They Have Theories, Often Irrational

Michael Hedges April 13, 2020 Follow on Twitter

Paranoia is a defining attribute of populists. There is always somebody out to get them, hiding in trees, under the bed. It is a tactic useful for keeping supporters engaged, not to forget keeping them fearful and compliant. Conspiracy theories spring from this. Fortunately medical interventions are available for this virus.

The Slovenian state communications office (UKom) transmitted a curt message to the Council of Europe (CoE) this past week. It was in response to a diplomatic communication to the Foreign Ministry from CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic following social media attacks by prime minister Janez Jansa on newspapers Delo and Slovenske Novice as well as public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and state news agency STA. The prime minister was unhappy, it seemed, at reporting on pay raises given to ministers and state secretaries a mere weeks after entering government, explained daily Delo (April 9).

“Apparently there are too many of you and you are paid too well,” said the most tame part of PM Jansa’s social media rant, which largely focused on RTV Slovenija. Responding diplomatically RTV Slovenija Director General Igor Kadunc offered that the attacks were aimed at “subordination of the central media to one political option.” Press freedom watchers International Press Institute (IPI) and Article 19, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and public broadcasting trade body European Broadcasting Union (EBU) issued statements critical of the prime minister.

Those published concerns led to an alert being issued by CoE Commissioner Mijatovic. “This is the latest in a wave of incidents involving threats and insults from authorities against Slovenian journalists and media over the last few months.” Two weeks earlier CoE published an alert regarding threats of retaliation against a reporter seeking information about the government’s coronavirus response.

The Slovenian government’s official response to the CoE (and others more critical) breathtakingly claimed most Slovenian media is based in the “former communist regime,” that RTV Slovenija “was run by former communist structures” and CoE should be focused on “historical facts about the development of the media market in Slovenia.” Interestingly, Foreign Minister Anze Logar said he was not aware of the contents of the memo.

Slovenia’s recent history has seen political turmoil. Janez Jansa has been in the midst of all of it. His current term as prime minister is his third. He was tossed out of office in 2013 and a few months later sentenced to a jail term for corruption, later overturned. In March voters returned him to office. He leads the right-wing nationalist, populist Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS).

Also interesting and hardly surprising is certain Slovenian media favorable editorially to PM Jansa and the SDS party are financially intertwined with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing populist Fidesz political party. The two countries share a border and, it seems like-minded elected officials.

"For 30 years, Slovenia has been a democratic state with a media market in which there are various anomalies, but the claim that journalists are waging an ideological war against the prime minister and the current government is the culmination of paranoia,” said the blunt retort from the Slovenian Journalists Association.

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• Hot Topics - Media in Slovenia

• Hot Topics - Public Broadcasting