Prominent Slovak TV host has show cancelled after warnings of ‘Orbanisation’

Michal Kovačič, one of Slovakia’s leading and most respected political moderators, stated that journalists at the largest Slovak TV station, Markíza, face pressure from both politicians and their own management, leading to the immediate suspension of his TV show.

On Sunday, instead of the traditional farewell to the viewers, the presenter of the most watched Sunday political TV debate “Na telo” unexpectedly spoke about TV Markíza‘s efforts to censor his programme and TV news.

According to the long-time journalist, the fight over the form of reporting in Markíza has been going on for months, as it is “facing pressure from politicians” and the media group’s management.

“Thanks to the fact that our editorial team did not get scared and stood up, our news takes a completely different form than what our management is pushing for,” he said on Sunday.

“Right now, Slovakia is fighting against the ‘Orbanisation’ of our TV stations.  The future of national broadcaster RTVS is being debated in public, but in reality, this struggle is taking place everywhere. It is happening quietly and stealthily,” Kovačič continued.

“Although it may not seem apparent now if we do not stop this, it will have devastating consequences on Slovak democracy,” the presenter concluded.

Government politicians, who refuse to communicate with several mainstream media outlets in Slovakia, decided to boycott Kovačič’s show in April.

Although the debates continued to be widely watched, Markíza’s management announced the show would end prematurely this year.  Usually, “Na telo” ends at the beginning of July and resumes after the summer holidays in September.

This year, Markíza had initially decided to broadcast the last episode in mid-June, claiming it would “look for a more suitable format for this programme”.  But on Monday, after Kovačič’s speech, the broadcaster announced the immediate suspension of the programme.

Markíza denies the allegations

According to the official statement of Markíza, Kovačič “abused the broadcast time to present personal opinions in violation of the law on media services and the journalist’s code of ethics”.

“Due to these facts, we are therefore proceeding to the immediate suspension of the broadcast of “Na telo”,” Markíza concluded in an official statement on Monday.

Markíza also rejected any accusations of censorship as “unfair and unfounded”.

“TV Markíza always delivers objective and independent news. Ironically, we supported the programme “Na telo” for several weeks by broadcasting it with the application of empty chair debating on an unprecedented scale, despite the boycott and dramaturgical demands,” Markíza‘s PR manager Lukáš Kočišek told Slovak news portal Aktuality.sk.

“TV Markíza’s newsroom operates in a standard mode with a functioning editorial process and in accordance with professional and ethical standards,” Kočišek added.

Almost 100 colleagues from Markíza stood up for Kovačič, demanding that the TV station let him moderate the show.

“It is unacceptable that the presenter of the most successful political TV debate in the country should have to face pressures from his own management in addition to pressures from politicians,” they write, adding that the cancellation of the show is against the interests of television.

The employees gave the management three days to commit to continuing “Na telo” with Kovačič.  therwise, they will “resort to the steps of collective resistance”.

Departure of other Slovak presenters

In recent months, other prominent presenters of Slovak political TV debates also stepped down from their posts.

Among them were Rastislav Iliev and Richard Dírer, the presenters of the political debate “V politike” broadcast on TA3, and Jana Krescanko Dibáková, who was sacked as the presenter of “Na hrane” broadcasted on TV JOJ after being in television for over 20 years.

While other presenters did not elaborate on their decisions, Krescanko Dibáková cited politicians’ unwillingness to participate in the debates and the decision of the television to give less importance to political news as reasons for her departure.

Following the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the leader of the ruling SNS party, Andrej Danko, mentioned his party will come up with “a very tough law on the right to protection of a person against the media”.

Danko claims their intention is not to “gag journalists” but to find a mechanism to “act against lies in the media”. (Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)

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