Mass media in Slovakia

The main source (63 percent) of information about political issues for Slovak citizens is television broadcast. The second most relevant source is the Internet. Traditionally, the most trusted source of information has been radio broadcast: public radio was usually less politically biased.[1] According to some experts, it is possible to detect that the majority of the media and journalists show liberal-right or centre-right attitudes. However, there are no typical media affiliations with specific political parties,[2] except for newspaper Pravda, which has shown some political and ideological bias since 2010 openly declaring its liberal-left ideology. Other news outlets, instead, seem to be more influenced by commercial and indirectly by political factors than by ideological factors .[1]

Describing a particular parallelism between media and politics, some experts noticed that some groups of voters prefers different media types than others: for instance, “nationalist- leftists” would prefer printed media, rather than “liberal-conservatives”, who would better like television news as well as social media.[1]

The 2017 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders ranked Slovakia 17th out of 180 countries and the NGO Freedom House described its freedom of the press status as “free” in the last years.[3][4]

The most followed news outlets comprehend major private television channel Markíza, public television Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska - RTVS (Radio and Television Slovakia), and some of the key daily newspapers, especially Sme and Nový Čas.[1] Over the years, the internet began to increasingly become an important source for information, over print media and radio as well as becoming a serious rival to television. The number of visitors to news portals is increasing, while the circulation of newspapers is declining, as the viewers of the main news programs on television are.[5]

Television broadcasting, radio broadcasting and retransmission of programme services as well as some of the online broadcasting and audiovisual services on demand are regulated by Law No. 308/2000 on Broadcasting and Retransmission and the Law on Digital Broadcasting No. 220/2007. Instead, the Slovak Press Act (No. 167/2008) firstly deals with transparency of media ownership and is aimed at maintaining plurality of information.[1]

As to the possibility of using languages other than Slovakian in media broadcasting, the regulations are particularly complicated and do not always fully guarantee the right to use minority languages. Such regulations are mainly Law No. 270/1995 on State Language of the Slovak Republic and Law No. 184/1999 on the Use of Languages of National Minorities.[1]

The Slovak Constitution (1992) protects freedom of expression and prohibits censorship, under Article 26. The same norm also prohibits a licensing system for the press.[8]

In Slovakia, defamation is punishable by up to eight years in prison under Article No. 373 of the Criminal Code, making it the harshest penalty for this offense in the European Union.[3][9] Prosecution is also provided for other kinds of expression, such as denial of the Holocaust or of the Armenian genocide and defamation of nationalities.[4] According to a 2017 study, positive trends can be observed with regard to defamation: Slovak courts increasingly refer to the standards of the European Court of Human Rights and recognize the need for proportionality in their decisions in defamation cases.[10][11]

The Act on Free Access to Information (2000) allows anyone to request information from state agencies.[12] However, even if noncompliant officials may be subject to fines, very often such requests remain unanswered.[1]

There are different national regulation authorities controlling different sectors of the Slovak media: the print media are regulated by the Press Council (TRSR), established in 2001, while broadcast media are regulated by the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission (RVR). A regulation enacted in April 2014 limits the number of journalists accredited to the parliament as well as their freedom of movement within the parliament’s structures.[1]

The 2017 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders ranked Slovakia 17th out of 180 countries and the NGO Freedom House described its freedom of the press status as “free” in the last years.[4][3] As to the existence of high criminal and civil defamation penalties, the requested damages are often very high, especially when coming from powerful figures such as politicians and businessmen.[4] Prime Minister Robert Fico himself initiated several of these lawsuits during his first term: when asked about a corruption case during a news conference in November 2016, he addressed several journalists as “filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes”.[3] According to a 2016 study, although a high number of charges against journalists were moved through defamation charges, there were no final convictions of journalists for defamation between 2010 and 2014.[13] Also judges are often among the plaintiffs in defamation cases against Slovakian journalists: for instance,in the so-called Bonanno case, eight judges sued the publishers of the tabloid Nový Čas in 2013 over an article and some photos depicting them while wearing blue ear protectors and sporting mock assault rifles at a party. It happened a few months after seven people were murdered by a gunman wearing similar ear protectors.[4] In January 2014, the European Court of Human Rights awarded a total of €30,000 to Ringier Axel Springer, the owner of Nový Čas, since Slovak courts failed to protect the newspaper’s right to free expression in several cases. The Strasbourg Court found that the Slovakian courts failed to strike an appropriate balance between freedom of expression and the right to privacy.[4] The Slovakian state reduced funding for the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission (RVR) from €1.19 million in 2013 to €1.13 million the following year, while doubling the amount the RVR was expected to collect in fees and fines. Some media experts have expressed concern that this choice could threaten broadcasting independence, incentivizing RVR to issue fines.[4] Separately, in 2012, Jaroslav Haščák, co-owner of Penta- a private business implicated in the so-called Gorilla case, a major corruption scandal- unsuccessfully asked for court injunctions against several websites that had published the core files regarding such scandal, and against a related book by the Canadian-Slovakian investigative journalist Tom Nicholson. In 2013, police pressured Nicholson to reveal his sources.[4] Moreover, some experts sustain a pro-Russian disinformation campaign is taking place in Slovakia, which allegedly originates from multiple sources: numerous pro-Russian websites, social media communities, printed periodicals as well as radio broadcasts.[14]

Recently, the takeover of the public broadcaster RTVS (Radio and Television of Slovakia) by Jaroslav Rezník raised concerns about possible political pressures on media. Rezník would allegedly have close ties with the conservative Slovak National Party (SNS) and works in the media sector since over 20 years. He used to head the Slovak Radio.[15][16]

Complaints regarding freedom of the press or access of journalists to information are received by the Press Council of Slovakia (TRSR)[17]

According to some experts, media ownership in Slovakia lacks of transparency: in particular, no adequate regulation on the cross-ownership of outlets exists.[4][18] The authority which is enabled to rule on media ownership matters (e.g. cartels, abuses of dominant position) is the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (PMU).[18][19]

Comparing Slovakia with its neighbours, Hungary and Poland, the International Press Institute considered that political power in Slovakia remains more varied: the country is governed by a three-party coalition and public discourse remains relatively plural.[20] However, politicians are successfully using influential media to campaign for their faction, while the latter also spread populist contents.[21]

As to the Pravda newspaper, its ownership structure is unclear. Officially, there is a single owner: the daily has been owned by the Florena company since 2010. However, the company’s headquarters are in Prague and the deal for its sale was facilitated by the Slovak investment group J&T.[18] Some consider this financial group as linked to businessmen close to the political party Smer SD, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico.[1]

Sme newspaper is co-owned by Penta, which has a minority share (45%). This acquisition intensified the concerns regarding concentration of media ownership, since Penta has enlarged its media market since 2014. It also purchased the publishing house Trend Holding (which publishes the weekly Trend and portal Medialne.sk), as well as the publishing company Spolo?nos? 7 Plus (which publishes, among others, the newspaper Plus JEDEN DEŇ, weekly Plus 7 dní and the web portal Aktualne.sk).[1] As to the newspaper Hospodárske noviny, it was a federal weekly periodical until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. It is now owned by the Czech tycoon and politician Andrej Babiš.[1] Fun rádio is owned by Boris Kollár, MP and current head of the political party Sme rodina. He is the only owner of the Fun Media Group a.s., which own ten local radios and some web portals too.[1] Markíza Group operates TV Markíza, Doma and Dajto. It also operates portal Tvnoviny.sk. Some other minor TV channels belong to JOJ Group (also called JOJ Media House). JOJ Media House owns the Harad company, which through another company provides complex services to some private radio broadcasters.[1] With regard to economic and political pressures on media, reporting by the television news station TA3 is probably more influenced by commercial and indirectly by political factors (i.e. who is in power) than by ideological factors. This TV channel has a Slovak owner, the Grafobal Company, which is primarily involved in the production of print and packaging materials but its owner is active in many other business activities.[1]

According to some experts, digitization poses a threat to the public service broadcaster Slovak Television (STV) rather than presenting new opportunities. The most significant reason is that the political elite gave control over Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial (DVB-T) transition to organized interest groups (i.e. private broadcasters and Towercom, the monopolistic provider of digital terrestrial signals).[5]

• List of newspapers in Slovakia
• Telecommunications in Slovakia