue as is, the only difference is the source of funds – thus far the source was the national budget. From now on the source will be a small amount from the monthly license fee – this is an arrangement that is common in EU countries. It lessens the burden on the national budget, while still not causing a net loss to the national broadcaster at the same time.
The media tender will never be a tool of politics, since strict rules apply for granting funds to private media, as attested by the media tender in 2020, where almost none of the media that belong to the right wing spectrum of political viewpoints got any funds, while major outlets, which are explicitly anti-government got the lion’s share.
"Journalists at RTV-SLO feared for their jobs. `Only a few of us left are still being critical, but we’re being silenced,´ says a senior reporter."
As stated, RTV Slovenia is independent and is not directly connected in any way to the Government, nor can the Government (directly or indirectly) fire anyone employed there. There had been no announcements of personnel cuts at RTV Slovenia. In fact – the number of employees has grown significantly in recent years. The Government provided millions of euros to RTVS Slovenia last year in order for the public broadcaster to remain normally operational during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Claims that anyone at the public broadcaster is being silenced is preposterous to anyone who ever lived in Slovenia for at least a week and watched our evening news every night, but moreover, the evidence for this is not only anecdotal it’s also empirical – a recent media analysis showed that RTV Slovenia is among the leading government critics in the country (more so than renowned web portals belonging to left-wing media tycoons).
In closing we are flabbergasted that a reputable media outlet such as The Economist, which used to be a standard-bearer of accurate and non-biased information would publish such remarkably erroneous information, which could easily be double-checked and verified with a 5 minute Google search. As you boast in your disclaimer: “We use objective data and researched to inform our journalism. All our editorial output is fact checked.” Obviously this one was not fact-checked at all. With this rebuttal we are providing you with objective data, sparing you the arduous research. All you need to do is fact-check our claims. All relevant data is easily accessible online. After which, we hope the article will be corrected accordingly.