In the referendum held in Slovenia, the majority of the people demanded that the government be prevented from designating the public broadcaster television and news agency.
After the complaints that press freedom rights in the country have deteriorated under former populist prime minister Janez Jansa new legislations were made and with the call of Jansa’s party hold a referendum on these legislative changes.
In the voting that took place on November 27, 62 percent of the respondents voted not to politicize the appointments.
Culture Minister Asta Vrecko said after the vote that “The people have shown resolutely that they want our biggest media and cultural institution, which should be independent and autonomous to be kept away from party politics.”
Jansa accused Slovenia’s national public broadcaster RTV of taking sides and then he dismissed some of the agency’s directors and replaced them with his relatives.
RTV Slovenia is the country’s largest media organization, with around 2,000 employees.
Media groups welcomed the referendum result and stated that the law would protect RTV’S editorial independence.
Source: euronews
